The Minnesota Magicans

The Minnesota Magicians are a North American Hockey League (NAHL) franchise playing out of Richfield.  They are in their second year.  Last season they finished fifth in the NAHL’s Midwest Division posting a 21-31-8 record.  The four teams that finished ahead of the Magicians in the division posted above .500 records.  The Midwest Division champion, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, beat Austin in the playoff championship series to win the USA Tier II championship (Robertson Cup).  It was a tough division for a team in its inaugural season.

The Magicians plays a 60 games season; 30 away games and 30 home games.  The home games are played out of Richfield’s newly upgraded ice arena.  After opening their season this week at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine (playing four league games), the Magicians play their first home games against Midwest Division rival Kenai River Brown Bears.  The two teams will play Friday and Saturday, September 26-27 at Richfield.  Friday’s game time is 7:15; Saturday’s game time is 7:05 pm.  Tickets are available.  Last season 21,000 fans attended the Magician home games.

By Monday, the Magicians will be through their major cuts and their roster fairly set.  But like most junior hockey teams, the team rosters will change over the season.  The NAHL season officially opens Wednesday at the NAHL Showcase.  The 24 NAHL teams will play their first four league games at the Showcase.  Wednesday, the Magic Men will open the Showcase playing the Lone Star Brahmas (game time 10:00 AM in Rink 1).  The Magicians will play Wichita Falls Wildcats, the Odessa Jackalops, and the Bismarck Bobcats the following three days.  The Magic Men are the favorites in the Lone Star and Odessa games.

What is Tier II Junior Hockey?

The Magician’s are a Tier II Junior Hockey Team.  For those not familiar with USA Hockey tier definitions (I, II, III, and Independent), the difference between the tiers is basically money.  Players on any USA Hockey junior team are not paid, but Tier I teams pay for everything else (ice, coaches, travel, room and board).  Teams designated Tier II pay for everything except for a player’s room and board.  Teams designated Tier III has the players paying the bulk of the season expenses.  It is a simple fact that hockey players living in the Twin Cities can play for the Magicians at less expense then playing for a USHL team such as Souix Falls or Cedar Rapids.  Magician players can essentially play at home keeping their home ties and education going without moving out of state.  There are no USHL teams in Minnesota. 

All Tier I teams are USHL teams.  All Tier II teams are NAHL teams.  The Minnesota Junior Hockey League is a Tier III league.  The perceived pecking order is that Tier I teams are better than Tier II teams and both Tier I and Tier II teams are better than Tier III.  In this corner of YHH, there is little difference between NAHL or USHL play and Tier III players can catch the eye of a scout.  All will be scouted.  At the NAHL Showcase, there were around 500 scouts.

USHL usually has choice of players, but the perspective here is that all the junior teams scramble for the best players.  Making a junior team and playing a whole season is not an easy thing for a Minnesota High School player to accomplish and that is what attracts scouts.

What is the NAHL?

The 2014-2015 season will be the 39th season the NAHL has been in business.  It is older than USHL and is one of the largest USA Hockey-sanctioned junior leagues.  The league has franchises in 11 states.  Typically, each season the league has 24 teams that is organized into four divisions (Central, Midwest, North, and South).  This year, the Magicians will play in the Midwest Division.  That division has five teams this season (Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Coulee Region Chill, Minnesota Wilderness, Minnesota Magicians, and the Kenai River Brown Bears); the Central Division also has five teams (Austin Bruins, Aberdeen Wings, Bismarck Bobcats, Brookings Blizzard, and the Minot Minotauros); the North Division has 6 teams (Keystone Ice Miners, Janesville Jets, Soo Eagles, Michigan Warriors, Springfield Blues, and the Johnstown Tomahawks); and the East Division has eight teams (Odessa Jackalops, Topeka RoadRunners, Corpus 

Christi IceRays, Amarillo Bulls, Lone Star Brahmas, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, Wenatchee Wild, and the Wichita Falls Wildcats.  Midwest Division teams Fairbanks and Kenai River are from Alaska; Coulee Region is based in La Crosse WI; and the Wilderness plays out of Cloquet MN.

Last season, Austin Bruins won the Central Division, Fairbanks Ice Dogs won the Midwest Division, Port Huron Fighting Falcons (now the Keystone Ice Miners) won the North Division, and the Amarillo Bulls won the South Division.

The 2014-2015 Magicians   

The Minnesota Magicians start their second NAHL season with a new coach, Tom Upton.  Upton replaces Scott Meyer as head coach.  Meyer’s moved to the business side as president and now runs the Magicians Organization.  Upton, a former NAHL player, played college hockey at UW-Stevens Point.  He is a defensive minded coach that was an assistant last season for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.  The RoughRiders finished second in the Eastern Conference giving up the fewest goals of any Eastern Conference team.  They lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Last season, the Magicians had trouble on power plays and penalty kills; they finished near the bottom of league on these two stats (12% success on the power play; 83% success on the penalty kill).  That represents a swing of 15 goals and often those goals scored by the opposition came at critical moments in a game.  Playing in a tough Midwest Division last year, winning 5 or 6 games at key times would have meant a berth in the playoffs.

Fourteen players from Minnesota are on the current Magician’s roster.  That could change this week.  Last season’s top scorer Matt Colford/Centennial (41 ponts/18 goals in 57 games) returns.  Colford played Saturday’s exhibition with Kane Durment/Kildeer IL,  and Tony Uglem/East Grand Forks MN as line mates and scored the winning goal.  Colford will be joined by Lukas Laub who was the NAHL’s Odessa Jackalopes top scorer last season (30 points/16 goals in 52 games).  Laub skated Saturday’s game with Marc Michaelis/Mannhheim GER and Jack Christenson/Ridgefield CT scoring the first goal.  The Magicians traded for Laub at the NAHL draft surrending their top draft choices.  Laub played U18 hockey in Germany for the Jungadler Mannheim club and played for Germany’s National Junior Hockey team in the 2014 IIHF World Championship Tourney.

The defense has three returning players from last season’s Magicians; Thomas Delaney/White Bear Lake MN, Sam Becker/Roseville MN, and Paul O’Connor/St. Peter MO.  O’Connor was picked up from the Cedar RoughRiders last season for Magician Defenseman Logan Von Ruden/Northfield MN.  Those three returning defensemen should make for an exciting season of Magician Hockey this year.  Becker assisted on Colford’s winning score Saturday.  As a side note: Logan Von Ruden/Northfield MN, skipped his senior year of hockey, played for the Magicians and the USHL Cedar Rapids team last season.  He will return to play this season for the RoughRiders and is considered a top prospect going into this season.

Goaltenders Paige Skoog and Jens Vaughan Ahrens/Wayzata played in Saturday’s game.  Skoog was acquired in a May trade with the Soo Eagles.  He posted an 8-12 record for the Soo last season, giving up an average of 2.8 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shot on goal. 

Magicians beat Austin 4-1 in preseason tune-up

Last night the Magicians beat last season’s runner-up Austin Bruins in a pre-season game played at the Richfield Ice Arena.  The two teams played to a 1-1 tie after two periods in a tight checking fast moving game.  The Magicians broke open the game in the third period scoring three goals.  Paige Skoog played the first two periods in the net for the Magicians, Jens Vaughan Ahrens played the third period in the nets and stopped ten Bruins’ shots to earn the win.  Jake Kielly/Eden Prairie was in the nets for Austin.  With the Bruins’ goalie Zach Driscoll/Eastview on the bench for the night, three of the four goalies on the ice Saturday were Minnesota Hockey products.

Lukas Laub/Rosenhiem GER scored the opening goal for the Magicians.  Matt Colford/Centennial got the winning goal early in the third period.  Marc Michaelis/Mannhheim GER scored the third goal.  Jack Christensen/Ridgefield CT scored the fourth goal.  Tom Delaney/White Bear Lake had a good game especially in the third period.  Austin’s Luke Dietsch/Cretin-Derhem Hall skated well.  Derek Olmschenk, another CDH Raider played well at defense for the Austin Bruins Saturday.

What is next?

That is simple; see you at the Super Rink.  This week is actually a week where one can get tired watching hockey.