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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After stumbling on Feb. 21 in a road loss to Duluth Denfeld, the Cloquet boys basketball team bounced back with impressive back-to-back home wins over Grand Rapids and Providence Academy Friday and Saturday. "We put all of our coaching efforts into the Friday game against Grand Rapids because it has big seeding implications for us," said Lumberjacks head coach Steve Battaglia. "We played our best half of the year in the first half against Rapids, and then we were in trouble in the first half...
The girls high school section basketball tournaments opened Monday across Minnesota. In Section 7A the first-round games featured Wrenshall at Littlefork-Big Falls, while Fond du Lac was scheduled to play at Nashwauk-Keewatin. Nashwauk-Keewatin was a forfeit winner when Fond du Lac was unable to field a complete team. The Spartans moved to the second round on Thursday at Cromwell-Wright. Wrenshall struggled to find an answer to Kora Gustafson of Littlefork-Big Falls, who pumped in 34 points toward a 58-30 victory over the Wrens. The Wrens were...
The Lumberjacks boys hockey team had more shots but fewer goals Tuesday as they fell to Coon Rapids, 6-3, in the quarterfinal round of the Section 7AA boys hockey playoffs. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, the No. 4 seed, took on the No. 5 seeded Cardinals at Northwoods Credit Union Arena. The loss eliminated the 'Jacks from the playoffs. CEC got onto the board first when Lucas Rauner scored on a shot from the left point just 7 seconds into a power play. Patrick Dunaiski won the draw that led to the...
A three-goal second period was enough to propel the Proctor/Hermantown Mirage to a 4-0 Section 7A semifinal win over Cloquet-Esko-Carlton on Saturday at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. The Lumberjacks hung tough through the first half of the first period and kept the game scoreless despite being substantially outshot. Senior Lumberjacks goalie Araya Kiminski made stellar saves to keep the Mirage in check. "We had a really good start to the game," said CEC coach Kennedy Hoage. "We were...
Mother Nature was not kind to Minnesota state ski meet participants this week. Although state alpine skiers started the day with beautiful weather Tuesday morning, the rains came in the afternoon. Then it rained for hours before turning to snow, just in time for the start of the two-day state Nordic ski meet. A total of six Cloquet-Esko-Carlton skiers headed to Giants Ridge in Biwabik for the state meets: two for alpine and four for the Nordic relay races. They all skied their hearts out,...
With only seven wrestlers able to compete, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton wrestling team took sixth place in the six-team Great River Conference tournament last week in Isle. "There are 14 different weight classes so when you wrestle with half a team that is tough," said CEC longtime coach Al Denman. "You don't only need 14 wrestlers, but they have to be of the right weight, so our guys did the best they could." The Lumberjacks top finisher was eighth-grader Aiden Theisen, who finished second in the...
For the second time this season, rivals Esko and Cloquet met in boys basketball and for the second time it was the Eskomos prevailing over the Lumberjacks, this time by a much closer score of 75-69 on Tuesday night in Cloquet. Back on Dec. 9, the teams met in Esko with the Eskomos winning by 17 points. This time the game was much tighter as the Lumberjacks led 34-31 at halftime, only to have the Eskomos bounce back to win. Esko had four scorers in double digits and were led by the 23-point effor...
During the final quarter of 2022, Duluth’s Northland Foundation awarded 18 grants totaling $431,000 to support people and communities for a thriving region. Funding included $30,000 for the Li’l Lumberjacks Learning Center in Cloquet, a child care program expansion with funding provided by the State of Minnesota with support of the Northland Foundation. The REACH Mentoring Program Youth Adult Partnerships based in Cloquet received $25,000 to support mentoring and enrichment programming to youth across Carlton County. Funding of $81,000 wen...
Erin Loeb scored twice and the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team defeated Rock Ridge, 3-1, in Cloquet at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Tuesday's first round of the Section 7A girls hockey tournament. It was the No. 4 seed Lumberjacks' second 3-1 win over the No. 5 Wolverines in two weeks. "The girls are trying to give me gray hair," said CEC coach Kennedy Houge. "This is pretty much how our whole season has gone, and I am so proud of how these girls have reacted." Playing with a heavy...
The Lumberjacks girls alpine team missed a trip to State by one place Tuesday, taking third place at the Section 7 meet at Giants Ridge. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton head coach Ryan Zimny said one skier fell on one of two runs. Although she walked back up and completed the course, it is impossible to make up for that missed time. "The fact that we had a fall and were still third out of 19 teams, that says a lot," Zimny said. Although the team won't be competing in Biwabik next Tuesday, two individual...
Over a week's time, the Lumberjacks Nordic ski team had its share of triumphs and losses, with temperature highs and lows to match. Fighting minus-5-degree temperatures at the Lake Superior Conference championship in Duluth on Thursday, Feb. 2, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys team won the LSC conference championship. On the girls side, Charlotte Ripp and Jazlyn Gunderson made all-conference Thursday, placing fourth and 10th, respectively. CEC head coach Tim Stark said last week's conference...
Cloquet football players Jaxson McCray (left) and Alex Omenge pose with Lumberjacks coach Jeff Ojanen after signing their letters of intent to play football at Minnesota North College–Mesabi Range Virginia, formerly Mesabi Range Community College, in Virginia. Dave Harwig / Pine Knot Sports...
Cloquet and Hibbing, both in northern Minnesota, have had spirited sports encounters over the years, with the Lumberjacks and Bluejackets enjoying memorable and classic confrontations in football, boys hockey, soccer and basketball. The communities are similarly sized, with mostly blue collar residents and energized fans. When I was a 1971 Cloquet High School senior, the football team played the Bluejackets in what was dubbed the Super Bowl. It pitted Cloquet - the seasonlong Duluth/Zenith/Big...
Team breaks through to go over .500 The Cloquet boys basketball team won for the fifth time in the last six games when they throttled Duluth Marshall, 98-69, Monday. "We are playing pretty well right now," said Cloquet head coach Steve Battaglia. "We are finally getting healthy and last week was the first week we had all been together. It is nice to have a few more weapons to work with on offense." A couple of those weapons are sophomores Seth Rothamel and Jack Battaglia, who finished with 23...
After January 27, it will be official: the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team will move to Class A hockey starting next season for at least two years, a move that 90 percent of parents in the hockey program supported when polled by the school district earlier this year. "Cloquet has played up since the state went to a two-class system, and even when there was a Tier 1 and Tier 2 system in the early '90s," Cloquet High School activities director Paul Riess said after Monday's Cloquet School...
Following a tough loss to Duluth East the night before, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team looked to change their fortune Friday when they hosted Holy Angels Academy at Northwoods Credit Union Arena. In what turned out to be one of the most bizarre games played in quite a while, the Lumberjacks ended a three-game losing streak by tying the Stars 8-8 in a seesaw affair. "In my entire playing and coaching career, I've never seen anything like that game," said CEC coach Shea Walters. The...
With nearly 50 inches of snow recorded so far this winter, it's no surprise Cloquet residents feel like the streets are not up to their usual standards. Waits have been longer, and the piles of snow at corners and in parking lots (and everywhere else) are much higher. While people know there's been a lot of snow, many are still frustrated. Jeremy Johnson, who lives on the 300 block of 21st Street in Cloquet, told the Cloquet City Council Tuesday that he and his neighbors feel like second-class...
The Moose Lake Area and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey teams seem like a good barometer for one another. The teams tied 1-1 on Monday at Northwoods Credit Union Arena, as staunch goaltending prevailed in a game that provided plenty of excitement. It was a rematch between Moose Lake Area and CEC from back on Nov. 22, when the Rebels snuck out a 3-2 overtime win in Moose Lake. "Both teams are blessed to have good goaltending," said MLA coach Reilly Fawcett. "We would like to have tested their...
For over 60 years, he has made me and many other Carlton County residents laugh. His name is Tom Marciniak, although "Maynard" has been his informal handle since childhood. All Scanlon kids had nicknames: Bird, Heinz, Singy, Mugger, Hawk, Wennie, Jase, Speedy, Kraut, Baz, and the list goes on. Tom grew up in Scanlon and he's very proud of that - just ask him. Sather Park was his home away from home. Any place where there was a ball or puck in Scanlon in the 1960s or '70s, Tom was likely nearby....
In November, the Cloquet and Esko girls basketball teams opened the season with the Lumberjacks sneaking out a 3-point home win. Last week on Thursday, the two teams met again last Thursday - in Esko this time - and the Lumberjacks somehow pulled out a 58-57 win, despite the fact that Esko appeared to play a better game. "They outplayed us, but we still managed to find a way to win," said Cloquet head coach Heather Young. "There were times where we would get up by four points and then they'd get...
This season's version of the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team is a throwback look at old-time hockey. Last week, these Lumberjacks parlayed physical play, sound penalty killing and an opportunistic offense into three straight wins in the Duluth Heritage Classic with the end result a championship trophy. CEC opened the holiday tournament on Dec. 27, taking on Apple Valley/Burnsville, a game the 'Jacks won, 9-3. Dayne Painovich scored the lone goal of the first period as CEC went up 1-0....
Freshly fallen snow makes for pretty pictures but not the best racing conditions, skiers discovered at the Lumberjacks home ski meet Tuesday. Close to 300 skiers descended upon Cloquet's Pine Valley to race in the annual "Under the Lights" Lumberjacks ski meet, the only evening meet in the conference and usually a popular event for spectators. This year, winter weather hit the course and the snowfall occasionally made it difficult to see, "especially on the downhills," said Cloquet-Esko-Carlton...
Oddly enough, the Lumberjacks' first Nordic ski meet was canceled because of too much snow, not too little, the usual reason early in the season. Despite that hiccup, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton teams competed in two meets entering the Christmas break, and are looking forward to hosting the third meet Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Pine Valley. "That one is unique because it takes place in the dark, since our entire trail is lighted," said head coach Tim Stark. "Parents don't have to take off work, so there te...
The Wood City Classic in Cloquet is as traditional as a holiday basketball tournament gets, featuring a warm welcome, picture-perfect venue and action-packed slate of games. And a shot clock, too. In yet another rendition of the annual event at the Cloquet Middle School, the eight teams, both boys and girls, agreed to experiment with the 35-second clock in the invitational, one year prior to shot clocks being mandatory for all prep games statewide in Minnesota. "I think it's cool," said Cloquet...
Requiring Herculean effort to regain a sense of normalcy, the first major snowstorm of the winter buried Cloquet and surrounding areas last week. The storm transformed Carlton County into a winter wonderland, but the heavy snow also wreaked havoc on roads, electrical grids and trail systems. It left young trees bowing like monks while older trees fell or dropped limbs overwhelmed by the weight of the wet snow. Evergreens turned white, with giant globs of snow pasted to every branch. The snow...
