Rodney Don Holder Explains the Recent Growth of Ice Hockey in the United States
Security & Telecom and Audio-Visual expert Rodney Don Holder is an avid sports fan, particularly when it comes to hockey and football. In addition to his professional career, he is passionate about supporting local sports programs and the positive impact that they offer for American youth.
While it is no surprise that football is the big sport in the Deep South, many are amazed to find that ice hockey participation among youth in the American Southeast has increased dramatically over the last ten years. In fact, it is the fastest-growing ice hockey region in the United States, having seen a 40% increase in youth participation since 2009.
Where Does Ice Hockey Come From?
Historians are not entirely sure where the sport’s ancestry originated. The official founder of modern-day ice hockey was James Creighton in the second half of the 19th Century. However, Native Americans enjoyed games that required a ball and stick both on open fields and on ice long before Europeans populated North America.
One could say that modern ice hockey began officially with the Halifax Rules, then soon after with the 1877 Montreal Rules. To date, there is no sport to have grown so popular so quickly in the history of North America. Rodney Don Holder explains that hockey grew from a popular form of recreation in a single city to a nationally regulated sport in less than 10 years with the 1885 Amateur Hockey Association of Canada.
When Did Ice Hockey Come to the United States?
In a reverse of American professional baseball — wherein US ball clubs spread into parts of Canada — Canada began competing for the Stanley Cup before spreading into northern areas of the United States. If Canada was the founding nation for modern day ice hockey, the US was a close second.
By the beginning of the 20th Century, hockey teams from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and parts of New England were also competing with Canadian teams for the Stanley Cup. By 1904, commissioners from amateur teams in Canada and the United States collaborated to form the International Hockey League (IHL). This in turn converted the Stanley Cup Championship from amateur to professional, and members of the IHL teams from thereon paid their players a salary.
United States Professional Hockey in the 21st Century
In time, the IHL became what is the today the NHL, and professional hockey teams exist in all corners of the United States. As with any professional sport, the economics of professional hockey finds strength in its fan base. Rodney Don Holder explains that one major setback to NHL fandom came as a result of the epic 2004–05 league lockout. While the NHL is more less recovered from the sports damaged reputation in 2005, player contracts and salary caps continue to be a source of contention as the world of professional hockey continues to develop.
Surging Popularity of Ice Hockey Among the American Youth
Perhaps the most notable surge of ice hockey popularity in the United States rests in the American youth. Between the ages of 5–18, youth participation has grown steadily by over 30,000 players since 2012. Minnesota currently ranks highest with nearly 50,000 boy and girl players. And one of the fastest growing youth hockey states is California, where they grew youth ice hockey participation by 5,000 in the last five years. Altogether it shows that hockey is here to stay as a sport, and it is becoming increasingly popular even in parts of the country that do not see much — if any — snow.
