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St. Paul snubbed from WalletHub survey for top hockey cities

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Published  May 28, 2026 4:15 PM CDT
Minnesota Wild
FOX 9
Wild fans celebrate historic playoff win over Stars

Wild fans celebrate historic playoff win over Stars

The Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 5-2 to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Thursday night, and fans celebrated at Tom Reid's bar across from Grand Casino Arena.

The Brief

    • Minnesota is the "State of Hockey," but St. Paul got snubbed in a recent WalletHub survey of the top hockey cities in the country for fans.
    • Despite being the home of the Minnesota Wild and popular high school state tournaments, St. Paul didn't make the survey's top-10 cities.
    • Boston was ranked the No. 1 hockey city for fans in America. The survey featured 75 cities, and St. Paul was ranked No. 11.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota is known as the "State of Hockey," but according to a WalletHub survey, St. Paul isn’t one of the top 10 cities in the country for the sport.

WalletHub’s top hockey cities

The backstory:

WalletHub released a study Wednesday on the top hockey cities in America. Despite St. Paul and Grand Casino Arena being a hockey hotbed, home to the Minnesota Wild and high school state tournaments, it didn’t make the survey’s top-10 list.

WalletHub says it compared 75 U.S. cities across 21 key metrics, ranging from the area’s professional and college teams to minimum season-ticket prices and stadium capacity.

WalletHub’s top-10 hockey cities

Here are the top-10 cities in the U.S.A. for hockey fans, according to WalletHub.

  • Boston, Mass. (Home to the Boston Bruins, Boston University and Boston College)
  • Detroit, Mich. (Home to the Detroit Red Wings; Michigan and Michigan State have top hockey programs nearby)
  • Denver, Colo. (Home to the Colorado Avalanche and Denver University programs)
  • New York, New York (Home to the New York Rangers and New York Islanders)
  • Sunrise, Fla. (Home of the Florida Panthers)
  • Pittsburgh, Pa. (Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins)
  • Newark, New Jersey (Home of the New Jersey Devils)
  • Tampa, Fla. (Home of the Tampa Bay Lightning)
  • Raleigh, North Carolina (Home of the Carolina Hurricanes)
  • St. Louis, Missouri (Home of the St. Louis Blues)

Did St. Paul get snubbed?

Local perspective:

WalletHub ranked St. Paul just outside the top-10, at No. 11.

That’s despite the fact that Grand Casino Arena regularly fills its 19,000-plus seats for Minnesota Wild games. The Wild finished the regular season as one of the top teams in the NHL this year, and won a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2015. The Wild’s season ended in a 4-2 series loss to the Avalanche in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Grand Casino Arena is also the host for several high school state tournaments. The Boys High School State Hockey Tournament is one of the most popular events in the world, as the Class AA sessions routinely feature sellout crowds.

Minnesota WildSportsSt. Paul