Survey: 4 of country's 20 best hockey towns are in Pennsylvania, but Philly isn't one of them
Four of the best hockey towns in the United States are in Pennsylvania, according to a survey released by a financial advisory company Thursday.
State College ranked fifth, Pittsburgh seventh, Hershey ninth and Moon Township 19th in the study by SmartAsset.
The company ranked towns based on fan intensity criteria, such as attendance, and quality of life factors, such as median household income.
Seven of the top 10 cities were college towns, including the top three — Marquette, Mich. (Northern Michigan), Lewiston, N.Y. (Niagara) and Houghton, Mich. (Michigan Tech).
Pittsburgh was the highest-ranking NHL city, followed by Minneapolis at No. 8. Pittsburgh fared well in attendance rankings and number of restaurants and entertainment facilities in the city. Moon Township did well in median household income.
No other Pennsylvania towns were in the top 25.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
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