Yes you absolutely right, the province of Heilongjiang has both these cities. National teams are mostly 50/50 of players from those two. But I think Harbin is the overall popular, and is bigger. Qiqihar is a strong number two and then there is basically nothing.If I am not mistaken about Chinese hockey Qiqihar is also in the running...
Kushiro for Japan, is that possible?
In Switzerland it's Bern, Ambri and Davos.
In Finland it's Pori for sure. Loudest fans and a great culture.
I wasn't aware that in order to be called a "hockey town", the local team(s) must be constantly winning and successful.Nothing special about Pori. Usually a pretty lame atmosphere (they got dominated by Raumam Boja just a few days ago) and a terrible arena.
It's hard to nominate a "stand-out" hockey town from Finland. Tampere is the one with the biggest traditions, but it has been a mediocre place at best in the last decades in terms of success, attendance and player production.
Turku was pretty dominant in the 90's, but they're in a really difficult situation at the moment.
Oulu is a sound choice right now. Lots of good homegrown players and a successful decade behind them.
I wasn't aware that in order to be called a "hockey town", the local team(s) must be constantly winning and successful.
It can also create complacency, which will in turn generate (usually temporary) failure. But that doesn't mean that the passion and proficiency still aren't there.It's part of the equation. Passionate and proficient hockey culture is more likely to produce success than failure.
Besides, you can create a "hockey town" just about anywhere with enough local success. But true hockey towns retain their culture and passion towards the sport even through failure and hardship. For example, Tampere is pretty constant in that sense. It remains to be seen what happens in Oulu when Kärpät hits a stretch that makes the glory years seem like a memory long past.
I'd say that Gävle and Skelefteå are ahead of Örnsköldsvik atm, both towns has had a more progressive development of young talent recently.
Not sure about Bern, football is also very well supported there. And Ambrì probably fails the "town" part.
Davos and Langnau, maybe Lausanne, seem like the best answers for Switzerland, although hockey is pretty popular accross the entire country.