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The St. Paul Athletic Club played hockey at the highest level of league play at
the time in American history. They were a dominant force in amateur hockey
before the NHL had yet established a US presence before World War I. The
domination came mostly from defenseman Francis Xavier (Moose) Goheen a
White Bear Lake native contemporary to Hobey Baker. Tony Conroy, Nick
Kahler and Ed Fitzgerald were other dominant players for the early AC hockey
team. The Athletic Club won the MacNaughton Cup -- in 1916 and again in 1919--
then symbolic of supremacy in Western U.S. hockey to honor the winner of the
senior league American Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA). Today the
MacNaughton cup is the trophy for the WCHA season champion. Goheen
enlisted in the service for World War I, as did Conroy. They were also teammates on the U.S. team that won the silver medal in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. Following WWI the AAHA fell apart and a new National league was formed called the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA).  The teams were only in US soil and competed at the time for the coveted Fellowes Cup. In 1922 and 1923 the AC's advanced to the finals only to come up short on each occassion. The NHL arrived in US soil in 1924 and with it ended the major league amateur hockey association, and thus ended the AC's illustrious era a year later. By 1925 professional hockey and the NHL with it's large contracts, and risks of "invasions" in the minor league systems had layed it's roots throughout the nation. St. Paul became a member of the professional Central Hockey League (CPHL), then called the American Hockey Association (AHA) this same year of 1926-1927 and were renamed the St. Paul Saints which bagan play in December of 2006. The "Saints" had been the nickname of the AC's for many years. Goheen and others signed contracts that kept them in Minnesota for years after the AC's dissolved play. The Saints continued in Minnesota in the AHA most seasons until 1942 when play ceased operations for WWII. Goheen had offers from Toronto and Boston to go the NHL, but he stayed in his hometown of White Bear Lake where he continued to work for Northern States Power while playing hockey for the Saints. Goheen became the second American inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1952, after Hobey Baker. "I never saw him play, obviously, but I had oldtimers tell me the tales about him as a wonderful athlete," Glen Sonmor said. "He would get the puck near his net and carry it right up the middle, time after time."

The AC's hockey era in Minnesota namely layed the framework for what the Minnesota Wild today have aptly called the "State-of-Hockey".  Without the AC's and their presence in Minnesota prior to the NHL's arrival...Their wouldn't be a "State-of-Hockey".


St. Paul AC Season by Season Team Records


1914-1915 No League Competition

1915-1916 America Amateur Hockey Association

  W  L  T GF GA
St. Paul AC*8  4  0  39  31
America Soo      8  4  1  50  27
Portage Lake     3  7  1  30  47
Calumet     3  7  0  27  41

*St. Paul Defeated American Soo 3 games to 1 for the
MacNaughton Cup

1916-1917 No League Competition-Independent

1917-1918 No League Competition-Independent

1918-1919 No League Competition-Independent

1919-1920 American Amateur Hockey Association

  W  L  T
St. Paul AC*      9   3   0
Canadian Soo*  9   3   0
America Soo     5   6   1
Portage Lake   0  11   1

*St. Paul and Canadian Soo share the MacNaughton Cup

1920-1921 United States American Hockey Association


Group 1  
W   L   T
Boston Athletic Association            6   0   0
Shoe Trades Club (Boston)     2   2   0
Quaker City (Philadelphia)     1   4   0
St. Nicholas Club (New York)  1   4   0

Group 2
W   L   T
Celeveland*     8   0   0
St. Paul AC      3   5   0
Duluth Hornets        1   7   0

Group 3
W   L   T
Eveleth Reds   14   1   1
Canadian Soo 13   3   0
American Soo  6    9   1
Calumet    3  13   0
Portage Lake    3  13   0

*Cleveland defeats Eveleth to win Fellowes Cup on total
goals 14-12 in playoffs

1921-1922 United States American Hockey Association

Group 1  
W   L  T
Westminsters (Boston)*    6   2   0
Boston Athletic Association            5   3   0
Pere Marquette (Boston) 3   4   0
Quaker City (Philadelphia)     3   4   0
St. Nicholas Club (New York)  2   6   0

Group 2  
W  L  T
St. Paul AC      8   4   0
Cleveland        7   5   0
Pittsburgh        5   7   0
Duluth Hornets 4   8   0

Group 3  
W   L  T
Canadian Soo  13  1  0
Eveleth Reds    12  4  0
American Soo   7  6  0
Calumet     2  9  0
Portage Lake    0 14  0

*Westminsters defeats St. Paul AC to win Fellowes
Cup 3 1/2 games to 1/2 game in playoffs

1922-1923 United States Amateur Hockey Association

Eastern Group  
W   L  T
Boston Athletic Association*   9   1   0
New Haven Westminsters       6   3   0
Boston Hockey Club6   4   0
St. Nicholas Club(New York)   4   6   0
Canadian Club (New York)     1   8   0

Western Group  
W   L   T
St. Paul AC      15   5   0
Cleveland        12   8   0
Eveleth Reds    11   9   0
Pittsburgh 10  10  0
Duluth Hornets  8   12  0
Milwaukee        4   16  0

*Boston Athletic Association defeats St. Paul AC to win Fellowes Cup 3 games to 1 in playoffs

1923-1924 United States Amateur Hockey Association

Eastern Group  
W   L  T
Boston Athletic Association    9   3   0
New Haven Westminsters       6   6   0
Boston Hockey Club 6   6   0
Maple Athletic Assoc. (Boston)       3   9   0

Western Group
W   L  T
Pittsburgh*      15   5   0
St. Paul AC      14   6   0
Cleveland10  10   0
Eveleth Reds    9   11   0
Duluth Hornets 6   14   0
Minneapolis Millers 6   14   0


*Pittsburgh defeats Boston Athletic Association to win Fellowes Cup 4 games to 1 in playoffs

1924-1925 United States Amateur Hockey Association

Eastern Group  
W   L  T
Fort Pitt    17   7   0
Boston Athletic Association    16   6   0
Maple Athletic Association     7   16   0
Boston Hockey Club        3   14   0

Western Group- First Half  
W   L  T
Pittsburgh*       15   3   2
Duluth Hornets         11   8   1
Cleveland         10   8   2
Minneapolis Millers  8   10   2
St. Paul AC6   12   2
Eveleth Reds     5   14   1

Western Group- Second Half  
W   L  T
Eveleth Reds   13   6   1
Pittsburgh*      10   8   2
St. Paul AC     11   9   0
Minneapolis Millers 8   9   3
Cleveland        8   12  0
Duluth Hornets 6   12  2

* Pittsburgh defeats Fort Pitt to win Fellowes Cup 4 games to 0 in playoffs.

1925-1926 Central Amateur Hockey Association
 
W    L    T
Minneapolis Millers*22   10   6
Duluth Hornets 18   14   8
Winnipeg  14   15  9
St. Paul AC       15   17  6
Eveleth-Hibbing Rangers 15   16  7
Candian Soo     8   20   4

* Minneapolis Millers defeat Duluth Hornets 3 games to 1 in playoffs
1915-1916 Team Photo**
1919-1920 Team Photo**
1921-1922 Team Photo**
1925-1926 Team Photo**
Hippodrome Ice Rink St. Paul AC's Home Ice. Located at  the St. Paul State Fair Grounds built in 1906**
St. Paul Athletic Club Built in 1917**
420 Summit Ave St. Paul
Called the St. Paul University Club Today
St. Paul AC full page advertisement within local paper- A commonplace occurence back in the early 1900's