ST. PAUL - This is becoming an annual article, it seems. It is why Minnesota is called the State of Hockey.
On Saturday night, there were ten NHL games that were played. In Minnesota, the Boys High School Hockey State Tournament was wrapping up.
East Grand Forks beat St. Cloud Cathedral in overtime to win the Class A Championship and Moorhead beat Stillwater to win the Class AA Championship.
Saturday night's Class AA Championship drew a higher attendance than every single NHL game that was played that night. 20,491 was a record for the tournament and every one of those fans saw one of the best games ever.
Below is the attendance from last night's games.
Moorhead vs Stillwater Boys State Championship - 20,491.
Buffalo Sabres at Florida Panthers - 19,559
Seattle Kraken at Philadelphia Flyers - 19,264
Montreal Canadiens at Calgary Flames - 19,243
Boston Bruins at Tampa Bay Lightning - 19,092
Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers - 18,347
New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators - 18,224
Toronto Maple Leafs at Colorado Avalanche - 18,094
St. Louis Blues at Los Angeles Kings - 17,796
New York Islanders at San Jose Sharks - 17,435
Chicago Blackhawks at Nashville Predators - 17,159
The average attendance for NHL games this season is 17,448. The attendance at the Xcel Energy Center for Saturday night's Minnesota Class 2A Boys' Hockey State Championship game was 20,491.
It is safe to say that Minnesota is truly the State of Hockey, and this proves why.