A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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Tension and emotions ran high when the Cloquet-Esko- Carlton boys hockey team hosted East Grand Forks at Northwoods Credit Union Arena Saturday. Eventually, the No. 3 ranked Lumberjacks were able to secure a wild and thrilling 4-3 win over the No. 7 ranked Green Wave. "We got the great start we were looking for, and then we started going to the penalty box and the flow of the game changed," said CEC coach Shea Walters. CEC took a 1-0 lead just 1:40 into the game when Neil Elsmore slammed home a...
A quick start for the Esko boys basketball team was the perfect recipe for an 86-69 win over the Cloquet Lumberjacks last Friday night in Esko. "We were ready to go from the start," said Esko coach Derek Anderson. "We talk to the guys about the fact that the outside perception of our team is that we will be down this year, but our expectations are the same as they've always been, and that's to win a section championship and get to State." Esko scored quickly and often on their way to grabbing a...
Despite outshooting the Duluth Northern Stars by more than a 2-1 margin, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team fell in overtime Tuesday night at Northwoods Credit Union Arena. Gracyn Schipper scored 11 seconds into the 8-minute overtime to give the Northern Stars a 2-1 victory over the Lumberjacks, her second goal of the game with both assists coming from Bailey Theis. The 'Jacks outshot Duluth by a margin of 33-16 for the night. Stars goaltender Aailli Anttila stopped 32 of the 33 shots...
Gerald "Buck" Bloomquist recently turned 100 years old. Born Oct. 10, 1924, he was part of The Greatest Generation, graduating from Cloquet High School in 1942. He currently lives at a Veterans Home in Rifle, Colorado. He is a proud veteran of World War II. The Nov. 8 Pine Knot Veterans Day tribute spurred the Bloomquist relatives and me to revive - and retrieve - Buck's military and life stories. Buck's son, Bill, was a Cloquet school and athletic chum of mine. Buck Bloomquist was an...
A strong second half helped propel the Cloquet boys basketball team to a 95-88 home win over Chisago Lakes last Saturday afternoon in Cloquet. Entering the second half, the Lumberjacks and the Wildcats were tied at 51-51, but then Cloquet clamped down defensively. "At times the game was sloppy, but we did a lot of good things," Cloquet coach Steve Battaglia said of the season opener. "Despite giving up a ton of size, we out-rebounded them by a significant margin. To open the season against the...
A five-goal burst in the third period helped push the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team to an impressive 7-1 opening game win over Bloomington Jefferson at Northwoods Credit Union Arena on Saturday afternoon. "Every year we play them, they give us a good game and I thought this is one of the better teams they've had as of late," said CEC coach Shea Walters. "They came out hard in the second period, but we weathered the storm and then we really got things going in the third period." The...
Heading into Tuesday's girls basketball Battle for the Paddle, neither Cloquet nor Esko had put a mark in the win column this season. The Lumberjacks entered the game 0-2, with losses to Proctor and Hermantown, and Esko came in 0-1 with a loss to Rock Ridge. On Tuesday night the 'Jacks were able to overcome a challenging game to come away with a 71-43 victory. They also won the paddle, which goes to the victors. "We got the paddle back," said Cloquet coach Heather Young. "We will take the win,...
After more than 20 years with the Cloquet football program, head coach Jeff Ojanen has resigned. He told his team Nov. 20 about his decision. He said he wants to spend more time with his family. "It really comes down to how priorities change in your life," Ojanen said. "When I took the head coach job three years ago I thought I'd be able to handle missing some stuff for my girls, but it got harder and harder. Right now, I want to see my girls play and help them and their teammates in any way I...
Preparations are heating up for Hockey Day Cloquet, an outdoor hockey extravaganza that will take place in Veterans Park on and around Jan. 11, 2025. Expect a state-of-the-art outdoor rink, shipping containers for locker rooms and Zamboni storage, plus fan-friendly seating and food trucks. Organizer Nate Knutson told the Cloquet City Council Tuesday that the idea was a “blind shot” in the beginning but the event is now in a good spot financially. “We’ve had unbelievable backing from our local sponsors, which is super cool. It’s Carlton,...
The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team came out fast and determined Tuesday night at Northwoods Credit Union Arena as the Lumberjacks scored three times in the first seven minutes. Although the Moose Lake Area team threatened, they couldn't overcome the CEC lead. The win moved the 'Jacks to 2-1 on the season. CEC defeated Anoka 3-0 Saturday in Anoka, but dropped the season opener last Thursday by a score of 4-1 to Grand Rapids-Greenway. On Tuesday, the Lumberjacks' first goal came just 51...
Accolades continue to pour in for area soccer players as All-State and All-Tournament teams were announced after the Minnesota State High School Soccer Tournament ended last week. Lauren Hughes of Cloquet/Carlton was named to first team All-State in Class AA and Reese Kuklinski of Esko was named first team All-State in Class A. “Reese is a true leader of our program,” said Esko coach Sharon Lahtii. “Academically, she is a 4.0 student, she mentors our younger players and is positive under pressure. Reese has a bright future ahead of her at Mi...
The Esko girls made their mark in the Minnesota State Class A Soccer Tournament this past week. After winning on penalty kicks Oct. 24 over St. Cloud Cathedral in the opening round, Esko fell to top seed Southwest Christian, 2-1, in a tense semifinal game Tuesday at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The first half of play was tightly played with the Esko defensive corps doing a stellar job of not allowing one of the state's best forwards, Maya Johnson, to get free as the teams went to halftime...
Despite finishing in the middle of the pack in last year's Section 7AA cross country meet, Cloquet boys team coach Chandra Allen had an inkling that things could only get better for the Lumberjacks. They were losing just one senior to graduation. "We knew after last season," she said of the 2024 prospects. The hunch was indeed correct, as this year's team won the section meet in Hibbing on Oct. 24. The team will now travel to St. Paul Saturday for the Minnesota State High School Class AA Cross...
Section volleyball entered the semifinal round Wednesday night with Esko and South Ridge the only two remaining local teams in action. Section 7AA Esko was set to play Crosby-Ironton in the 7AA semifinals Wednesday night after picking up a pair of wins in the past week. On Oct. 23, No. 2 Esko opened with a 3-0 win over Pine City. "It was nice to get that first match win out of the way," said Esko coach Pete Stasiuk. "We played well, we didn't make a whole lot of errors and we generally played a...
It was déjà vu all over again for the Cloquet/Carlton girls' soccer team at the Class AA state quarterfinal Wednesday night. After winning the Section 7AA tournament last week in a shoot-out, the Lumberjacks ended up in the exact same situation against Orono in the first game of the state tournament. The game ended tied at 1 through regulation and through overtime before Orono scored four goals to the Lumberjacks' three in the shootout to win. "I thought that after we got behind early and we mad...
A slow first-half start led to a second-half surge for the Lumberjacks that was too little, too late on Wednesday. Ultimately, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys soccer team fell 4-2 to Blake School during a Class AA quarterfinal game in White Bear Lake. "It took us a while to obviously settle in and once we started beating them to the ball and got into the rhythm, we were able to flip that field but it just took too long," Sundquist said. "Man, if we had started that way, I think it would have been...
It’s section playoff time for local volleyball teams and things are about to get awfully interesting. What follows is a breakdown of local teams and who and when they will be playing. Look for more information on volleyball playoffs in next week’s Pine Knot News. Section 7A Four local teams will all be vying for a place in the Section 7A championship game, but all of those teams will have a tough road ahead. No. 8 seeded Fond du Lac Ojibwe gets the tough job of opening up against No. 1 see...
Playoff football began Tuesday as a number of area teams tried to punch their ticket into the second round of sections. Class AAAA Cloquet made a valiant comeback against Duluth Denfeld in Duluth, falling short 28-20 on Tuesday. Denfeld came in as the No. 3 seed with a record of 5-3, while the Lumberjacks were the No. 6 seed with a record of 2-6. The two teams met in early October with the Hunters coming away with a 16-point win. Against Denfeld, the 'Jacks had the tall task of trying to slow...
A once-in-a-lifetime astrological event, a streaking comet called Tsuchinshan-Atlas, was witnessed in Tuesday night's sky, just after sunset. At that same time a more frequent event was occurring; the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys soccer team won a fourth-consecutive Section 7AA title in a shootout against Hermantown. The Lumberjacks 7AA win was decided in penalty kicks after 100 minutes of intense soccer, highlighted by long throws, equalizing goals and stout defense. CEC's Collin Young scored the...
It was a battle. After a full game and two 10-minute overtimes, the Cloquet/Carlton vs. Hermantown Section 7AA championship girls' soccer game hinged on goaltending and penalty shots. Fortunately for the Lumberjacks, they have one of the best goalies in the state in Rylee Senich. Between Senich and shooters who had ice in their veins, Cloquet/Carlton pulled out a dramatic 1-1 tie and 4-2 shootout to beat the Hawks and earn a trip to State. "It was very scary going into the shootout," Senich...
In her first season as head coach of the Lumberjacks girls tennis team, Emily Hallgren coached the team to a 12-7 regular season record. Although they fell in playoffs last week, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton had a solid first season under Hallgren. "This was a very cohesive group of girls," Hallgren said. "They had a great sense of team and you don't always get that as a coach." In team play last week, the 'Jacks fell 6-1 to No. 8 seed North Branch. The only win for the No. 9 seeded 'Jacks came from...
The names on the back of the jerseys may be different, but the results are the same for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys soccer team this season. The Lumberjacks garnered the No. 1 Section 7AA playoff seed last week by pounding Proctor 9-0. They finished the regular season with a gaudy 13-3 record. "We like to open the season with some games against some of the top Twin Cities schools," said CEC coach John Sundquist, explaining losses that came early. CEC started with a record of 1-3 through its fi...
Both the Esko and Cloquet/Cartlon girls soccer teams received the No. 1 seed in their respective section tournaments: Cloquet/Carlton in Section 7AA and Esko in Section 7A. Both teams also finished up the regular season in Esko last Thursday, with the hometown team edging the Lumberjacks 2-1. While Cloquet/Carlton waited until Thursday to open tournament play, Esko opened the playoffs at home Monday against Two Harbors. Two Harbors was the lone unseeded team entering the 7A tournament and...
The Cloquet football team didn't disappoint a large homecoming crowd Friday as they pounded out a 49-0 win over Proctor. "We came out and did what we were supposed to do against a team that is trying to rebuild their program," said Cloquet coach Jeff Ojanen. It took until there was 2:42 remaining in the first quarter before the 'Jacks were able to get on the scoreboard - but the 65-yard touchdown scamper by Aiden Nelson opened the floodgates. Soccer player Max Sundquist would find himself...
The Cloquet boys and girls cross country teams are slowly and quietly building towards sectionals. The Lumberjacks boys return two runners who made the state meet last season. They hope to see an even greater number make it to State this fall. "For the boys team, we return the entire team except one runner," said Cloquet coach Chandra Allen. "Andrew Shepherd and Evan Rothamel both made it to state last year for us in cross country." With 25 boys out for the team, Allen is blessed with a large...
