Ice Hockey
Pennsylvania is home to more professional ice hockey teams than any other U.S. state, except New York. In all, seven professional hockey teams call Pennsylvania home: the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League; the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League; the Reading Royals of the ECHL; and the Indiana Ice Miners of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League. The Hershey Bears are the oldest existing AHL franchise, joining the league in 1938. The Erie Otters of the junior Ontario Hockey League also play in Pennsylvania. The Otters are one of only three OHL teams located outside of Canada.
Due in large part to Pennsylvania's cold winter climate and the state's geographic location in the Northeast, hockey is fairly popular throughout the state.
A number of notable current and former professional hockey players are Pennsylvania natives: Mike Richter, one of the most successful American-born goaltenders in NHL history; Pete Babando; Bob Beers; Jay Caufield; Ryan Malone; Gerry O'Flaherty; George Parros; Jesse Spring; and R.J. Umberger. Legendary amateur hockey player Hobey Baker, namesake of U.S. college hockey's Hobey Baker Memorial Award, was also born in Pennsylvania.
Read more about this topic: Sports In Pennsylvania
Famous quotes containing the word ice:
“People in Stamps used to say that the whites in our town were so prejudiced that a Negro couldn’t buy vanilla ice cream. Except on July Fourth. Other days he had to be satisfied with chocolate.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)