Stickman wrote:

Wooooo!   Go Moose!  As awesome as it'd be for the Bearcats to finally get their first championship, (especially given their cinderella run!), I gotta hope for Grand Rapids to win this one!   (I forgot Section30, but what date would the Final be on?   Does the MAHL end in February or another month?   Just wondering because depending on the answer, that could mean this would be the first MAHL Final baby Stickman would be old enough to have lived through.   It's like I was born to be a Moose fan or something, haha!)

The Super Series takes place one week after the Boys High School Hockey State Tournament so it usually falls on the second week of March.

1987 Kellogg Cup Final


1st Period
GR - 0
STC - 0

It was a sold out house of over 16,000 that packed into the St. Paul Civic Center to watch the 1987 Kellogg Cup Final between the Grand Rapids Moose of the Iron Range Hockey League and St. Cloud Bearcats of the Granite Hockey League. The first period wasn't much to talk about with neither team getting many good looks and ending the period as we started, tied 0-0.

2nd Period
GR - 0
STC - 0

Things picked up a bit in the second, but the goaltenders for both teams were on top of their game, making all the saves asked of them. The physical aspect of the game also picked up in the second with both teams making sure to finish their checks.

3rd Period
GR - 2
STC - 0

The puck was dropped for the third period with fans trying to out chant one another with rivaling "Go Cats Go" and "Lets Go Moose" chants, the tension in the building was palpable. They went up and down the ice for the first half of the period without getting many shots on net, but in the back half of the period Grand Rapids started to get some momentum. After getting a couple shots and holding possession in the offensive zone, the Moose were finally able to break through off a shot from the circle that rang off the far post and in with 6:07 left to play. The Grand Rapids loyal that made the trek south lost their minds in the crowd. The Moose weren't satisfied there though, completely dominating puck possession time for the remainder of the game, holding the Bearcats to just 2 shots for the rest of the period. St. Cloud pulled their goalie after finally getting possession in the offensive zone for a few seconds, but it was poked away just moments after the goalie got to the bench. Grand Rapids skated the puck down the ice, dumping it in on the empty net to put the game on ice. Just a few seconds later the final horn sounded to make it official. The Kellogg Cup is heading back to the Iron Range, the Grand Rapids Moose are your 1987 Kellogg Cup Champions! After getting presented Senator Kellogg's Cup, the Moose skated it over to their supporters who made the trip and joined them in an emotional rendition of "Over the Rainbow", the team's win song since 1939. The Moose are officially loose, winning their third Kellogg Cup in team history, their first since 1975.

The Tschida Trophy for MAHL MVP was awarded to Grand Rapids goaltender Frank Klatt. Klatt was instrumental in Grand Rapids' Kellogg Cup run, allowing just 1 goal in the entire Super Series with 3 Shutouts. He has been the backbone of the Moose for nearly a decade now, so to finally get the recognition he deserves is overdue. Klatt becomes the third Moose to win the Tschida Trophy (Sam Baker 1953 and Didi Miller 1962 &1973).

Get to the bunkers! Children and women first! The Meese were unleashed and not a soul knows when it will be safe to live a normal life in Minnesota, again. Who knew it would be the Antlers who demanded the Big Iron be feared, after finishing second in their own conference.

Moose are Loose!   Heck yeah! Great run for St. Cloud too though!

Congratulations to Grand Rapids, winning their third Kellogg Cup and proving once more why the Moose are and always will be...loose.

And now, here comes the 1986-87 Major Pro Year in Review (with some extra notes)

The Edmonton Oilers have won their third Stanley Cup in four years, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games.  Your Minnesota North Stars went neck-and-neck with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Norris Division's last playoff spot, with both teams finishing with 70 points (nine behind the St. Louis Blues) but losing a tiebreaker to stay home.  Meanwhile, your Winnipeg Jets qualified for the playoffs with a third-place finish in the Smythe Division at 88 points (16 behind the Oilers).  After defeating the Calgary Flames 4-2 in the divisional semis, your Jets got swept at the hands of Wayne Gretzky's team in the divisional finals.  This was notably the first year Chicago's team was called the "Blackhawks" after discovery of their founding documents unearthed it as their name (they had called themselves the "Black Hawks" before).

However, the North Stars' on-ice struggles pale in comparison to their off-ice ones,  Attendance has struggled in recent years, leading team owners the Gund brothers to begin threatening to move the team to the San Francisco Bay Area, a plan the NHL is opposed to.

The US national ice hockey team is set to return for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, competing in Group B alongside defending gold medalists the Soviet Union and defending silver medalists Czechoslovakia, along with West Germany, Austria and Norway.

In other major Twin Cities indoor sports news, the NBA has granted Minneapolis-St. Paul one of its four upcoming expansion teams.  Set to begin play for the 1989-90 season, the team will be known as the Minnesota Timberwolves (following the ownership group polling counties across the state) and will play their inaugural season at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before moving to a proposed new multipurpose arena in downtown Minneapolis for the 1990-91 season.

Finally, at 3:08 in the morning on June 6 in southeast Wisconsin, one particular 6+ year married couple who had sought a child for so long finally welcomed their first-born son into the world...why did I bring this up?  Because he is the very person writing this post.