The Predators Pro Shop now has a cap honoring the Dixie Flyers, the team that introduced hockey to Nashville in 1962.

The Flyers won the Eastern Hockey League championship three years after their formation, and then captured the league title and the EHL's Walker Cup in 1966 and 1967.

In the Original Six years, all but 120 professional hockey players were forced to play in leagues other than the NHL. When a young player like Ted McCaskill of Kapuskasing, Ontario, was offered a chance to play in Nashville, Tennessee--a town that had never seen hockey--his immediate response was "Yeah!" and he loaded the car for the long drive south.

The Dixie Flyers folded in 1971, three years after the NHL began expansion. McCaskill himself joined the Minnesota North Stars organization.

But the memory of the Dixie Flyers lives on in the hearts of veteran hockey fans in Nashville...and on the shelves of the Predators Pro Shop.

Another interesting FanPost I've promoted to the main stage here at OTF - Dirk