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northwoods oldtimer wrote:Time for both Cloquet and Grand Rapids to move to single A where they belong.

Proctor struggles at A and Cloquet at AA.
Cloquet could add Proctor to its co-op and become Cloquet/Esko/Carlton/Proctor.
Maybe then they would be more competitive in AA.
The bright side is that their JV beat east 5-1.
Unfortunately, their BNA team is about 0-14 so far this year.

@Karl(east)

I was on my way to the game last night and arrived at Heritage around 6:40. Seemed like I was an hour too late! couldn't find a spot ANYWHERE to park so I went home and was sincerely disappointed that I missed out on this game. I completely agree that this game should be played at a larger venue such as Amsoil or the DECC like you suggest. I grew up in Roseville and my senior year (2006-07) our hockey team was ranked in the top 3-4 all year. The games against WBL (our school's biggest rival) were so intense. I've been to WBL vs Hill many times and those games are just crazy. Any way, my point is that I never realized how big a rivalry Cloquet and Duluth East is until actually trying to go see a game. I learned my lesson, for sure.

MNHockeyFan wrote:Nice write up, karl. Just for the heck of it, I went back to see what you said about Cloquet in your last rankings:

Cloquet (3-2)
-As expected, the offense has been explosive; the problem is the defense, which has been, frankly, awful in their two games against AA competition. A good showing against Duluth East could turn this around in a hurry, though—there’s too much talent here to languish this far down in the rankings.

Is it safe to say, based on what you saw tonight, that Cloquet will languish a little while longer? Or was it more a case of East exceeding expectations?

Well, I think they'll be doomed to languish for a bit, though some of that is a function of their schedule, since their two opponents next week aren't great, and they're in a very weak holiday tournament. Going 0-3 against Jefferson, WBL, and East really hurt them, even though the reports suggest they outplayed two of those three teams. I'm not sure quite what to make of the Jacks right now--they do have some explosive talent on that top line, Esse's teams almost always improve as the year goes on, and the second line had a few flashes as well. But if East continues to play the way they did in the second half of the game, Cloquet is going to need to have a lot of things go right if they want to beat a team of the Hounds' caliber.

I think they have the talent to get up to #15 or so just by running the table against weak teams, but anything more than that would take a pretty impressive effort. They'll have a few chances in the second half of the season to prove themselves--the second East game, two with Grand Rapids, Andover, and Eden Prairie (assuming EP gets it together...), and some good A teams, but that's it.

joris016 wrote:@Karl(east)

I was on my way to the game last night and arrived at Heritage around 6:40. Seemed like I was an hour too late! couldn't find a spot ANYWHERE to park so I went home and was sincerely disappointed that I missed out on this game. I completely agree that this game should be played at a larger venue such as Amsoil or the DECC like you suggest. I grew up in Roseville and my senior year (2006-07) our hockey team was ranked in the top 3-4 all year. The games against WBL (our school's biggest rival) were so intense. I've been to WBL vs Hill many times and those games are just crazy. Any way, my point is that I never realized how big a rivalry Cloquet and Duluth East is until actually trying to go see a game. I learned my lesson, for sure.

Yep, welcome to East-Cloquet...sorry to hear you couldn't make it in. I was wondering how many people didn't, and I overheard a number of people wandering the concourse behind me who sounded like they were giving up on finding a decent vantage point. When I was in high school (mid-00s), the regular season game drew about 3,000 to the DECC. I'm sure fans of the other great rivalries will disagree, but when these two teams are anywhere near each other in talent level, it's hard to beat East-Cloquet.

That rink really needs to be looked at when it comes to hosting a big game. I think that the rink is great for the smaller youth games or for those lower attendance games like Denfeld/Virginia but when a team is there against a big local opponent it needs to be moved. There should never be a play off game there for the same reasons. The rotten site lines, the seats on the glass, the lack of parking, the fact that they block off the side of the arena and stuff like that makes it a poor choice to host a game in. I would hope that it would be taken off line for those games. If you are able to get into the game (after paying your $6) you find yourself either sitting at one end or the other so that you can see the entire sheet of ice or you find yourself sitting behind a post or standing in the 3rd or 4th layer back from railing. None of which results in $6 worth of entertainment.

Maybe the Vanais Sports Center isn't so bad after all.

Nope. Both are bad.

BodyShots wrote:Maybe the Vanais Sports Center isn't so bad after all.

I know this is a East/Cloquet thread. But since people are on the topic of crowded venues when rivals play one another. Hill/WBL at the Vadnais rink definitely needs to be played at Aldrich. It's overly crowded, and people are standing all around the rink and in the concourse. Just a heads up for anyone going on Tuesday.

On a side note, I really need to get up north and see a game between some of these north schools sometime, so I can see how it compares to the metro rivalries.