Southern-fried hockey: How Alabama has made the sport its own

By Greg Wyshynski, ESPN.com

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It’s not easy to blend in as a hockey player in Alabama. Usually the jig is up the minute they open their mouths.

“Obviously, I don’t hear my own accent,” said Stuart Stefan, an Ontario-born assistant coach for the Huntsville Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League. “But you’re out in the community, you’re talking to someone, and a lot of times they pick it up right away: ‘You’re a Havoc player.’ If you’re Canadian, what are you doing in Alabama if you’re not on the hockey team, right?”

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