Hockey At The Other Ralph

Apparently, I was asleep at the wheel in November because I missed a major announcement in one league. Normally, I try to keep up with most of the leagues around North America for their major stories, but this one appears to have skipped my desk despite it changing the map for one league. In saying that, it seems that there will be hockey at "The Ralph" next season, but this story has nothing to do with Grand Forks or the University of North Dakota. Instead, we need to look an hour east of Grand Forks to the other Ralph Englestad Arena where one league will be expanding!

According to a November 12 announcement, the Federal Prospects Hockey League will expand into Thief River Falls, Minnesota for the 2026-27 season, playing out of the Ralph Engelstad Arena located in the city. Better known as "The Mini Ralph", the arena seats 2800 people for hockey, is owned by the city of Thief River Falls, and is currently the home for the Thief River Falls Prowlers boys' and girls' high schools teams, and those teams will now have roommates!

The tough part won't be selling the game as Minnesota is rabid for hockey. The tougher part is that Thief River Falls has about 8800 permanent residents that live in the city, so the math of filling the mini Ralph says that 25-30% of the town needs to show up for home games. Again, it shouldn't be a hard sell, but that's a large percentage of the city's population supporting a team for 56 games per season.

Where I question this expansion the most is the proximity of Thief River Falls to any of the other FPHL cities. The arrow on the map to the right shows where Thief River Falls is located by latitude with the second "E" in "Sentinels" holding the approximate location of the city. As you can see, there will be a lot of long bus rides for this Thief River Falls team next fall with their closest rivals being in Topeka, Kansas or Columbus, Indiana. Based on travel expenses, this could be an expensive venture for the owners of this Thief River Falls team. Do they own a bus with bunk beds on it?

The reason I am posting this today - almost two months after the announcement - is the FPHL announced that a two-game, regular-season series between the Indiana Sentinels and the Topeka Scarecrows will be played at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Fallson Friday, March 27th and Saturday, March 28th! They're calling this a "neutral site" game, but I suspect this will give ownership and the league a bird's eye view into how this league will be received by residents of Thief River Falls. Will fans show up for these games?

My hopes are that they do show up, and there will be management on-hand at these games as the Thief River Falls team hired its general manager on Thursday when they appointed Shawn Jones as the first general manager in franchise history! Jones comes to Thief River Falls with management experience at the ECHL and the now-defunct WPHL levels, coaching experience in the USHL, and playing experience at the NCAA level with the University of Alaksa-Fairbanks. We'll see how he fares as a general manager at the development level in Minnesota.

Along with the Motor City Rockers playing out of Fraser, Michigan who will resume their franchise membership after going dark for one season, the FPHL appears to be heading west in their growth. A second team in Michigan and a new team in Minnesota pushes the league to sixteen teams for 2026-27, and I doubt this will be the last announcement over the next few years as the FPHL puts down new stakes in cities with interested owners. After all, there's a neutral site game in Morris Township, New Jersey in March, so we'll see what develops there with the FPHL well-established in the northeast.

Regardless of what happens in New Jersey, it looks like the FPHL has a home in Minnesota with their new Thief River Falls entry. Now, it's up to the fans, ownership, and GM Shawn Jones to make this expansion franchise a model which other franchises can follow!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!