Hockeytown

Hockeytown and Hockey Town are generic words used in common practice throughout the United States and Canada to identify any town, city or community that has a history and reputation of participating in the sport of hockey. The term refers to the following cities:

  • Warroad, Minnesota, the oldest Hockeytown on record has been officially called "Hockeytown" for over 50 years.

The original and longest running "Hockeytown" Holiday Classic has been played in Warroad, Minnesota since 1994.

  • Detroit, Michigan - "Hockeytown" is one of several nicknames for the city of Detroit, Michigan, (i.e. Motor City and City of Champions) which arose in 1996 as the result of a marketing campaign by the privately owned Detroit Red Wings, the city's NHL franchise.

Internationally, the name "Hockeytown" is used in Norway to refer to the city of Sarpsborg, home of the Sparta Warriors.

Ross McKeon of Yahoo Sports concluded the same in his article "New Hockeytown, USA", where he wrote "Saint Paul, Minn., home of the Minnesota Wild, fits the bill."

Farber's list included focuses on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Buffalo, New York, and Saint Paul, Minnesota before declaring St. Paul "America's new Hockeytown."

Binghamton, New York has been referred to as Hockeytown since the mid-1970s. After a tepid first year of support, the Broome Dusters grew greatly in popularity, and were able to draw a large number of sellouts. The quick success led the Hockey News to declare Binghamton as Hockeytown USA. Binghamton is home to an American Hockey League team to this day.

Detroit, St. Paul, Buffalo, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Boston have often been considered the most hockey crazed cities in the United States with an NHL team.