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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If the Minnesota Wilderness are going to move on in their league playoffs, they will need to string together three straight wins pronto. In Alaska last Friday and Saturday, the Wilderness dropped the first two games of their five-game series with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs by scores of 3-2 and 7-1. They will now try to dig out of that hole with wins at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet Friday and Saturday. If they manage to tie the series, there would be a third game on Sunday. In Friday's ov...
A common phrase in sports is “Good play creates good bounces”. The Minnesota Wilderness took advantage of that philosophy Friday night with its first two goals off lucky bounces, and carried that momentum for a 4-1 victory over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in Game 3 of their best-of-five Midwest Division semi-final series. The Wilderness began the scoring in the first period doing something they have had trouble doing through most of this playoff series—killing penalties. Fairbanks came into the game 4-for-8 on the power play, and on their first...
It took the 60th and final game of the season at home for the Minnesota Wilderness to clinch a playoff berth in the North American Hockey League playoffs Saturday. After dropping a 7-2 decision on the road to the Chippewa Steel on Friday night, the Wilderness were in a must-win situation on Saturday at home. The Wilderness needed overtime, but eventually found a way to win 2-1 and finish as the fourth and final playoff team in the Midwest Division. "Going into the weekend, if we had won both...
A few miles west of Cloquet, in the heart of the Fond du Lac Reservation, sits the Cloquet Forestry Center. Owned by the University of Minnesota, the woodland site has been the primary research and education forest for the university since 1909. It is the oldest experimental forest under continuous operation by a university in the United States, according to Al Alm, professor emeritus and former CFC director. That could change in the not so distant future, as university officials have been...
The Minnesota Wilderness has enjoyed a huge second-half resurgence this season and are fighting for a top playoff spot in the North American Hockey League. What most local fans of the Cloquet-based team do not know is the significant impact the team has made in the upper echelons of college hockey and even the professional hockey ranks. Just this past month, 14 former Wilderness players played in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament, with six on the roster for University of Minnesota Duluth alo...
On Tuesday, Cloquet graduate Koby Bender finally reached the end of a long hockey road when he signed a professional contract with the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League after wrapping up his career at the University of Minnesota Duluth. "It's hard to believe that my college career is over, and it's hard to believe that I signed a professional contract," Bender said. "I am very excited about what's to come and will continue to work hard to get better." Bender's life since high...
Hopes the Minnesota Wilderness will ensure a chance to play in the postseason will have to wait one more week, as they fell Saturday to the Janesville Jets, 6-3. The Jets scored twice in the first period and built a 5-1 lead before the midway point of the game. Two late Minnesota goals made things interesting in the final few minutes, but the Jets ultimately hung on for the victory, which kept their own playoff aspirations alive. The win gave Janesville 67 points and moved them back within three points of the Wilderness, who sit in third in...
The Minnesota Wilderness won't know their postseason fate until the last game of the season after falling to the Chippewa Steel 7-2 Friday night in Wisconsin. It’s the second loss in as many tries for the Wilderness (34-23-2) when they have been in position to nail down a spot in this season’s NAHL Robertson Cup playoffs. Seven different goal scorers connected for Chippewa (25-31-3). Kade Neilson, Brady Yakesh and Jackson Bisson built a 3-0 lead with tallies in the opening frame, as the Steel dominated in shots on goal 15-6. It appeared Minneso...
Ice skaters of all ages are invited to skate for free with an Easter bunny from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Minnesota Wilderness hockey players will be skating as well and there will be music, prizes, a raffle, cookies, treat bags and take-and-make crafts. The Cloquet track and field team will serve a pancake breakfast 8-11 a.m at Carmen’s Restaurant. Breakfast is $5 and free for those age 4 and under. The event is coordinated by the City of Cloquet and Cloquet Community E...
A second period of wild swings in action culminated in two Minnesota Wilderness power play goals that propelled them to a 4-2 victory over the Springfield Jr. Blues April 1 to complete a sweep of the two-game series. Niko Rexine scored twice and Will Persson added the winning goal and an assist in leading the Wilderness to a 5-2 victory Thursday night. The wins kept the Wilderness in third place through the weekend in a chaotic NAHL Midwest Division. The Wilderness have a 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games. They’re now nipping at s...
Carlton's Abrianna Schmidt sings the national anthem Saturday night with the Cloquet Combined Honor Guard in attendance for the Minnesota Wilderness game and its Military Appreciation Weekend ceremonies....
Niko Rexine scored twice and Will Persson added a goal and an assist in leading the Minnesota Wilderness to a 5-2 victory over the Springfield Jr. Blues Thursday night, March 31. A tight one-goal game going into the 3rd period opened up when Persson scored what resulted in the game-winner 3:06 into the frame. After getting a pass from Max Neill, the veteran from Bjorklinge, Sweden, sprung through on a break along the left wing wall, and fired a shot that sailed over the glove of Springfield...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
