Loins have been girded. High ground has been claimed, lost, reclaimed, and maybe even lost. Fortunes have been made, and dreams have been dashed. All over the current state of hockey’s “poverty” teams, particularly those now set to face off in the Conference Finals. Since three are located in southern states (North Carolina, Texas, and Florida), and Vegas is not known for a deep hockey tradition, many have claimed this is the downfall of hockey. The sport will henceforth be doomed to the slag heap of the sports world.
As a hockey fan relatively new to the sport, and one living in North Carolina, I can only watch this debate from a distance, with an admitted unobjectively viewpoint, and remain confident in my opinion without the need to defend it.