What's each countries' "Hockey Mecca?"

[singlesliceofcheese]

Hey, guys. I'm trying to compile an international list of "Hockey Meccas;" meaning which cities are the most passionate about the game in their respective country. I'm sure we all could learn something about each others' homelands and put salt in the wounds of old rivalries, haha. Here's what I got so far:

Toronto/Montreal? (Have fun debating this)

St. Paul/Detroit/Grand Forks?

Gothenburg

???

St. Petersburg?

???

Bratislava/Kosice?

Cologne?

Davos/Bern?

Linz/Vienna?

Székesfehérvár

Stavanger/Hamar ?

Herning

Grenoble?

Sheffield

Balzano?

Tilburg

Elektrenai

Nikko?

Feel free to add more countries to the list or make suggestions for the ones listed. Thanks.

Click to read more...

 

[AB13]

Sweden could be Örnsköldsvik to be honest, I live in Stockholm but know a few people from the city and it is described as very hockey-crazy. Despite being a small city with a population of 33 000, Örnsköldsvik has produced players like Peter Forsberg, Marcus Näslund, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Victor Hedman, Anders Hedberg and Victor Olofsson.

 

[singlesliceofcheese]

Sweden could be Örnsköldsvik to be honest, I live in Stockholm but know a few people from the city and it is described as very hockey-crazy. Despite being a small city with a population of 33 000, Örnsköldsvik has produced players like Peter Forsberg, Marcus Näslund, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Victor Hedman, Anders Hedberg and Victor Olofsson.

Great point. Thank you!

 

[Czechboy]

Yikes.. tough one. Brno is growing now as their Extraliga team is quite good (back to back championships a few years ago) and they're producing some great juniors but a lot of our golden generation came from Kladno which is a suburb of Prague. I'm hoping other Czech's chime in as now I'm curious.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Russia, it's probably Yaroslavl and Chelyabinsk. Petersburg is Zenitburg actually, there is no way SKA is even close to Zenit by popularity.

Novosibirsk is anoher city, where people are crazy about hockey.

 

[gotyournose]

Toronto vs Montreal in terms of the popularity of hockey. To both sides it's a matter of good vs evil. Age old argument that will happen till end of time

 

[Voight]

For Toronto they did host the Gold Medal winning games in the 2004 & 2016 World Cups, one of the finals games in the 76 CC, as well as the 2015 WJC final, all of which Canada won

 

[kudla]

It's Trencin for Slovakia, one of the most successful hockey cities in the world. A city with population of 50 000 has produced players like Hossa, Gaborik, Chara, Demitra and Kopecky, who brought the Stanley Cup 6 times between 2008-2015 to the city.

 

[BlizzardSloth]

For Switzerland I'd kick out Davos. Their Arena is half empty besides the Spengler Cup and the ski-weekends. Sadly I really have to agree that the region around Bern is really going nuts for hockey, at least more than my city, Zurich. But I would make a point for Ambrì, a small mountain village with an always packed arena.

 

[SpinninRodIntoArmpit]

Tampere is the place where Finnish hockey began in 1920s. Also the first indoor hockey rink/arena was built in Tampere in 1965. It's also currently the only city with two Liiga teams (which are also the two teams with most Finnish championships). I'm not certain if it's the most passionate hockey city as of today (since Tavastians aren't the most passionate people in that sense), but it's definitely up there.

The local rivalry is also heating up, since the other team, Ilves, has re-emerged from being dogshit for the last 30ish years.

Notable modern era NHL players from the area would be for example Barkov, Laine, Lumme, Numminen, Nieminen, Toskala, Noronen, Jokipakka etc. Rask also emerged from Ilves, though he's originally from Savonlinna.

 

[ES]

I agree that Tampere is #1 in Finland. I could add to @SpinninRodIntoArmpit post that Tampere was also first city to have artificial ice rink. It is also noteworthy that Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Tampere, originally in Hakametsä Ice Hall but nowadays part of larger museum complex in the centre of the city.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Pretty sure it would be Mannheim for Germany, Rouen or Chamonix for France.

Ust-Kamenogorsk definitely belongs to the list for Kazakhstan.

 

[Albatros]

In Mannheim there's been a vacuum that has enabled the professional team, but I wouldn't say it's culturally that special. Small-town Bavaria if anything.

 

[Rigafan]

Riga, Latvia!

Could you count Harbin, China. It's basically the only place hockey is known and popular there.

 

[JMCx4]

Hey, guys. I'm trying to compile an international list of "Hockey Meccas;" meaning which cities are the most passionate about the game in their respective country. ...

St. Paul/Detroit/Grand Forks? ...

Considering the land mass & dispersal of population across it (as well as the wide spread suburbanization of our population centers), picking a single city as the U.S. "hockey mecca" on the criterion of "which cities are the most passionate about the game in their respective country" is a difficult task. Strong arguments could indeed be made for St. Paul (combined with its sister city Minneapolis) as well as Detroit (though the recent decline of the NHL's Red Wings may have tarnished that reputation). The city of Boston and its surrounding communities also could make a claim for mecca status (based on popularity of the game from youth through university to pro levels).

So I'll offer an alternative answer based on a different criterion: Eleveth, Minnesota, in the far northern part of the state and the site of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. This would be a "mecca" in terms of being a destination for "hockey pilgrims" to visit & share their common devotion to the sport. In a similar vein - and in keeping with this "International Tournaments" forum - U.S. Hockey Mecca #2 would be Lake Placid, New York, the site of our men's national team's "Miracle on Ice" game during the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Rebuttals expected & welcomed.

 

[Urbanskog]

It's certainly Jesenice for Slovenia.

 

[MaxV]

Russia, it's probably Yaroslavl and Chelyabinsk. Petersburg is Zenitburg actually, there is no way SKA is even close to Zenit by popularity.

Novosibirsk is anoher city, where people are crazy about hockey.

Yeah, Magnitogorsk is also up there.

St Petersburg is kind of “unexplored frontier” for Russian hockey. It has never been a strong hockey city, despite its size. Even during the peak of Russian hockey, that city wasn’t producing a lot of top talent (Kasatonov and Gusarov are the only notable players really). It’s too early to tell, but perhaps things are pointing in the right direction, as recent drafts have had a number of talented players from St Petersburg.

 

[Exarz]

recent drafts have had a number of talented players from St Petersburg.

None of them are really from St. Petersburg, they just started playing in the SKA system during U16-U20.

Timur Ibragimov, Mikhail Maltsev and Alexander Alexeyev are the only notable prospects that played their youth and junior hockey in St. Petersburg that have been drafted. Am I missing someone?

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Montreal for Canada just speaking for atmosphere.

If you want to sit with corporate asses then go to Toronto. The worst atmosphere in professional sports. Not only in Hockey. Any pro sport worldwide. It's so sad. The real Toronto fans are the ones who show up in Montreal and put on a show.

Pre season games in Montreal are generally superior in atmosphere then any playoff game in Toronto.

Otherwise for mecca? Our whole country for love of Hockey. From small towns to large cities. To new people who arrive here. Hockey is inescapable. The mecca is called Canada itself.

Actually this is a funny description of Canadian cities and how they watch lol.

 

[alko]

It's Trencin for Slovakia, one of the most successful hockey cities in the world. A city with population of 50 000 has produced players like Hossa, Gaborik, Chara, Demitra and Kopecky, who brought the Stanley Cup 6 times between 2008-2015 to the city.

No doubt, they produced many NHL stars. But almost all are not playing. How it is looking now?

Tomáš Tatar - Dubnica, short time in Dukla Trencin, Zvolen then North America
Richard Pánik - Martin, Czech juniors, North America
Zdeno Chára - Dukla Trencin – kicked out, Sparta Praha, North America
Erik Černák - Kosice – North America
Andrej Sekera - Dukla Trenčin
Christián Jaroš- Košice, Sweden, North America
Martin Marinčin - Kosice – North America
Tomáš Jurčo - Kosice – North America
Martin Fehérváry - Bratislava (not Slovan), Sweden, North America
Peter Cehlárik - Žilina, Sweden, North America
Marko Daňo - Dukla Trencin, but made his name in Slovan Bratislava
Jaro Halak - Slovan Bratislava – North America

 

[24 others]

???

Litvinov and Kladno. Two small towns which are famous fo their hockey dynasties.

Ivan Hlinka, Petr Klima, Robert Lang, Robert Reichel and others come from Litvinov. Jaromir Jagr, Jake Voracek, Tomas Kaberle, Frantisek Kaberle and many others come from Kladno.

 

[Ola]

Sweden is a bit hard to label in this regard, but although the hockey interest in Gothenburg is fantastic, I don't think it can get the nod in this regard. Its a city with a lot of soccer interest too and many parts of it has a lot of immigrants that probably don't follow hockey that much.

I think that if you are looking for a place where "everyone" follows hockey, a few cities in the north like Örnsköldsvik, Skellefteå and Luleå stands out. Jönköping and Karlstad shouldn't be underrated either, they really love their teams.

Then you of course have Leksand. Its a really small city, like under 10k "down town", but they have traditionally had a lot of supporters from around the country. They probably get the award for best attendances in relation to population in the world, although they have struggled more than not the last decade or so.

If someone proposes Örnsköldsvik, I think its hard to argue against it.

 

[93LEAFS]

Montreal for Canada just speaking for atmosphere.

If you want to sit with corporate asses then go to Toronto. The worst atmosphere in professional sports. Not only in Hockey. Any pro sport worldwide. It's so sad. The real Toronto fans are the ones who show up in Montreal and put on a show.

Pre season games in Montreal are generally superior in atmosphere then any playoff game in Toronto.

Otherwise for mecca? Our whole country for love of Hockey. From small towns to large cities. To new people who arrive here. Hockey is inescapable. The mecca is called Canada itself.

Actually this is a funny description of Canadian cities and how they watch lol.

Toronto/GTA is producing significantly more NHLers and elite ones at that these days. Even accounting for population difference. Who is the last elite Montreal area raised player in the NHL? Letang? Huberdeau? Whereas look at the talent coming out of the GTHL/GTA in that time frame. McDavid, Stamkos, Tavares, Subban, Seguin, Pietrangelo, Marner, etc. The youth hockey scene is significantly stronger here and considering its a major hub for players to train in the off-season should also be noted. Maybe Laf is a sign of things to change, but Quebec hockey has fallen off significantly producing players over the past 2 decades.

 

[Ola]

Litvinov and Kladno. Two small towns which are famous fo their hockey dynasties.

Ivan Hlinka, Petr Klima, Robert Lang, Robert Reichel and others come from Litvinov. Jaromir Jagr, Jake Voracek, Tomas Kaberle, Frantisek Kaberle and many others come from Kladno.

How does Pradubice rank vs Litvinov and Kladno?

BTW, with Canada, doesn't the entire country fit the bill?

 

[king89]

In Sweden it is either Leksand, Örnsköldsvik, Karlstad, Gävle, or Jönköping.

My vote goes to Leksand, even if it hurts to say.