No matter how much mankind has evolved over the last million years or so, some things are still inherently incompatible like ketchup on a hot dog, blue skies in China and, of course, ice hockey in the Sun Belt. These things just do not go together and likely never will. Still, some folks persist in trying, which is why I find myself deep in the heart of Florida taking my 11-year-old nephew, Jack, to his first professional hockey game.
For many Canadians the notion of hockey in the Deep South is nothing short of sacrilege. After all, the good old boys of Nascar aren't racing around the wheat fields of Saskatchewan so why should the Great White north be sending their puckish mercenaries down to the land of swamps and everglades? In a word, people. When the results from the new US census were released last week, it showed a drastic migration from the northern climes. Florida's population increased by almost 20 per cent over the last decade while northern states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan actually dropped.
And, of course, a number of Canadians have also moved down south in droves helping to alter the southern demographic. Over the past 18 years, National Hockey League (NHL) teams have left Hartford, Connecticut, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, for those hockey hotbeds in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Phoenix, Arizona, while new franchises have been awarded to Miami and Tampa in Florida as well as Atlanta, Georgia, and Nashville, Tennessee.
According to the people who run the NHL, they needed to go where the people are going. So one can safely assume that Mexico City will soon be getting an NHL franchise because there are more than 25 million people living there. Of course, none of them are hockey fans, but that has never stopped the league before so why should it now?
None of this matters tonight though as my main concern is making sure my nephew's first exposure to live hockey will make him a fan for life. He has flown all the way from Perth in Western Australia to spend his Christmas holidays with family and on the drive to the game he is discussing Australia's abysmal showing in the Ashes with his father, who is also a big cricket fan. My brother, his uncle, is along for the ride and notices the youngster is wearing a Cricket Australia hat. 'Jack,' he says, 'you can't wear a cricket hat to a hockey game.'
But I tell my brother we are going to see an ice hockey game in Florida so the kid can basically do whatever he wants. Maybe the good old boys at the game will think Australia is a city in northern Manitoba.