The Broadside

Southern hockey is thriving against all odds


Listen Later

In the 1990s, professional ice hockey was primed for growth. But the NHL had one major problem: geography. In order to expand its footprint, the sport had to move into unlikely warm weather locations with few existing fans. The league eventually expanded to the Sun Belt with mixed early results. But in North Carolina and other Southern states, the NHL has found success with a radical long-term strategy. They've helped build the next generation of hockey fans almost completely from scratch.

With the start of the 2025 NHL season just underway, we're revisiting this episode that was originally published on February 20, 2025.

Featuring:

  • Ibraheem Khalifa, hockey fan
  • Cory Lavalette, Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter and senior editor at North State Journal
  • Shane Willis, Director of Youth Hockey & Community Outreach for the Carolina Hurricanes
  • Joe Ovies, co-host of the Ovies & Giglio sports podcast


Special thanks goes out to the Orange County Sportsplex and Coach Kevin Kamenski of the Carolina Thunder Hockey Club in Hillsborough, NC.

Thanks also to WUNC's Josh Sullivan and Mitchell Northam.

Links:

  • You can find a transcript of the episode here.


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The BroadsideBy WUNC News

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

64 ratings


More shows like The Broadside

View all
Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,523 Listeners

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,835 Listeners

On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,256 Listeners

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti by WBUR

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

4,008 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,474 Listeners

Radio Diaries by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia

Radio Diaries

1,259 Listeners

Embedded by NPR

Embedded

11,904 Listeners

Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,452 Listeners

Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution

Sidedoor

2,245 Listeners

WUNC Politics by WUNC News

WUNC Politics

75 Listeners

1A by NPR

1A

4,665 Listeners

Endless Thread by WBUR

Endless Thread

2,682 Listeners

Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone by Lipstick Nancy, Inc. & Glassbox Media

Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone

4,086 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,473 Listeners

Embodied by WUNC

Embodied

236 Listeners

The Atlas Obscura Podcast by SiriusXM and Atlas Obscura

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

1,743 Listeners

Due South by Jeff Tiberii, Leoneda Inge

Due South

34 Listeners

Classical Music Happy Hour by WNYC

Classical Music Happy Hour

249 Listeners