re: Southern Hockey Fans

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Lots of Yankees moved south, so yes. And its taken hold in some locations. Carolina, Nashville and Florida for example.

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It's not as simple as thinking that every kid that plays hockey in the south is related to a yankee. I'm born and raised in the southeast, and hockey is, by far, my favorite sport (to play, at least). With the NHL expansion projects in the late 80s-through late-90s, the game wasn't just some exotic thing that belonged only to Buffalo, Edmonton, and Hartford. There was big-league exposure in the south, and, believe it or not, the Mighty Ducks movies made it look like a shitload of fun to play. Combine that with the affluence of the 90s allowing more people to be able to afford to play, and it was very accessible for southern kids. My neighborhood played roller hockey in the streets all the time; far more than we played baseball, football, or basketball combined.

Of all the guys I grew up playing hockey with, only a handful were originally Canadians, and even fewer were yankees.