It was another very busy offseason as we prepared for the 1974/75 season, here are the highlights.

- 7 expansion teams are set to join 4 leagues in the MAHL

- 6 current teams adjusted their identities

- 8 teams have new arenas
              - East Grand Forks: The Pointers will be calling 1,500 seat EGF Civic Center home, becoming the final Red River Hockey League team to make the move indoors.
              - Fergus Falls: After nearly 30 years outside on Lake Alice, the Cyclones are finally heading indoors to 1,300 seat Fergus Falls Ice Arena.
              - Le Sueur: The Green Giants put a roof over their heads, playing in the 500 seat Le Sueur Community Center
              - New Hope: New Hope has a new home in the state of the art 2,200 seat New Hope Ice Arena.
              - New Ulm: The Bavarians are finally joining their competitors by moving indoors to 1,200 seat New Ulm Ice Arena.
              - Northfield: After a decade outside, the Outlaws will call 1,500 seat Northfield Ice Arena home.
              - Rochester: The Mustangs are headed to the north side of town where they will call brand new 2,500 seat Rochester Recreation Center home. Their cross town rivals, the Robins, will remain as the sole MAHL tenants at Graham Arena.
              - St. Peter: The Govs are moving into 1,500 Lund Arena in St. Peter

- 2 new mascots were announced

- 1 new rivalry trophy was created

- 2 players numbers were retired


And in league wide news there were a couple big announcements as well.

- Seasons for all leagues in the MAHL will be extended to 30 games rather than 24, 15 home and 15 away.

- The last regular season game for each team is a designated "Rivalry Game" where each team gets paired up with a rival to end the season, with home ice alternating every year.

- The St. Paul Civic Center has paid the for the rights to host the Super Series every other year, beginning this season.
              - Met Center will host even years, Civic Center will host odd years.

There was one rivalry trophy introduced this season, the "Civil War Trophy" which will be fought over by the Rochester Mustangs and Robins (special sneak peak at what's to come for the Mustangs as well)

How many teams still play outdoors?

sportsfan7 wrote:

How many teams still play outdoors?

There is still a fair amount of teams playing outdoors with 21 still playing on frozen ponds and outdoor rinks.

It is mainly league based, with some leagues having all or almost all indoors and other having very few indoor rinks. Outdoor rinks are most frequently still used by teams in the Granite, Valley, North Metro and South Metro.
 

Oooo i love that sneak peak at Rochester. That logo is phenomal, and perfect for the time period. I also never noticed how detailed the bird for the Robins is, i love that too!