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CEC gets No. 2 spot in playoffs

The Cloquet boys hockey team was seeded No. 2 for the upcoming Section 7A playoffs. Moose Lake Area is the last seed which is No. 9.

Cloquet benefited from a strong finish to the season. After winning their last two games, they moved to No. 3 in the section in the QRF rankings. Then, because CEC defeated Hibbing in a head-to-head game, the Lumberjacks moved up to the No. 2 seed.

Moose Lake will have a play-in game at 1 p.m. Saturday at International Falls, the No. 8 seed. The winner will move on to play Tuesday, Feb. 20 vs No. 1 Hermantown.

No. 2 CEC will host No. 7 Ely/Tower-Soudan at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Also next Tuesday, No. 3 Hibbing/Chisholm will host No. 6 Greenway and No. 4 Proctor will host No. 5 Northern Storm.

If CEC wins, they move on to the semifinals at 8:05 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24 at Amsoil Arena against the winner of Hibbing and Greenway. The winner of the Proctor vs North Shore game will play either Hermantown, or the winner of the International Falls vs Moose Lake Area game at 6:05 p.m. Feb. 24.

The Section 7A championship game is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Amsoil.

This is the first time Cloquet has ever played in the Class A playoffs, opting to play up into AA in the past.