Reasons I Don't Want to Leave Minnesota (28/30)

I've never lived somewhere like Michigan or Massachusetts, supposedly other hotbeds of hockey. I've never experienced Canadian hockey madness. So maybe there are other places out there like this.

But it's hard to believe.


Let's Play Hockey, in the back, is a weekly newspaper--that churns out 42 pages of hockey news, hockey ads, and hockey stats almost exclusively from Minnesota. And it's mostly amateur hockey, this issue's cover not withstanding.

The bottom was an addition this week: Atlas of Minnesota rinks. There are 16 pages with about 13 rinks per page, equals about 200 rinks. And these are just INDOOR rinks, never mind that every pond in the state gets skated on once it freezes (that's a slight exaggeration since there are so many lakes here but) and many communities put them up in parks, etc.


Anyway, I play on two teams and I'm on enough hockey mailing lists that I get between 2-3 emails per week telling me about hockey opportunities--most of those are exclusively for WOMEN. Yesterday I got on the ice twice, once in the morning with a teammate on her lunchbreak and then in the evening, a women's 3 on 3 pickup game for which I tended goal. Tonight I have practice, Friday a game, and Sunday TWO games.

Find me another place where such things are not just not unusual, not just normal, but somewhat expected and maybe I'll think about moving. Maybe.