Holy upsets!!! And all my favorites are out, except the boys from Wisconsin! GO BREWERS!

Your Name: Michael Burmeister
Age: 32
Profession: Food Service
Names 
1. Minneapolis Musicians (to honor the city's emerging status as a home for musicians, such as The Andrews Sisters of old, Bob Dylan presently, and some others in the future).
2. Minneapolis Flying Aces (named after Snoopy's World War I alter ego-Charles M. Schulz was born in Minneapolis, growing up in St. Paul but returning to Minneapolis on numerous occasions, most notably from 1952 until 1958, as his Peanuts grew in popularity).  
3. Minneapolis Browns (for the same reasons as listed above...I imagine the erstwhile Bruins and the Winona Wildcats would be Charlie Brown's two favorite MAHL teams)
4. Minneapolis Doughboys (to honor the city's veterans, and also as a nod to hometown company Pillsbury's new mascot introduced this year)
Colors:
If Musicians: Primarily purple, with black and white
If Flying Aces: Primarily brown, with navy blue and black
If Browns: Primarily gold, with black and white
If Doughboys: Sky blue or army green and white.

Last edited by Burmy87 (1/09/2020 4:19 pm)

Your Name: Rolf Magnussen
Age: 64
Profession: Head of the Minnesota State High School League
Name(s):
1. Amateurs - Embracing the fact that these are not professionals, Rolf saw many of the Twin Cities players while they came up through high school, and continues to view them as amateurs playing for the love of the game.
2. Grapplers - The AWA started in 1960, becoming one of the top regional professional wrestling companies in the United States which focused on mat-based wrestling, a.k.a grappling. Alternate option: Brawlers.
3. Loons - We may already have the Mallards, but the common Loon is the state bird of Minnesota with no team currently claiming the moniker.
Colors: For the amateurs, the Minneapolis city flag is blue and white. With so many teams using blue, adding a bit of gold trim would give them a scheme that gives a connection to the city and state. For the other two, a green heavy scheme sounds like the best option, perhaps even a green/red.

Last edited by Dan O'Mac (1/09/2020 2:31 pm)

Thank you everyone for your name suggestions, I will leave suggestions open until midnight tonight, after that I will narrow down the choices and leave it to a vote!

1965 Kellogg Cup Super Series; Great Eight


Thief River Falls Railers vs La Crosse Brewers
The top seeded Railers came into this game expecting an easy victory, having never lost to a team from the Valley Hockey League, but the Brewers showed why they have made it as far as they have thanks to an early powerplay opportunity that they capitalized on, giving them and early lead. Thief River responded by periods end to end the first tied at 1 apiece. The second period was where La Crosse pulled away, using their impressive speed to create chances. The Brewers netted 3 in the second, giving them a commanding 4-1 lead after 2. The Railers were shocked and embarrassed, but they were able to turn the momentum in their favor in the final period. Jack Smith buried a shot off the post and in to get his team back to within one a little over 4 minutes into the second. The Brewers looked like a much different team than the first two periods, opting to go into a defensive shell rather than take risks and possibly increase their lead. This allowed Thief River to pepper their goalie, but he continued his run of good form and kept La Crosse in the lead. The Railers pulled their goalie in desperation with a minute and a half to go. They set up like it was a powerplay and found an open man near the face off dot who one timed a blast into the net, putting them back to within one with a minute left. They returned the goalie for the face off and the Brewers won the draw and dumped the puck into the Railers zone. The Brewers and Railers raced into the zone for the loose puck as the clock continued to run. Thief River was first to the puck, but their breakout pass was intercepted and dumped back in deep. The clock was down to 10 seconds when Thief River finally got the puck into the Brewers zone. Brewers clogged the shooting lanes, ready to block any shot attempts. The clock ticked on to the final seconds and Thief River fired a shot despite there being La Crosse players in the way. The shot was blocked and the clock expired, keeping the Brewers Cinderella run going and sending the top seeded Railers home.

Sioux Falls Packers vs Virginia Royals
This one started out hectic, with both teams scoring in the opening minute and setting the tempo for the rest of the game. Sioux Falls gained their first lead of the game in the second, capitalizing on a breakaway chance. Virginia was down, but not out, and they managed to knot things up in the final minute of the second. The third was slow, with lots of stoppages and little to no flow. Overtime was needed as we were tied 2-2 at the end of regulation. Overtime began and it was much like the third, neither team was able to get anything going. 11:47 into the period, Sioux Falls was called for roughing when a Packer sucker punched a Royal in retaliation for a slash that the ref didn't see, giving Virginia a much needed powerplay. The Royals were looking for any opportunity to get a shot on net to create an opportunity. The puck found its way to captain Louis Nelson who lifted his stick like he was winding up for a slap shot, but rather than taking the shot he delivered a hard pass down low to a teammate who made a move towards the net and fired a shot off the goalies blocker. The rebound was loose in the slot and Nelson broke to the puck, slapping it towards goal. His shot was again saved, but there was another rebound. The puck was slapped towards goal again, sliding just under the diving goalie, into the net. Virginia advances to the Semi Finals, knocking off the Sioux Falls Packers in overtime.

Warroad Lakers vs St. Paul Victorias
A rematch of the 1962 Kellogg Cup Final, the Lakers were looking to avenge their heartbreaking loss while the V's looked to protect home ice. Things were fairly even for the first and most of the second, but the Lakers finally got on the board on a slap shot from Oshie that blew past the St. Paul goalkeeper with 3 minutes left in the second. Warroad went into the third with momentum, and began applying the pressure some more, but the Victorias held strong, keeping the score at 1-0. The V's, rallied by the hometown crowd, finally got some good chances late in the third, but Warroad was able to keep them to the outside, out of high scoring areas. The clock wore on until the final horn sounded, sending the Lakers to the semi finals with a 1-0 win.

Winnipeg Monarchs vs Rochester Mustangs
Winnipeg and Rochester both came in with a lot of momentum, but the sheer talent and physicality of the Monarchs set the tone early. Winnipeg notched two goals in the opening frame and one more in the second to take a comfortable 3-0 lead heading into the third. Rochester capitalized on a powerplay early in the third, finally getting something going on offense, but once the Monarchs were back at full strength they continued to punish Mustang players if they dared skate with the puck for too long. The clock expired, sending the Monarchs to their first semi finals in franchise history.

Let me know what you think, comments are appreciated!

Burmy87 wrote:

4. Minneapolis Doughboys (to honor the city's veterans, and also as a nod to hometown company Pillsbury's new mascot introduced this year)

 
Wait a sec, was this always a suggestion? I’m not very sure how I missed it when I used it to describe Pillsbury while backing my pitch! Haha whoops my bad, guess the name isn’t so bad if it is planting itself in all of our minds. Have to question if Pillsbury would tolerate the direct reference though. Seems like something a company would squash or completely endorse and promote.