Tower-Soudan Miners

The **Tower-Soudan Miners** are a team of the Iron Range Hockey League, where they have played as a charter member from the league's inaugural 1915-16 season until 1963, and again as an expansion team since the 1972-73 season. Based in Tower, Minnesota, the Miners play their home games at at the 750-seat Tower Civic Arena.

## History

Known in their first incarnation as the **Soudan Miners**, the team was named after the Soudan Mine, the town's primary employer and the deepest mine in all of Minnesota, with several day-job miners playing for the hockey Miners. In 1962, the mine closed because of rising production costs; with the town's economic center gone, most of the population found work elsewhere, causing the team to fail to reach the 10-player roster minimum and disband during the 1963 season, one of only three non-merger teams in MAHL history to cease operations.

However, Soudan joined forces with the neighboring city of Tower to revive the Miners as a member of the Iron Range League in 1972-73, using both locales in their name and adopting the first Miners' history as their own.

The Miners have won 2 Iron Range League Titles (1947 & 1986) and appeared in 1 Super Series (1984).

Soudan also appeared in the first Kellogg Cup Final (losing to the St. Paul Victorias).

### Culture

#### Country Roads

Since their return in 1973, the Miners have played "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as the team returns for the third period of play, but the lyrics have been slightly altered.

Lyrics:

> *"Almost heaven, Minnesota, Lake Vermilion, Give 'em hell you Miners, Life is old there, older than the trees, Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze*
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> *Country roads, take me home, To the place I belong, Tower-Soudan, mountain mama, Take me home, country roads*
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> *All my memories gather 'round her, Miner's lady, stranger to blue water, Dark and dusty, painted on the sky, Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye*
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> *Country roads, take me home, To the place I belong, Tower-Soudan, mountain mama, Take me home, country roads*
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> *I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me, The radio reminds me of my home far away, Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin', That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday*
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> *Country roads, take me home, To the place I belong, Tower-Soudan, mountain mama, Take me home, country roads*
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>
> *Country roads, take me home, To the place I belong, Tower-Soudan, mountain mama, Take me home, country roads*
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> *Take me home, (down) country roads, Take me home, (down) country roads"*
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### Rivalry Trophies

#### The Miners Hard Hat

The Miners' archrivals are the Ely Black Bears. Because of their close proximity to each other and both cities' status as mining towns, the Miners and Black Bears compete annually for The Miners Hard Hat beginning in 1950, won every year by the team which won the most head-to-head matchups, or, if the season series was tied, who scored the most goals between the two teams.

Currently, the Miners hold the Hard Hat, having won it back in 1989. The Black Bears lead the all-time trophy series, 20-11.

### Ol' Willie

For their return season, the Miners have introduced an official mascot, Ol' Willie. Ol' Willie is a real person dressed up as a miner with black jeans, an orange top, and a hard hat. A right-handed, bearded man who stands at six feet tall, Ol' Willie can be seen at every Miners home game at Tower Civic Arena, where he is known to use his pickaxe as a hockey stick.