What’s Minnesota’s Favorite Winter Olympic Sport? (It’s Not Hockey!)
We're pretty familiar with most of them here in the Bold North, but the specific sport at the Winter Olympic Games that is the favorite in Minnesota is kind of a surprise.
The Land of 10,000 Lakes has a proud tradition when it comes to producing athletes that compete in the Winter Olympic Games. In fact, since the 'modern era' of the games began back in 1924, the Land of 10,000 (Frozen) Lakes is responsible for winning the most medals out of any state. Woo! New York and Massachusetts weren't far behind us though.
Through the most recent 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, Minnesota athletes have taken home 92 total medals, of which 34 of them were gold. That's pretty impressive!
But just which winter Olympic SPORT is our favorite here in the North Star State? I was surprised to find out it isn't hockey.
I know what you're saying: It's Not hockey?!? How can that be? Minnesota is known as the State of Hockey, right? Our own former University of Minnesota coach Herb Brooks famously coached the 1980 Team USA Men's Hockey 'Miracle on Ice,' where they beat the Soviet Union to win the gold medal.
So if hockey isn't Minnesota's favorite winter Olympic sport, then what is it?
Well, the team at Upgraded Points answered this question by analyzing Google search volume for winter Olympic sports over the past 12 months to uncover the most popular Olympic sport in every state ahead of this year's games.
And here in Minnesota, the survey says our favorite Winter Olympic sport is... curling. Which makes sense, seeing as the captain of the USA Men's Curling Team is Jeff Shuster, a proud Minnesota native from Duluth (who also happens to be one of the flag bearers during the opening ceremony.)
Over in my home state of Wisconsin, their favorite Winter Olympic sport is ski jumping, while down in Iowa, figure skating is the favorite. To find a state where hockey IS the favorite sport, you have to head out east to New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. All three say ice hockey is their favorite.
Of course, Minnesota IS well-represented when it comes to hockey at this year's Winter Olympics too. Keep scrolling to check out 11 Minnesotans with ties to Olympic hockey!
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