Two-Four-Six-Eight! Who Do We Appreciate?

NHL Ice Girls, that's who.

I haven't undertaken actual historical research of the topic (although I may at some point) but I'm reasonably sure that one of the things we can credit the NHL's expansion to the Sun Belt with is the emergence of various dance teams/cheer squads that have begun to make appearances during games, mostly (although not entirely) in the South. (In addition to the franchises represented above, I am aware that Carolina and Phoenix boast dance teams.)

However, based upon the slender evidence of the photos in the gallery, only this shot of some young ladies supporting the Dallas Stars would appear to depict what I would truly call skating cheerleaders. I would really like to see more skating cheerleaders in the NHL, although probably only in certain places...this seems "right" in Dallas and would probably fit very well in Los Angeles (or San Jose), but might seem out of place in, say, Boston or Edmonton. Another place it would fit in would be Minnesota, because we have a long tradition of skating cheerleaders here. The Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota (my alma mater) have had skating cheerleaders for many years.


Checking out the AHL

I won't be able to catch tomorrow night's game against the Blues, as I'm going to Milwaukee over the weekend for the draft for my fantasy baseball league (in which I am totally overmatched, by the way...I'm in a league with the type of guys who spend their free time perusing A-Ball box scores so they know who'll be good in six years). However, I am going to attend tomorrow night's game between the Milwaukee Admirals and the Peoria Rivermen with a friend of mine. I've never been to an AHL game before, so I'm pretty excited. Watch this space for a report.