Vance Lederman is the senior vice president of business operations for the Syracuse Crunch, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s also a bit of a carnival barker, which we love, in that he’s gunning for an NHL record when the Crunch faces the Utica Comets in the Carrier Dome on Nov. 22.

“We are looking to break the indoor record of 28,183,” he said. “We feel very strongly the record will be broken and that Syracuse will be declared as the best pound-for-pound sports city in America.”

The record to which he’s referring is the one set by the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 23, 1996, in a playoff game against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Thunderdome. (“Two teams enter, one team leaves …”)

According to Syracuse.com and Lindsay Kramer, they’re close:

About 24,500 tickets had been sold as of Monday morning. [Carrier Dome managing director Pete] Sala said he originally thought if the game hit the 20,000 mark, it would have been a "home run.''

"We're crushing it,'' he said.

Sala said he thinks the crowd will have the feel of a regular ACC men's basketball game, and the Dome will staff it as such.

If nothing else, they’ve got the AHL attendance mark beat, which is 20,672 set in January 1997 at Greensboro Coliseum.

As for the North American record … who knows?

Oh, wait, Derrick Coleman’s going to be there?! They might break 40K …