The first time Dave McAuliffe talked to Ron Mason about staging an outdoor hockey game in Spartan Stadium, the longtime MSU head coach just laughed.

That was about five years ago, and McAuliffe, an MSU assistant coach, said he chuckled along with Mason. After all, a hockey game at Spartan Stadium? It seemed preposterous.

But not anymore.

Walk into the stadium now and the football yard lines are covered by a portable ice rink. More than 72,000 tickets have been snatched up by eager fans and “The Cold War” is only a day away.

McAuliffe’s dream is becoming a reality.

“It seemed so distant when we first talked about it with the drawings in April,” McAuliffe said. “It seemed like it was so far in the future that, what would October 6 be like? But now that we’re closer, it’s real exciting.”

McAuliffe’s outrageous idea was revived from a five-year dormancy last February. At a private party in Munn Ice Arena where MSU officials were watching an MSU-Illinois basketball game, McAuliffe floated the concept again and this time it caught the attention of Associate Athletics Director Mark Hollis.

Hollis set out on a quest to make the game a reality - gathering bids, figuring out logistics and convincing practically the whole world that the event was feasible.

Some things fell right into place and others didn’t. In all, Hollis said it was a difficult, but rewarding process.

“We talked to a couple of sponsors about it and there was some interest in it,” he said. “We started investigating the different ways to do it from that point. We went through a few stages where we ran into some obstacles - trying to keep the costs down and, due to the magnitude of it, we almost had to not launch the event.”

Mason, too, said he was uncertain at first if MSU could pull it off.

“I never would have believed that a college hockey team could get world publicity, and we’re going to get some world publicity,” Mason said.

Mason is also excited about the recruiting leverage the game will provide and Hollis said he expects the Athletic Department will make about a $200,000 profit

Even with all the side stories and hoopla, the proudest guy at Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. face-off will probably be McAuliffe.

“From the first time we got figures back from the companies, it was like a roller coaster,” McAuliffe said. “The costs were rising and the chances of the game were plummeting like a roller coaster does. And then there’d be a breakthrough and we’d be climbing again.

“I didn’t want this idea to die. I had it in the back of my mind that at the right time