For anyone who is a big hockey fan they are preparing for the finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I know it happens every year, but I still find it odd the National Hockey League (NHL) is wrapping up in what some might call spring, and others might call the first month of summer.
I know due to the expanding of teams, beginning in the 1990s, it started pushing the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs into June, but to me hockey seems like a winter sport. To me, warm sunny skies and 80 degrees temperatures don’t go with ice rinks. It’s sort of like the Christmas in July sales, people enjoy them, especially if it means buying something for a more economical price and it helps get the Christmas shopping done early. If you enjoy it and you find it exciting, don’t listen to me.
For me, I grew up when the NHL was winding down its season in April or May, still spring months, but the weather seemed to be making a transition from winter to spring. A change over the years is the professional hockey season was expanded due to more teams joining the league.
Minnesota was among that expansion. The state had the North Stars for years and then the team was sold and moved to Dallas. For seven years the state was without a professional hockey team until the Minnesota Wild joined the league in 2000. These days, when I do catch news that the Wild beat the Dallas Stars it gives me a little happiness.
Recently, I found a listing of the best cities for hockey fanzine 2026. It had a list of 20 cities, St. Paul was in the middle at number 11, but it was above Dallas at 17. The listing was done by WalletHub, which compared 75 U.S. cities across 21 key metrics, ranging from the performance level of the city’s professional and college teams to minimum season ticket prices to stadium capacity. I could understand the number one spot was occupied by Boston. Although I found it a little peculiar the cities of Sunrise and Tampa, both in Florida, were in both in the top ten. Sunrise at number five and Tampa at number eight on the list.
I know this column wasn’t anywhere close to be deep or insightful, but hopefully it gave you a little lift. With so much news and opinions being serious these days, we do sometimes need lighter subjects that will help us lift our spirits or give us a moment to just breathe.