According to the french Minister of Sport, 17 229 people are practicing ice hockey in France out of ¬60 million inhabitants. This is a far from the two million french people who play soccer, one million tennis, 564 000 judo or 426 888 basket-ball. On the contrary to the United States, Canada and some countries in Northern Europe (Finland, Sweeden…), the practice of ice hockey is relatively quiet in France. Nevertheless, the “look out” affecting the NHL since September 16th 2004 has enlightened the french ice hockey. In fact, around 180 NHL players have left north-america for European teams (during several weeks or months). Thus 2 well-known players from the Calgary Flames (NHL Stanley cup finalists Steve Montador and Steven Reinprecht) have joined the team of Mulhouse (France). This was a great opportunity for the french ice hockey to be under the light of the sport media and to gain consideration. It was also a chance for the French Hockey Executive Authority (FHEA) which set up a new championship formula in 2004 : one conference of 16 professionnal teams, which meet each other twice a regular season + a final play-off for the best teams. But beyond the sport consideration, the geographer could be surprised by the location of the professionnal ice hockey team in France. Actually, the french championship is not based upon a system of permanent professionnal franchises. Each year, any of the teams can move to a lower level or reach the FHEA league (according to their results). Despite their theorical random location, the geographical distribution of ice hockey teams in France shows a national territory cut in two distinct parts along a virtual line between Paris and Lyon. For two decades, there have been more professionnal teams located in the northern part (far away from the mountains in the south/south-east and the frost belt in the eastern part of France) and these teams are more competitive. It will be very interesting to try to analyse the opposition between north and south. This paper will also focus on the Rouen Dragons, one of the current best team in France and the only french team to have won a European title. It will be pertinent to identify the factors explain how a town located in Normandy, in the western part of France, can host one of the best french team ever (seven national championship titles).