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
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1821
When Tony Bender took over coaching the Moose Lake Area boys hockey team this winter, he had a long list of things he wanted to accomplish. Among the top things on the list was increasing the number of athletes in the program and helping each player to learn the game. After seven games, the Rebels have responded with a 4-3 record and stronger play on the ice. The team's latest win came Monday in a 4-1 home victory over Spooner, Wisconsin. "We compete in every game, but there are times where we... Full story
Thursday, Dec. 12 Boys Basketball Moose Lake/Willow River 0, North Woods 48 Cloquet 71, Denfeld 68 Girls Basketball Barnum 55, Moose Lake/ Willow River 22 Esko 59, Carlton/ Wrenshall 25 Boys Hockey International Falls 11, Moose Lake Area 1 Girls Hockey Rock Ridge 3, CEC 2 (OT) MLA 0, Hopkins/Park 0 Friday, Dec. 13 Boys Basketball Cromwell-Wright 67, Cook County 42 Esko 70, Superior 49 Willow River 71, Two Harbors 42 Mille Lacs 58, Carlton/ Wrenshall 51 Barnum 102, Ogilvie 31 Girls Basketball MIB 84, South Ridge 21 Esko 40 Pierz 37 Rock Ridge... Full story
The Esko girls basketball team stormed out to a big halftime lead and never looked back as they beat next-door neighbor Carlton/Wrenshall, 59-25, on Dec. 12 in Wrenshall. "We went into the game thinking we had a chance of giving them a tough game, but they came out in a press that put us on our heels," said Carlton/Wrenshall coach Emma Grover. "My girls didn't adjust to what we were telling them to do, and it just got out of hand for us." Esko was led by Clara Swanson's 18 points and Kaitlyn... Full story
The Barnum girls basketball team steamrolled to a huge first-half lead in a Dec. 12 matchup against Moose Lake/Willow River and ended up taking a 55-22 road win in Moose Lake. "We have some great athletes, and they really got after it in that first half," said Mariah Minkkinen, head coach of the Bombers. "Getting after it" was almost an understatement, as the Bombers sprinted ahead to a 28-4 lead by halftime. "We knew Barnum was good, but we didn't expect that," said ML/WR coach Andrew Miller. A... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness closed out the first half of the season playing its best hockey of the campaign, completing a two-game sweep of the Kenai River Brown Bears and stretching its winning streak to a season-high five games. The Wilderness (14-13-3) also moved back above .500 after their 7-4 and 6-1 victories Dec. 13 and Saturday over Kenai River (11-15-3) in Cloquet. Minnesota is now idle until Jan. 3-4 at home against Anchorage. A balanced offensive attack led the Wilderness to victory Dec. 13. Seven players scored goals for Minnesota.... Full story
Explorer Ponce de León was on a quest to find the mythical fountain of youth in Florida in 1513. President John Kennedy inspired the United States in its quest to have a person walk on the moon in the 1960s. Although maybe not quite as daunting, Dan Rosen, formerly of Cloquet, set out on a quest to golf in every calendar month in Minnesota in 2024. On Dec. 7, he accomplished his goal. Rosen, a part of the formidable golfing family, grew up near the entrance to the Cloquet Country Club. He was... Full story
After nine seasons as the head coach of the Esko football team, Scott Arntson has decided to step down and focus on family, freeing up time in what is a very busy life. "I just felt this was the right time and situation for me to step aside," Arntson said. 'I have a granddaughter and another grandchild on the way. My granddaughter lives in Duluth, and I hardly saw her during the season, and the new one will be living in Wausau, so I know if I was the head coach I wouldn't be able to spend the... Full story
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... Full story
Thursday, Dec. 5 Boys Basketball Barnum 68 Hinckley-Finlayson 32 Bayfield 104 Fond du Lac 90 Cherry 96 South Ridge 45 Girls Basketball Northwoods 32 Carlton/Wrenshall 30 ML/WR 58 Hinckley-Finlayson 44 Cromwell-Wright 79 McGregor 17 Boys Hockey Moose Lake Area 6 WSFLG (Wisconsin) 5 Girls Hockey CEC 5 Hibbing/Chisholm 1 Superior 4 Moose Lake Area 2 Friday, Dec. 6 Boys Basketball Esko 86 Cloquet 69 Northwoods 80 Carlton/Wrenshall 48 Cromwell-Wright 73 McGregor 45 Girls Basketball Moose Lake Area 4 St. Paul Highland Park 1 Saturday, Dec. 7 Boys... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness had its best offensive output of the season in a weekend sweep of the Janesville Jets. The Wilderness combined for 12 goals over the two-game series, with a 5-1 victory Friday and 7-2 win Saturday. Jakeb Lynch led Minnesota with seven points, combining for two goals and five assists over the weekend. This marks Minnesota’s second road sweep of the season and extends its winning streak to three games. After Janesville opened the scoring Friday night, the Wilderness responded with five straight goals. Sullivan Miller n... Full story
Friday, Dec. 13 Wrestling Cloquet-Esko at Brainerd Invitational, 4:30 p.m. Boys basketball Ogilvie at Barnum, 7:15 p.m. Mille Lacs at Carlton/Wrenshall, 7:15 p.m. Cromwell-Wright at Cook County, 6:15 p.m. Esko at Superior, 7:15 p.m. Moose Lake/Willow River at Two Harbors, 7:15 p.m. Girls basketball Cloquet at Rock Ridge, 7:15 p.m. Cromwell-Wright at Cook County, 4:45 p.m. Pierz at Esko, 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 Boys hockey Cloquet-Esko-Carlton at Blaine, 2 p.m. Girls hockey Sartell at CEC, 3 p.m. Hayward at Moose Lake Area, 1 p.m. Alpine ski... Full story
With nine players contributing points, the Carlton/Wrenshall Raptors girls basketball team secured a 56-23 win over the Fond du Lac Ogichidaag last week. "This is the most amount of players we've ever had," said Raptors coach Emma Grover. "We have 33 kids out in grades 7-12 and we have 12 total on our varsity roster. For us, those are awesome numbers." Myleena Ojibway led the Raptors with 16 points and was the lone Raptor in double-digit scoring. Raina Shabaish had 11 points for FDL in the Nov.... Full story
Esko’s Koi Perich, a defensive back for the University of Minnesota football team, was named to the Big Ten all-conference team this week. He is the first Gopher first-year player to be named to the first team since running back Darrell Thompson in 1986. Perich was named among coaches and media representatives. Perich was also on a second team and honorable mention for his kick returns on special teams. Perich was also one of five players named a finalist for the national Shaun Alexander Freshman Player of Year on Wednesday. — Pine Knot New... Full story
Saturday, Nov. 30 Boys Basketball Cloquet 95 Chisago Lakes 88 Boys Hockey CEC 10 Princeton 0 MLA 7 Ely/Northeast Range 2 Monday, Dec. 2 Girls Basketball Esko 60 Superior 53 Carlton/Wrenshall 46 Greenway 37 Cromwell-Wright 50 Floodwood 38 Tuesday, Dec. 3 Girls Basketball South Ridge 76 Cook County 24 Duluth East 52 Cloquet 47 Littlefork-Big Falls 60 Carlton/Wrenshall 50 Barnum 82 Northwoods 52 Boys Basketball Cloquet 76 North Branch 46 Hill City 79 Fond du Lac 78 Esko 88 Rock Ridge 60 Cromwell-Wright 87 Floodwood 25 Cherry 91 Barnum 58 Boys... Full story
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... Full story
Times are p.m. unless noted Friday, Dec. 6 Girls hockey MLA at Two Rivers, 7 Boys basketball Carlton/Wrenshall at North Woods, 7:15 Cloquet at Esko, 7:15 Cromwell-Wright at McGregor, 7:15 Girls basketball Barnum at Mille Lacs, 7 Cloquet vs. St. Francis, 7:15 Esko at Jordan, 7 ML/WR vs. Two Harbors, 7:15 Saturday, Dec. 7 Boys hockey CEC vs. East Grand Forks, 3 Wrestling Cloquet-Esko at Lakeville North, 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 9 Boys hockey MLA vs. Barron, 6 Girls basketball Barnum vs. McGregor, 7:15 Carlton/Wrenshall vs. Bigfork, 7:15 Cromwell-Wrig... Full story
Two close games led to a split between the Minnesota Wilderness and Springfield Jr. Blues this weekend at the Nelson Center in Springfield, Illinois. Springfield captured Friday’s contest, 4-2, while the Wilderness skated away with a 2-1 shootout victory Saturday. Minnesota erased one-goal deficits twice Friday before the Jr. Blues sealed the win with two third-period goals. Zach Homer scored in the first period to even the game at one. The Wilderness needed only two rounds in the shootout Saturday. Ferry Netusil and Nate Murray scored in t... Full story
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... Full story
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,... Full story
Arvid Brekke is a humble, Carlton County octogenarian and now a foreign sports medal winner. Brekke, who lives between Carlton and Esko on West Palkie Road, returned from Germany this fall after participating in a successful 2024 World Rowing Masters Regatta in Brandenburg. He was joined on his September journey by several of his teammates from the Duluth Rowing Club. Unlike the fairly recent George Clooney movie based on the Daniel Brown book, "The Boys in the Boat," this was not an Olympic... Full story
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... Full story
After four straight games against the Wisconsin Windigo, the Minnesota Wilderness are still looking for their first victory of the season against their rivals from across the border. The Windigo swept a weekend series last week in Cloquet, a week after winning both games at their home in Eagle River. The Wilderness scored a first period goal Friday night, but after that, the game belonged to the Windigo in a 5-1 final. Zach Homer scored the lone Minnesota goal with 9:01 remaining in the first after a turnover was forced in the offensive zone. N... Full story
Over the past few years, the Minnesota State High School League has aired public service advertisements on television and radio stations across the state asking people to "get in the game" and become officials. The reason those ads air is simple: in many sports across Minnesota, there is a vast need for more officials. The lack of football officials hit home in Carlton County this year when Esko had to move its homecoming football game time forward to 4 p.m. Oct. 4 while Barnum moved its game... Full story
