Blending Reality and Fiction

Real Teams

When I first started making the #MAHL, I knew that I wanted to incorporate real historical team names and logos as a way to add some more realism to the league. Many of the oldest teams are based on real teams from one point in history. The St. Paul Saints, St. Paul Victorias, Warroad Lakers, Twin Cities Vulcans, Rochester Mustangs, and Eveleth Rangers (now defunct) were real teams that played amateur hockey in the early and mid 1900s. There are also teams here that played professionally way back in the day. Teams like the Duluth Hornets, Minneapolis Millers, Eveleth Reds (now Redbirds), and Minneapolis Bruins (now Bakers) all played minor league level hockey in the real world at one point.

The real life Eveleth Reds (1919-1926)

Real Names

Another aspect of realism that I wanted to add to the #MAHL comes from the players themselves. Due to the sheer size and scale of a project this size, it would be nearly impossible to create entire rosters for every team in the league. Instead, I keep a list of notable players. I rarely actually use players in my write ups because of not having a full roster sheet, but I tend to highlight one or two players from a team that stand out. These players get the names of real hockey greats from that town. For instance, Roseau is known for being the home of the Broten family with Neil, Aaron, and Paul all making it to the NHL. Because of this I decided that one of the best players in Roseau Stars history is named Isaac Broten. I do this with every team, giving key players the same last names as real people from that town and imagining them as a second cousin or uncle to the real players from there.

Hockey card of brothers Aaron & Neil Broten from Roseau, MN

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