I'm appreciating this a lot. One thing I'd like is if the records on the standings graphic were a touch larger so they were easier to read.

I'm looking forward to seeing which teams pick up unofficial nicknames that would eventually become official. 

1897/98

The sport of ice hockey continued to grow in Minnesota as we headed into the winter of 1897 as five new hockey clubs were formed. Three of those teams would play an independent schedule while the other two joined the RRHL & TCHA.

Let’s start up north with our three new Independents.

Bemidji Hockey Club
The Bemidji Hockey Club is based in Bemidji, MN but also draws from nearby Helga Township & Wilton. Bemidji is a town of about 2,500 with a strong lumber industry and is the county seat of Beltrami County. It’s already the largest city in the area and growing rapidly. The team wears white with a blue B for Bemidji on the front of the sweater. They play their home games outdoors on a frozen Lake Bemidji.

St. Cloud Hockey Club
The St. Cloud Hockey Club is based in St. Cloud, MN. St. Cloud is a city of over 8,000 and is the cultural hub of central Minnesota and the county seat of Stearns County. The St. Cloud area has a strong German Catholic heritage and has grown in recent years thanks to new granite quarries built in the 1880s. The team wears black with a StC monogram on the upper left chest over the players hearts. They play their home games outdoors on Lake George in downtown St. Cloud.

Now we move south for our final newcomers of the 1898 season, the first member of the Twin Cities Hockey Association not based in Minneapolis or St. Paul.

Stillwater Hockey Club
The Stillwater Hockey Club is based in Stillwater, MN. Stillwater is a city of over 12,000 located along the shores of the St. Croix River just 20 miles northeast of St. Paul and is the county seat of Washington County. The city is nicknamed “The Birthplace of Minnesota” because in 1848, a territorial convention that began the process of establishing Minnesota as a state was held in Stillwater, a year before Minnesota even became a territory and a decade before it became a state. When Minnesota first became a territory, the territorial convention selected three cities as locations for important public institutions: Saint Paul was named as the capital, the University of Minnesota was established in Minneapolis, and Stillwater became the site of the territory's first prison. Stillwater is a major city in the lumber industry with lumbermen sending large rafts of logs down the St. Croix. They are then collected at the St. Croix Boom Site two miles upstream of Stillwater and processed in one of Stillwater's many sawmills. The team wears a red sweater with black sleeves and red socks. They also have a SHC logo that they have sewn on the front of their jerseys. They play their home games outdoors on Lily Lake.

Dan O'Mac wrote:

I'm appreciating this a lot. One thing I'd like is if the records on the standings graphic were a touch larger so they were easier to read.

I'm looking forward to seeing which teams pick up unofficial nicknames that would eventually become official. 

Thank you! I've gone ahead and adjusted the records size a bit on the standings graphics going forward, hopefully it will be more legible!

AJHFTW wrote:

I hope that both Duluth and Two Harbors get to form a league very soon.

There are rumbling about a league in the northeast but so they need one or two more teams to make it work and that hasn't happened quite yet. I wouldn't expect it to be too long though with hockey getting to the Iron Range and the popularity of the Duluth-Two Harbors games growing the interest for hockey in the area.