Thursday, December 18, 2008

Alaska is an emerging hockey hotbed

Alaskans have been into hockey for some time now. Sarah Palin brought this passion to the surface when she labelled herself a Hockey Mom in front of a national audience.

The first Alaskan to play in the NHL was Scott Gomez - a pretty good player. Although he played junior hockey in British Columbia and then went off to college. There are currently five Alaskans in the NHL, and nine players born in the state have appeared in an NHL game. This year's group includes Gomez, Ty Conklin, Matt Carle, Brandon Dubinsky and Nate Thompson.

Currently, Alaska is ranked 10th among states in terms of producing NHLers. The big producers are: Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Massachussetts.