Wilderness sign Cloquet junior

Four new defensemen have been inked for the Minnesota Wilderness for next season.

The Wilderness announced this week that Karson Young of Cloquet, Owen Smith of Maple Grove, Charles Antrilli of Oaklyn, New Jersey, and Talan Del Signore from the Esmark Stars program in Pennsylvania have signed tenders for the 2024-25 season.

Both Young and Smith come to the Wilderness after playing last weekend with the club’s 18-and-under team at the Prospects Challenge in Blaine. The team won the championship, finishing unbeaten with a 5-0 record. Both players led all defensemen in scoring while playing for their respective high school teams during the most recent season.

Young topped all Cloquet-Esko-

Carlton blue-liners with seven goals, 21 assists and 28 points over 27 games as an 11th-grader.

Eveleth deal

The Cloquet-based Wilderness are staying put at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.

Earlier this week, the Eveleth City Council approved an agreement with the Minnesota Wilderness to house the organization’s new NA3HL squad at the historic Hippodrome, a team news release said.

There had been scuttlebutt about the NA3HL team coming to Cloquet and the NAHL’s Wilderness moving to the Iron Range. That didn’t happen.

Wilderness NA3HL hockey will officially open at the Hipp beginning in September. Until that time, renovations are expected to be made to locker rooms and other parts of the arena to accommodate the team. Twenty two of the team’s 47 regular season games will be played at the Hippodrome.

The NA3HL Wilderness move to Eveleth as the formter Minnesota Loons franchise, which was rebranded as the Wilderness after being purchased by NAHL Wilderness owner Barry Bohman earlier this year.