Finally we move south to the Twin Cities for a set of three games between Minneapolis, Mill City, & the St. Paul Athletic Club.

Minneapolis Hockey Club vs Mill City Hockey Club
The Battle of Minneapolis was set for December 28th, 1895 on Lake Calhoun and drew a crowd of nearly 500 people out onto the frozen lake to watch. Mill City remain undefeated all-time as they defeat their cross-town foes by a score of 9-6.

Mill City Hockey Club vs St. Paul Athletic Club
It was a cold January afternoon when the St. Paul Athletic Club took on the Mill City Hockey Club on Lake Calhoun. This game was unlike anything we have really seen from this new sport to this point. Unlike the previous meeting between these two teams a year ago, things were down right violent with players getting into skirmishes on several occasions and one Mill City player even knocking the St. Paul rover unconscious with a high stick. The game had to be called early to prevent any more violence from occurring and the game was declared a 3-2 win for St. Paul Athletic who was winning by that score at the time of the cancellation, ending Mill City’s perfect record in a controversial way.

St. Paul Athletic Club vs Minneapolis Hockey Club
It was a perfect day for hockey on February 1st, 1896 as the St. Paul Athletic Club welcomed the Minneapolis Hockey Club to Lexington Park for the final hockey game of the 1895/96 season. The Athletics put their superior skating to use, outpacing the Blacks and dominating puck possession on their way to an 8-2 blowout in front of over 1,000 onlookers.

Let's start the 1896 season up north with Kittson County and Pembina County who held a home and home series just over a year after the first ever hockey game in Minnesota was held in Hallock.

Pembina County Hockey Club vs Kittson County Hockey Club
It was dark and cold inside the Pembina Indoor Rink for the first ever hockey game in North Dakota with Kittson County making the trip across the Red River to take on Pembina. It was a tightly fought contest with neither team able to hold a lead for long. After 60 minutes of play though it was the hometown team with a 6-5 lead to win the game and tie the all-time series 1-1.

Kittson County Hockey Club vs Pembina County Hockey Club
Just two weeks after their rematch, Kittson County welcomed Pembina County back to Hallock for their second and final match of the year. The boys in red came out flying, going out to a 5-0 lead before Pembina finally got their first goal of the game. They would alternate goals back and forth for the remainder of the game with Kittson County walking away with an 11-7 victory in their home barn.

Two Harbors Hockey Club
The Two Harbors Hockey Club is based in Two Harbors, MN. Two Harbors is also a port city on Lake Superior with over 50 million tons of iron ore shipped annually through its docks. The team wears red, black & white stripes and they play their home games outdoors on a frozen Agate Bay.

ProsecutorMilesEdgeworth wrote:

Hello “We’re Back” department? I’d like to file a claim…

Super excited to be back!

ItDoesntMatter wrote:

file this one under T, for "things you love to see"

love to see the mahl back and better than ever! super excited to take the journey all over again. I do have one question: it seems like all, or at least most, of these games were thrown together sort of on a whim. I can understand having a bunch of plain red sweaters ready to go, but how are teams getting, say, black and white striped sweaters with matching socks? are they making them themselves?

Good question! So according to my research striped sweaters were actually fairly common in the 1890s, so I would assume that the players were able to purchase striped socks and sweaters at the shop in town. Since these teams consisted of just 7 players, I feel like that would be feasible. In the case of the St. Paul Athletic Club, I could see them having the financial ability to get 7 red and white striped sweaters made by the time they played Mill City since they are a club with paid membership and could pay for a tailor.

Steelman wrote:

Hello whiplash! But hell yeah, we're back baby! Looking forward to this again and it looks like you're off to a cracking start already! Are you doing more simulating or player tracking this time around? I believe I'll bestow my loyalty to St. Paul Athletic Club in these early days, though I'm feeling an affinity to the Mill boys as well.

Glad to be back! As far as simulating goes, yes I will be doing it a little differently. I plan to actually do each season "game by game" in a way. I will be keeping track of head to head records and basically simulating every game for every team instead of just randomizing to get the standings like in MAHL 1.0. I don't plan on doing any player tracking aside from highlighting star players like I did in MAHL 1.0 since it would just be too much with all of the other things I'm keeping

News of the game spread quickly to nearby St. Paul where word eventually made its way to members of the St. Paul Athletic Club who were immediately interested and wanted to give this new sport a try. A team was soon formed and a formal challenge was issued to the Mill City Hockey Club because they had won their game and the Athletic Club wanted to test themselves against the best. The challenge was promptly accepted and a date and location were agreed upon. The match would take place on Saturday, March 2nd at Lexington Park, home of the St. Paul Saints baseball team, and visitors would be allowed to watch from the grandstand for free.

St. Paul Athletic Club vs Mill City Hockey Club
It was a warm afternoon in St. Paul when the St. Paul Athletic Club took on the Mill City Hockey Club in the first ever hockey game in the State’s Capital. Mill City wore the same all-white set that they wore against Minneapolis while the Athletic Club donned red and white stripes. Lexington Park was nearly full as fans came out to enjoy the 40 degree weather. The weather was great for spectators, but made for some awful playing conditions with the ice melting and cracking in several spots, making play incredibly difficult along the wooden boards. Despite the crappy conditions, both teams were still able to get things done, scoring a combined 16 goals as Mill City defeated the St. Paul Athletic Club by a score of 11-5.