Alternate History Sports / MAHL Redux

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/14/2025 11:35 am

Time now to go to our first official league standings with the 1896/97 season coming to a close.

1897 Standings

Red River Hockey League
Crookston came out of the gates swinging, winning their first 4 games before finally losing to Kittson County in their first meeting. That would be their only loss of the year, winning the second game against KC and every game against Pembina and Warren on their way to the RRHL title. Kittson County came second, splitting the season series with Crookston and Pembina but sweeping Warren. Pembina County came third, followed by the newcomers from Warren in last, finishing the year with just one win.

Twin Cities Hockey Association
The Mill City Hockey Club and St. Paul Athletic Club were in a two horse race at the top of the table with the Millers finishing with two more wins to clinch the first ever TCHA crown with St. Paul coming in second. Minneapolis was solid but nothing special, managing to win against all three teams but only once against Mill City and the Athletics. Down at the bottom of the table are the boys from the East Side who struggled to keep up with their more experienced opponents in their first year of play, winning just two games on the season.

Independents
Duluth avenged their losses from a year ago with a pair of wins over Two Harbors to tie the all-time series at two wins apiece.

And that brings an end to the 1896/97 Season. Please let me know what you think, comments are always appreciated!

**Posted by Dan O'Mac** 5/14/2025 3:57 pm

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.

**Posted by AJHFTW** 5/14/2025 8:37 pm

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

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:30 pm

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 (bə-MIJ-ee) 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.

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:30 pm

Eveleth Hockey Club
The Eveleth Hockey Club is based in Eveleth, MN but also draws from nearby Leonidas & Iron Junction. Eveleth is a village of about 2,800 in the Iron Range. Iron Ore was discovered under the town in 1895 and swarms of immigrants from Europe have been moving to town to work in the mines. The team wears dark red sweaters with their logo, an E in a circle for Eveleth, on the upper left chest. They will play their home games outdoors on Fayal Pond.

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:34 pm

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.

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:34 pm

We stay up north for our next expansion team from the Red River Hockey League.

Thief River Falls Hockey Club
The Thief River Falls Hockey Club is based in Thief River Falls, MN. TRF is a city of about 1,800 at the confluence of the Red Lake River and Thief River and is the county seat of Pennington County. The name Thief River comes from the Ojibwe name for the river which translates to "Stolen-land river" or "Thieving-land river", which originated when a band of Dakota Indians occupied a secret encampment along the river, hence "stealing" the land, before being discovered and routed by the neighboring Ojibwe. Thief River is a lumber town and has grown in recent years thanks to the arrival of the Great Northern & Soo Line rails running through town. The team wears black and yellow stripes with a white TRF monogram on the front and white numbers on the back. They play their home games on the frozen banks of the Red Lake River.

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:35 pm

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.

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:36 pm

Two teams made minor tweaks to their uniforms, one Independent and one TCHA member.

Duluth Hockey Club
The Duluth Hockey Club made a small adjustment to their sweaters, moving their old english D to the upper right chest instead of being centered.

Old Jersey

St. Paul Athletic Club
The St. Paul Athletic Club added some lettering to their red and white striped jersey. St.P are white in a red stripe for St. Paul while AC are below in red on a white stripe for Athletic Club.

Old Jersey

**Posted by Section30** **Online!** 5/15/2025 3:46 pm

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.