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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Just a few months ago the Minnesota Wilderness were in fifth place in the North American Hockey League Midwest Division. Only the top four teams in each division make the playoffs, and the team was struggling with injuries and keeping the puck out of the net. "We were hurting at the time," said Wilderness head coach Dave Boitz. "We had a nine-game losing streak, a lot of bad luck, key injuries and we struggled to stop the puck. All of that made for a bad situation for us." Boitz, who also acts... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness completed a 5-1 road trip to Alaska Saturday night with a 3-1 win against Kenai River. The Wilderness (30-21-1) swept the three-game series against the Brown Bears (13-36-5). It also marked the end of a nine-game road trip, of which the Wilderness won seven. Barrett Hall led the way Saturday night, with a goal and an assist, while Matt Smith shined again in net, making 29 saves. The road success propelled the Wilderness to take sole possession of third place in the NAHL’s Midwest Division. It also sets up a showdown s... Full story
In a game that did not at all match the magical scenery of the host state, the Minnesota Wilderness got a tough 2-0 road victory Saturday over the Anchorage Wolverines to win the series 2-1. Matt Smith earned the shutout, his third of the season, with 29 saves in a penalty-filled game. Both teams were held scoreless through the game’s first 55 minutes, but not for lack of chances. The two teams combined for 68 minutes’ worth of penalties, 42 for the Wilderness and 26 for Anchorage. The Wilderness (27-21-1) finished the game scoreless on fiv... Full story
What a difference a night makes. After the Minnesota Wilderness beat the Springfield Jr. Blues 4-3 Friday night, eight players scored for Springfield Saturday in a 9-3 pummeling of the Wilderness. Friday was good for the Cloquet team. Four players scored for the Wilderness that night, with rookie Jared Mangan leading the way, adding two assists for three points. The South Carolina native opened the scoring at 9:43 of the first period with his second goal of the season. He then helped set up Ethan Wolthers on a power play goal with 5:38 that... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness split a home-and-home series with St. Cloud last weekend. The team’s 8-0 drubbing of the Norsemen at home on Saturday will be the last time they’ll be on home ice for a while. The Wilderness embark on a nine-game road swing beginning with three games this weekend, one at the Minnesota Magicians in Richfield on March 3, and two at Springfield in Illinois on March 4-5. They’ll follow that with six games in Alaska, three at Anchorage and then three at Kenai River. They’ll return home for a series against Janesville on Marc... Full story
Minnesota Wilderness forward Max Neill captured the NAHL’s award for top forward for the month of January. The announcement came just three days after goaltender Konrad Kausch was named Midwest Division Star of the Week for his performance against the Chippewa Steel and three weeks after linemate Will Persson was named the Midwest’s Star of the Week. He’s also the first from the Wilderness to be named Forward of the Month since Tyler Cline won the award in October, 2015. Neill’s accomplishments this month include a three-goal hat trick Jan. 28... Full story
Many Minnesota Wilderness fans were writing off the hometown team around the Christmasbreak. Not so fast, folks. The Wilderness have ripped off six straight wins and suddenly are back in the playoff hunt in the NAHL Midwest Division. “Two things have happened for us really,” said head coach and general manager Dave Boitz. “We have gotten healthy and we have had much better goaltending during the streak.” The Wilderness posted the second shutout in the last three games Saturday night with a 2-0 w... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness scored three times in both the first and second periods and once more in the third, while Matt Smith stopped all 26 shots he faced in a 7-0 shellacking of the Minnesota Magicians in Richfield Saturday night. It was a home and home sweep for the Wilderness after a 5-3 win Friday night in Cloquet. It was the first league shutout for Smith on Saturday. He kept his record perfect at 4-0 (3-0 since joining the Wilderness earlier this month). The win is the fourth in a row... Full story
I wonder what would happen if hundreds of strangers suddenly got stranded in Cloquet. Maybe a huge blizzard hits while we’re hosting a big hockey tournament? Or tragedy strikes on a summer Sunday afternoon, when seemingly a million people are passing through town on their way home from the weekend. I guess it’s pretty unlikely, but it could happen. There was indeed such a scene after 9/11, when 38 planes were suddenly grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, leaving almost 7,000 passengers str... Full story
“Good special teams play” is a phrase that hasn’t been attached to the Minnesota Wilderness very much this season. The club entered its game Saturday vs. the Minnesota Magicians in the bottom 10 of the NAHL’s power-play and penalty kill statistics. But things were different Saturday night. The Wilderness went two for three with the man advantage and killed all three power-play opportunities for the Magicians to eke out a 5-4 win and sweep a two-game, home-and-home series against their in-state rivals. Bobby Metz’s goal 7:11 into the third wit... Full story
Croix Kochendorfer stopped all 31 shots Saturday night in leading the Chippewa Steel to a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Wilderness. It was the first game of 2022 for the Steel (17-15-1) as the team returned after a three-week break. The team showed little rust in the early moments as it jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Sam Frandina beat Wilderness goaltender Konrad Kausch on a power-play goal 4:26 into the frame. That goal was followed by Ryan Remick’s tally with 3:23 remaining when he converted on a 2-on-1 on a feed from B... Full story
After struggling with only one win in the final month of the 2021, the Wilderness have started 2022 on the right foot. After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period Saturday, Minnesota came alive to outscore Fairbanks 4-1 for the game’s final 40 minutes to win, 5-4, forcing a split in the two-game weekend series and snapping the Ice Dogs’ nine-game winning streak. Reid Conn was the hero, as he scored the game-winner with 6:57 remaining in the third period. Conn took advantage of a neutral ice turnover, picked up a loose puck in fro...
This saga sounds like the backdrop to a TV reality show: snowmobiles in the wilderness on the Minnesota/Canada isolated border with subzero record-breaking temperatures, whiteout blizzard conditions and little food, water, or shelter. Due to the weather stress, those snowmobiles eventually became unmovable, but all three riders survived the overnight ordeal. For Cloquet’s Tim Carle and Johnny and Sis Leon, it was an outdoor challenge they lived to tell about. It could have easily turned the othe...
An alert reader sent us his discovery after seeing this photo printed in the Dec. 3 issue of the Pine Knot News. Sean Sundquist said he recognized it as a shot of what was known as the Outlaw Bridge over the Pigeon River in far northeastern Minnesota, a forerunner to the U.S.-Canada connection on Highway 61 near Grand Portage. A wooden bridge was erected by Rotary members from the area in 1917 in a rather remote area northwest and inland from the current highway along Lake Superior. A hotel...
In the early weeks of November, the Minnesota Wilderness were in the hunt in the North American Hockey League Midwest Division with a record of 13-7. Things were looking good, considering the squad featured a ton of young talent with a high ceiling for improvement. Now, just a month later, the team is winless over its last seven games and is struggling to find bodies due to a series of unforeseen circumstances. "It's been a tough run lately," said GM and coach of the Wilderness, Dave Boitz.... Full story
Cameron Ricotta scored twice and Tyler Stewart picked up three points to lead the NAHL frontrunner Fairbanks Ice Dogs past the Minnesota Wilderness Saturday night, 6-3. Graham Burke suffered his second straight loss in net for Minnesota. Jacob Zacharewicz started the game, but was pulled in favor of Burke after Fairbanks made it 3-0. Zacharewicz stopped 13 of 16 shots, while Burke turned aside 18 of 20. The Wilderness also lost to the Ice Dogs 5-3 Friday night in the first of two away games. The Wilderness play at home the next two Fridays:... Full story
The Chippewa Steel had goals from six players and were backed by stellar goaltending Saturday night, as they handed the Minnesota Wilderness their third straight defeat, 6-1, at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Croix Kochendorfer stopped 39 of 40 Wilderness shots, including all 17 shots he faced in the first period, to secure his seventh win of the season. Ethan Janda opened the scoring for Chippewa early in the first when he was able to jam in a rebound past Jacob Zacharewicz at the 3:06 mark. The Steel made it 2-0 early in the... Full story
Sam Livecchi stopped all 26 shots he faced Saturday night to earn his first Junior A shutout as the Minnesota Wilderness defeated the Chippewa Steel 6-0. It was the second-straight strong performance from Livecchi, who paced the Wilderness to a 3-2 shootout win Thursday in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in the first game of the home-and-home set. Livecchi made 32 saves in the Thursday win. Offensively, six goal scorers found the back of the net Saturday night for the Wilderness. It started at the 4:19 mark of the first period when former Duluth... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness let a dominant first period go by the wayside Friday night, as the Chippewa Steel dominated the final two periods to win, 7-5. The Wilderness scored 3 and outshot the Steel 12-2 in the opening frame, but the Steel came to life early in the 2nd. The Steel outscored the Wilderness 7-2 in the final 40 minutes, which included 3 goals in the final 2:08 of the hockey game. Joe Kelly led the way for Chippewa with 3 goals and 1 assist. His first goal came at the 9:00 mark of the 2nd with an assist from Evan Tanos. He then... Full story
The Janesville Jets overcame a two-goal deficit to come back and beat the Minnesota Wilderness 7-4 on Saturday, and sweep a two-game weekend series in Cloquet. A strong first period allowed the Wilderness to jump out to a 3-1 lead Saturday. Janesville opened the scoring 3:17 on Cody Menzel’s first goal in just his second ever Junior A hockey game, but the Wilderness countered quickly. Noah Decker picked up his second goal of the season just 14 seconds later on a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the left of Jet netminder Owen Millward. T... Full story
More than 50 students at Barnum High School got a chance to learn about water quality and how to find one's way with a map and compass through a program that brought a bit of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to their school last month. They were visited by Alison Nyenhuis, education director for Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting northeastern Minnesota's BWCAW and educating students about the area through its "No Boundaries to...
The Minnesota Wilderness went 5 for 5 on the power play Saturday night, in a 6-3 victory over the Janesville Jets in a North American Hockey League battle at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. William Persson picked up two of the team’s goals with the man advantage, both of them scored in the third period. Persson’s first goal broke a 3-3 tie with 14:47 remaining in the final frame. The Wilderness also had PPGs from Bobby Metz and Haden Kruse in the first period, Matthew McQuade in the second, and also an even-strength empty-net goa... Full story
Thursday, Oct. 14 Volleyball Wrenshall-3 Two Harbors-0 Duluth East-3 Esko-0 Grand Rapids-3 Cloquet-0 Barnum-3 Cherry-1 Cromwell-Wright-3 Bigfork-0 South Ridge-3 McGregor-0 Boys soccer CEC-2 Grand Rapids-0 Girls soccer Cloquet-Carlton-2 Duluth Denfeld-0 Football Esko-14 Aitkin-12 Cherry-52 South Ridge-0 NAHL Hockey Minnesota Wilderness-4 Minnesota Magicians-3 Friday, Oct. 15 Football Cromwell-Wright-35 McGregor-20 Pine City-36 Cloquet-8 Barnum-48 Chisholm-16 NAHL Hockey Minnesota Magicians-7 Minnesota Wilderness-3 Saturday, Oct. 16 Volleyball... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness went 5 for 5 on the power play Saturday night, in a 6-3 victory over the Janesville Jets in a North American Hockey League battle at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. William Persson picked up 2 of the team’s goals with the man-advantage, both of them scored in the 3rd period. Persson’s first goal broke a 3-3 tie with 14:47 remaining in the final frame. The Wilderness also had PPG’s from Bobby Metz and Haden Kruse in the 1st period, Matthew McQuade in the 2nd, and also an even-strength empty-net goal from Ethan... Full story
The lost chickens of Carlton County have been found. And they've been adopted. This week, for the second time in a month, people exploring the woods off Carlton County Road 4 between Interstate 35 and Hay Lake - along the border of Blackhoof and Twin Lakes townships - discovered hundreds of chickens roaming wild. And for the second time since Sept. 12, a call to action on social media has raised outrage and compassion as people have taken the birds in. It isn't difficult to ascertain where the...
