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I'm happy for the Wild, etc... but do we have to go nuts over every hockey news and bring up the State of Hockey all the time. Hockey is one of four major sports in Minnesota and not everybody has to go gaga over the
State of Hockey as the only sport that matters.
 

book, you must realize that several of the Hockey Pucks have taken lots of pucks to the melon.
 

It's a huge off season move! If the Twins landed 2 major free agents like this (or the vikings for that matter) - it would be huge deal as well. If only it would happen!
 

It's the state of hockey, but it's still lightyears behind football and baseball in this town. If the Twins or Vikings made a similar move, there would be wall to wall coverage.
 

book said:
I'm happy for the Wild, etc... but do we have to go nuts over every hockey news and bring up the State of Hockey all the time. Hockey is one of four major sports in Minnesota and not everybody has to go gaga over the
State of Hockey as the only sport that matters.
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But of the major sports, how many can you win a NCAA championship using primarily Minnesota players? How many Minnesotans play NHL hockey vs. NFL, MLB, and NBA? On a national scale, Minnesota is a major player in hockey, a bit player in basketball and pretty much non existent in football and baseball.
 


All we want is for the Vikings, TWolves or Twins to go out can sign a big name free agent, but when the Wild goes out an signs two this guy gets a little pissy? We can't be happy that one of our pro teams is going out and spending some money to improve themselves for their fan base?
 

Winnipegopher said:
But of the major sports, how many can you win a NCAA championship using primarily Minnesota players? How many Minnesotans play NHL hockey vs. NFL, MLB, and NBA? On a national scale, Minnesota is a major player in hockey, a bit player in basketball and pretty much non existent in football and baseball.
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niche sport.
 





I vote niche sport and I grew up in Mn, never saw a hockey game until I was in college. Its not as big in MN as most hockey people would like to believe.
 

Hockey is huge in Minnesota and is as big as people believe, may be a niche sport in other parts but not in Minnesota. There is a reason the Minnesota high school hockey tournament outdraws some pro sports teams in terms of attendance.
 

Compare attendance for Wild vs Timberwolves.
Compare division i attendance in Minnesota for hockey vs basketball.

Which is the niche sport in Minnesota?
 

You have to keep in mind a full williams arena out draws a full marriucci by about 5,000, Minnesota is considered the state of hockey because it's the only state where hockey is big enough where you can have the debate of which sport is more popular hockey or bball. In the twin cities, especially mpls bball is bigger, in st.paul and the burbs its debatable, both are popular, up north lets just say the kids who get cut from the hockey team play on the basketball team. In the south, winona, worthington, those types of places there isn't much hockey so basketball is the sport. Minnesota turns out more division 1 hockey players than anyone in the state hands down for hockey, roughly 50 a year
 



bemidjigopher said:
You have to keep in mind a full williams arena out draws a full marriucci by about 5,000, Minnesota is considered the state of hockey because it's the only state where hockey is big enough where you can have the debate of which sport is more popular hockey or bball. In the twin cities, especially mpls bball is bigger, in st.paul and the burbs its debatable, both are popular, up north lets just say the kids who get cut from the hockey team play on the basketball team. In the south, winona, worthington, those types of places there isn't much hockey so basketball is the sport. Minnesota turns out more division 1 hockey players than anyone in the state hands down for hockey, roughly 50 a year
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Minnesota turns out more curling players also. Does that make it a curling state?
 

I think Hockey has more fanatics, there are definately more basketball fans though, a winning NBA team could equal the Wild, remember the first couple of years at the Dome the wolves were drawing around 30k a game.
 

SDGopherFan said:
I vote niche sport and I grew up in Mn, never saw a hockey game until I was in college. Its not as big in MN as most hockey people would like to believe.
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I grew in in Bloomington and I could still name some of the hockey players who went to my high school. I have no recollection of there even being a basketball team - they were geeky. Hockey is big in MN - no doubt about it.

Curling is a niche sport.
 

just did a little research

and found that there are a total of 156 High School Hockey teams in the state of MN, 383 football teams, 428 Boys Basketball teams, 455 wrestling teams and 495 baseball teams. Actually Michigan has more high school hockey teams with 182 and don't they already lay claim to the "hockey city"in detroit.
 

SDGopherFan said:
and found that there are a total of 156 High School Hockey teams in the state of MN, 383 football teams, 428 Boys Basketball teams, 455 wrestling teams and 495 baseball teams. Actually Michigan has more high school hockey teams with 182 and don't they already lay claim to the "hockey city"in detroit.
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Detroit does call itself hockeytown but so does Warroad,MN. There is a little bit of hockey rivalry between Minnesota and Michigan but I would definitely say it is bigger in Minnesota. The number of teams reall doesn't make that much of a difference as Michigan has more people, as for the other sports having more participants baseball and football don't make a difference as they are in a different season and many hockey players also play those sports too. The reason why there are more basketball and wrestling teams is simply because its easier and cheaper to participate for both athletes and schools, another reason could be the number of players you need for the sports as hockey needs more than basketball or wrestling. The quality of high school hockey played in Minnesota is above that of any other state if you need more evidence take a trip to the Minnesota state hockey tournament, its a huge deal and I believe it was even on a top 100 things to do bucket list by a writer in sports illustrated.
 

SDGopherFan said:
and found that there are a total of 156 High School Hockey teams in the state of MN, 383 football teams, 428 Boys Basketball teams, 455 wrestling teams and 495 baseball teams. Actually Michigan has more high school hockey teams with 182 and don't they already lay claim to the "hockey city"in detroit.
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Wow this was a really dumb post. Population differences between the two states.....and the cost of hockey is high for many small towns.....take any of that into consideration?
 

XMan said:
Wow this was a really dumb post. Population differences between the two states.....and the cost of hockey is high for many small towns.....take any of that into consideration?
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and therefore it is a niche sport.
 

Its a niche sport because of population differences between states? HAHAHA that makes a lot of sense.
 

Such a dumb argument on so many levels. The only thing this thread has proven is the insecurity of certain "basketball people." I'm a fan of all Minnesota sports, but from 6 year-old's to the professionals there is not sport that generates more pride and enthusiasm in this state than hockey. All sports are 'niche' sports...I don't know why every couple of months some basketball fan rebels against hockey's dominance in this state's ethos. There are 49 other states where you could live and enjoy basketball's victory over hockey.
 

GopherHomer said:
Such a dumb argument on so many levels. The only thing this thread has proven is the insecurity of certain "basketball people." I'm a fan of all Minnesota sports, but from 6 year-old's to the professionals there is not sport that generates more pride and enthusiasm in this state than hockey. All sports are 'niche' sports...I don't know why every couple of months some basketball fan rebels against hockey's dominance in this state's ethos. There are 49 other states where you could live and enjoy basketball's victory over hockey.
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It's normally the hockey people that bring it up.
 

GopherHomer said:
Such a dumb argument on so many levels. The only thing this thread has proven is the insecurity of certain "basketball people." I'm a fan of all Minnesota sports, but from 6 year-old's to the professionals there is not sport that generates more pride and enthusiasm in this state than hockey. All sports are 'niche' sports...I don't know why every couple of months some basketball fan rebels against hockey's dominance in this state's ethos. There are 49 other states where you could live and enjoy basketball's victory over hockey.
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Agreed!
 


It's just math, hockeynuts, don't get so upset. Far more people in Minnesota play and watch basketball. It's great that 20k show up for the AA state tourney, but that's a very small part of measuring total interest across the state.
 

Like I said everything is a niche sport but around the world Association Football is by far the biggest sport. Except for a couple of states hockey is a niche sport. In this state it is not!
 

The fact that this thread has survived for this long on a basketball board w/o being moved to the off-topic board certainly says something!
 

AO54 said:
It's just math, hockeynuts, don't get so upset. Far more people in Minnesota play and watch basketball. It's great that 20k show up for the AA state tourney, but that's a very small part of measuring total interest across the state.
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I made no claims as to which sport is more popular; as it has already become a huge, unnecessary, self-congratulatory circle-jerk. I was just responding to SDGopherFan's claim that hockey fans exaggerate the sport's popularity. It's tough to deny that there's a huge market for all levels of hockey in Minnesota.
 

Moonlight said:
The fact that this thread has survived for this long on a basketball board w/o being moved to the off-topic board certainly says something!
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Or more interestingly, no one has screamed to have it moved.
 

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