A while ago, I was thinking about Minnesota's hockey history and it got me thinking. What if there was an amateur hockey league in the state that started when the game first began to get popular in the state? A league made up of everyday people who just love the game. Any city can have a team as long as they have a minimum of 10 skaters and 2 goalies, all players must be over the age of 18 and can not have played for money at any point in the past. This is a contact league, but fighting is not allowed. Some teams are actual teams from the past or fictional teams from movies and such. Some cities will be better at different points in history, depending on events that take place in that time and population rises and falls.  This is going to be the largest project I have ever worked on and it will take a long time to complete, I will simulate seasons using a random generator. I will be designing logos and uniforms for teams that are accurate to the time period. Ideas for teams, logos, and uniforms will be welcomed. The league is made up of smaller leagues that play each other in the regular season, the top teams from each league after the regular season move on to the playoffs where they can play teams from other leagues and play for the Kellogg Cup. 

Teams are independently owned by the players and coaches (though some teams don't have any coaches, just player coaches). Players have to pay to be on the team and the money goes to travel expenses and such, players also have to supply their own equipment. Teams are run based off of how youth hockey programs are currently run. Although there aren't any owners, teams can be sponsored by local businesses, this could allow players to play for free (they still wouldn't be getting paid because then it wouldn't be an amateur league). So in short, teams are independently owned by the players on the team who pay to be on a team, unless local businesses sponsor the team allowing the players to play without having to pay, sponsors can also buy teams equipment, just not pay the players.  

The Minnesota Amateur Hockey League decides who is able to join a league based on how many players are committed to playing an entire season and are in a situation where they can pay for transportation. So no, there won't be expansion councils, it will mostly be decided by me based on a number of things; current population of the city, population trends, new businesses or industries in the city, hockey presence in the city in real life at the time, and relation to other teams at the time (so there isn't a team 5 hours from the next closest team).

There were 8 teams that were founded before the MAHL was formed.

Minneapolis Hockey Club/Millers - 1896
Soudan Miners - 1899
St. Paul Victorias - 1902
Eveleth Rangers - 1905
Stillwater Athletic Club - 1907
St. Paul Athletic Club/Saints - 1914
Duluth Hornets - 1914
South St. Paul Mavericks - 1915 

The teams that were around prior to the MAHL either played against one another in a non-organized sense or just played with other amateurs, but there wasn't an organized league that the teams played under.  

The first year of the Minnesota Amateur Hockey league only has 2 leagues, the Iron Range Hockey league in the north east part of the state and is based in Eveleth, and the twin cities hockey league which is based out of St. Paul. Each league is made up of 5 teams. Here are the uniforms for the 1915/16 season. 

Iron Range Hockey League:

 



 Twin Cities Hockey League:
 



 6.4.1

Last edited by Section30 (12/07/2019 2:00 pm)

The playoffs consist of the top 2 teams from each league playing one another in a best of 3 series, the winners advance and play a one game, winner takes all, final. The winning team gets to take home the Kellogg cup for the next year, until the next playoffs. The numbers next to the first games are for the series, not goals. 



 Highlights from the playoffs:
- Soudan's goalie Mikael Heikkinen stands on his head and the Miners upset Eveleth and advance to the finals.
- Victorias continue to dominate and win the first ever Kellogg Cup. 

The playoffs came along and there is only one new face, the Duluth Hornets. They don't have the best showing and lose both games to a dominant Rangers team. Minneapolis HC gets its revenge on the Victorias after last year and advance to the finals. The finals come and the Eveleth Rangers win in decisive matter to become the second Kellogg Cup Champions!

  

The 1918 regular season came and went without many changes in the Cities, the Victorias and Millers finished at the top of the league once again. In the Iron Range things got shaken up a bit with 2 new teams at the top of the league, the Reds finally surpassed their big brothers and Ely squeaked into the second position in a one game playoff against the Rangers. Soudan was without their star goalie again this year and will be without him from now on after he moved out of state thus dropping the Miners to last in the league 2 years in a row.