CLOQUET — Senior Day honorees Dana Jones and Brynn Martin helped propel Cloquet-Esko-Carlton to an 11th straight win, Saturday, Feb. 5, after notching a pair of even-strength goals in a 3-0 shutout of Bemidji.
The eight-player senior class of Marina Dostal, Eve Eugenis, Carlee Maslowski, Bella Harriman, Tenley Stewart, Jones, Martin and Ashtyn Schneberger were all honored prior to puck drop against the opposing Lumberjacks.
CEC coach Courtney Olin lauded the group for their dedication to the program.
“They all have been five-year program members. Some have played varsity the entire time, some have played some JV then moved up to varsity, but all have had a lasting impact on the program just with their work ethic. They’re all great kids,” Olin said.
In growing up and playing with fellow members of the class since their time in youth hockey, Jones says their friendships developed over the years has played a big role in their success.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Ken Niven put out videos from our youth tournaments, so I’ve been watching some of those videos, and it was kind of funny to see how we’ve all grown up together,” Jones said. “It’s also been really cool too because those friendships obviously have lasted my entire high school career, even before that too. It also plays a part in our success too.”
The team’s three senior managers, Maya Emanuel, Audrey Menor and Madison South, were also highlighted for their efforts, which often goes beyond what is normally asked of team managers at the high school level.
“They’re doing a lot of what maybe a collegiate-level manager would do and they're unpaid, they’re volunteers and they just want to be there for the ride,” Olin said.
CEC remains red-hot on the eve of sections
Tied for the team lead in points with 30, Jones broke the scoreless deadlock at the 9:25 mark of the opening period. Erin Loeb set up the tally with a stretch pass that caught Jones’ stick near the Bemidji blue line to spring her for a breakaway. Jones made no mistake and buried it for her 13th goal of the season.
“I saw an open lane and I called for the puck,” Jones said. Loeb, my linemate, did a good job of keeping her head up and passing the puck to me and luckily it went in the back of the net for us. It was a good play by her.”
The home team continued to lay siege to the Bemidji net into the first intermission and out of the break before Martin made it 2-0 with a goal set up by Dostal just over 13 minutes into the second frame. Merely 24 seconds later, Reese Kuklinski added the team’s third and final goal with assists credited to Allie Jones and Eugenis.
The three-goal showing comes a day after the team’s victory over Thief River Falls, in which the Lumberjacks fired 34 shots on net with 33 steered aside by the Prowlers’ goaltender.
“I think the difference is we just really put an emphasis on number one, on the breakaways, reading the goaltender, but also number two, going to the net,” Olin said. “I think we had some shots last night that maybe weren’t as high quality of shots as we had tonight. (We were) crashing the net for rebounds, but also just putting ourselves in a position to bury some of those.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Goaltender Araya Kiminski stopped all 14 shots in the win, and reached the milestone of 1,000 career saves along the way. The shutout for Kiminski was her eighth of the season and seventh over the last eight games.
The Lumberjacks (18-6-1) await their Section 7A seed with a likely home quarterfinal on Tuesday night.
