Tennessee is hockey-mad for the Predators (did I just say that?)

Scott Whitted relocated his family from the Twin Cities to Nashville in 2011. The Grand Rapids native loves living in the State of Hockey.

The new State of Hockey south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

OK, so Whitted is not ready to strip his original home state of its official nickname, but he stresses enthusiastically, "Nashville is a great hockey city."

Having spent the first half of my life in beloved Tennessee, including all those years without hockey as an activity option, this development remains rather stunning.

As a kid raised in Tennessee, we observed two seasons: college football season and spring practice. You were either a diehard Tennessee Vols fan or a traitor.

Any true Vols fan knows that never, under any circumstance, should a person get married or die the week of the Alabama game, known traditionally and regally as the Third Saturday in October.

I vaguely remember as a young boy attending a party at an ice rink about 30 minutes from my home. The sight of people skating on frozen water felt like watching astronauts walk on the moon.

Now Nashville is on fire with hockey mania. The Predators will host Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday, and judging by reports, approximately 1 billion people will descend upon downtown to take part in the revelry.

How fanatical has Nashville become about Preds hockey? The CMA Music Festival is being held downtown this weekend as well, and it's unclear which event serves as the headliner: country music or hockey.

NBC released TV ratings for Game 4 of this series, and renowned hockey hotbed Knoxville finished ahead of the Twin Cities in viewership.

This is not a case of bandwagon hopping, either. Sure, some of the civic hysteria is a product of unexpected success in an extended playoff run. But interest has been robust for years in that market, a beautiful marriage of honky-tonks and hockey in the party district of Lower Broadway.

Northern transplants and auto-industry workers from Detroit migrating to a Saturn plant initially provided the Predators a solid base of knowledgeable fans.

Nashville is awash in giddiness by this playoff run. Whitted took his daughter to her doctor for a checkup this week. Doctor and daughter walked out a short time later doing the "Murray, Murray, it's all your fault" chant together (Google it).

Whitted compares the atmosphere at games and around town to the North Stars' playoff run in 1991. He attended two games that postseason and remains an ardent Minnesota sports fan.

"This is very similar to what I saw back in 1991 at the Met," he said.

Then there are natives such as my cousin Bruce, a self-described "general sports junkie." He bought season tickets the inaugural year in 1998, attending the Preds' first home game, and has been a fan since.

"For most Tennesseans that didn't know anything about the game," Bruce said, "the actual hook was seeing a game live."

He's a relative novice as a fan compared to his daughter Rachel, a junior at the University of Arkansas. She watches every playoff game on TV, even if it conflicts with "The Bachelorette."

Rachel's college roommates begged her to watch that show's season premiere last month, which fell on the same night as Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against Anaheim.

Rachel locked herself in her room, choosing hockey over roses.

"She won't miss a game," her dad said.

Same thing for my older brother Andy, who caught hockey fever so severely that he positions himself 3 feet from his TV while watching games. His neighbor is Whitted, who has taught him the finer points of the game.

Andy faced his own dilemma for Sunday's Game 6. He is a newly appointed CEO of MAPCO Express. His parent company is based in Chile. The board of directors is traveling from South America to Nashville on Sunday for meetings.

Dinner was planned that evening, around the same time as opening faceoff. That wasn't going to work. Their reservation was changed, six board members are receiving customized Predators jerseys as gifts, and the whole group is posting up at an establishment near downtown to watch the game.

"They understand it's a big deal," my brother said.

Rocky Top has become Hockey Top. Amazing.

Chip Scoggins • chip.scoggins@startribune.com