Las Vegas among possible stops for 3×3 hockey tour

Las Vegas is one of 20 cities under consideration for a tour stop for 3ICE, an independent three-on-three ice hockey league that will begin play next year, and hockey fans will vote on which cities are chosen.

3ICE is looking to hockey fans to help decide what cities the nine-stop tour will visit for its inaugural season. Hockey fans can begin voting today at 3ICE.com.

Fans posting videos and tagging various 3ICE social media accounts will have their votes count double.

“3ICE is bringing the best part of hockey to nine cities next year, and we want to hear from hockey fans where we should go,” said E.J. Johnston, CEO of 3ICE. “We’ve narrowed a list of hockey-hungry markets down to 20, and we really want to get fan feedback on where we will drop the puck in June of 2021.”

In addition to Las Vegas, the cities in contention to host a stop in the 3ICE tour are Boston; Buffalo; Chicago; Cleveland; Edmonton, Alberta; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Hershey, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; London, Ontario; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Montreal; Nashville; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Providence, Rhode Island; Quebec City; Toronto; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“We can’t wait to see how this shakes out. We really want to listen to hockey fans and hope that we get surprised by some fans and the passion they have for their cities,” added Johnston. “We’ll listen to what they have to say and will look to start announcing our tour stops in October.”

The inaugural 3ICE season will take place during the summer of 2021. The league will consist of eight teams, each consisting of seven players – six skaters and one goalie – and a head coach.

Every season will see a total of 60 games per season played over nine tour stops, culminating in a final league championship game, giving fans the ultimate hockey experience.

The league has a surprisingly strong roster of coaches for its eight teams. Signed on to coach in 3ICE are Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Carbonneau, who won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens; Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, who won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers and was named one of the 100 greatest NHL players in history; Angela Ruggiero, the fourth woman inducted into the Hall of Fame and the all-time leader in games played for Team USA with 256; and Ed Johnston, who played in the NHL for 22 years and was a team executive for 31.

Also, John LeClair, the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive seasons; Hall of Famer Joe Mullen, the first American to score 500 goals and accumulate 1,000 points during 16 NHL seasons; Hall of Famer Larry Murphy, the fifth-highest scoring defenseman in NHL history with 1,216 points; and first-ballot Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, another of the players named one of the 100 greatest in NHL history and a six-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The fan vote will be live until 11:59:59 (PDT) Sunday, Sept. 27 at 3ICE.com.