Kentucky's first NHL player?

Can Richmond's Paul McAvoy become Kentucky's first NHL player?

Kentucky has been home to minor-league ice hockey teams, and the sport has a growing club presence around the Bluegrass State.

Still, it's one of 10 states including Arkansas, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming believed not to have ever produced an NHL player.

Paul McAvoy, an incoming freshman for the Division I Colgate University hockey team in Hamilton, NY, would love to be the player to end the drought in his home state.

More in article. Paul has been 'on the road' since he was 13. He enters college as a 20 year old freshman - as most hockey players in college do.

Hopefully the young man can make it to the "show". I can see Tennessee and Nevada breaking the barrier before the other states listed due to having a pro franchise in the state which usually leads to a proliferation of youth development programs.

Kind of hard to believe South Dakota has never produced an NHL player. I would think that hockey would be played by a lot of kids there.