Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

With about a third of the schedule remaining in the regular season, the Minnesota Wilderness find themselves smack in the middle of the Central Division standings in the North American Hockey League.... Full story

After a couple of coaching gigs and a trip back to school, former Minnesota Wilderness coach and Cloquet hockey star Cory Millen is back in the North American Hockey League as head coach of the St.... Full story

Midway through the first half of their state quarterfinal game, the Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels trailed by four points. That changed as Minneapolis North went on an offensive run that gave the... Full story

A switch in game plan and the perfect execution of that plan made the difference last Thursday night as Moose Lake/Willow River slipped by Pequot Lakes 57-53 to win the Section 7AA boys basketball... Full story

An impressive season came to an end for the top-seeded Esko girls basketball team on Friday in a loss to Duluth Marshall in the Section 7AA championship game. The Eskomos defeated Crosby-Ironton in ov... Full story

When Barnum met Upsala in the Section 5A semifinals March 24, the Bombers knew they would be facing a team with both athleticism and speed. Barnum fell behind early, but hung around and fell 66-56 to... Full story

Both the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton and Moose Lake Area girls hockey teams bowed out of the Section 7A hockey tournament Thursday night. The Lumberjacks were chopp-ed down by the Hilltoppers and the Rebels... Full story

After opening the Section 7AA hockey tournament with a 2-0 home win over Duluth Marshall, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys team was bounced from the tournament Saturday afternoon by a 4-0 score at the... Full story

The Moose Lake/Willow River boys basketball team was set to face Pequot Lakes in the Section 7AA boys basketball championship game Thursday night, after the issue of the Pine Knot News was printed.... Full story

In the Section 7AA girls basketball playoffs the No. 1 seeded Eskomos, not surprisingly, are still standing and were set to play No. 4 seed Crosby-Ironton Wednesday as this issue of the Pine Knot News... Full story

In an odd twist of fate, the Cloquet boys basketball team played Hermantown in their final regular season game on Wednesday and then had to turn around and face the Hawks again on Saturday in the... Full story

Barnum is the only local team in the Section 5A boys basketball playoffs still standing, after defeating McGregor and St. John’s Prep to get to the semifinal game against Upsala set for Wednesday... Full story

The first period of play between the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton and Moose Lake Area girls hockey teams Friday night was nearly dead-even. The Lumberjacks held a slight shot advantage, but the March 12 game... Full story

If there was any doubt that the Esko girls basketball team shouldn't be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Section 7AA playoffs, that doubt was dispelled Friday night when the Eskomos routed the Duluth... Full story

As local rivalries go perhaps none is bigger than the Carlton vs. Wrenshall boys basketball game featuring the traveling trophy known as the Brown Jug. This year's version of the game was held... Full story

The Bombers jumped on the back of Rayna Klejeski to an impressive 50-34 girls basketball win over the Wrens in Wrenshall on Friday night. Barnum sprinted out to a 33-13 halftime lead and continued to... Full story

One can only imagine how loud the South Ridge gym was by the end of regulation Monday night in an incredibly close game against Barnum. With his team trailing by three points and time winding down, th... Full story

It isn't very often that larger schools play smaller schools in Minnesota high school basketball, but with Covid, things have changed out of necessity. On Thursday night, the Cromwell-Wright girls... Full story

After one period in Thursday night's hockey game against Duluth East, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton hockey coach Shea Walters might have thought, "here we go again." But - after falling twice to the... Full story

Don't look now, but the South Ridge Panthers girls basketball team is serving notice that they are going to be a tough team to beat come playoff time. The Panthers notched their fifth win in a row... Full story

Cromwell-Wright used the three-point shot Tuesday night to defeat Wrenshall 66-49 in a high school boys basketball game played in Cromwell. "We played pretty well tonight," said Cardinals coach Bill... Full story

Things couldn't be much busier for the Cloquet-based Minnesota Wilderness hockey team as they wrapped up seven games in a 10-day stretch this past week at Northwoods Credit Union Arena with games on T... Full story

It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Cloquet boys basketball team this season. The Lumberjacks notched a 77-68 win over Pine City last Thursday to improve to 6-5 on the season, but now... Full story

Two teams that were undefeated in Polar League play met up in Carlton on Friday night and it was a battle between the Carlton and Cromwell-Wright boys basketball teams. It took extra time, but... Full story

Going into Friday night's game against Barnum, the Moose Lake/Willow River boys basketball team was averaging almost 90 points per game. While the Bombers were able to hold the Rebels to 29 points... Full story