Hockey: SIJHL champion franchise to relocate to Cloquet

The two-time defending Superior International Junior Hockey League champion Wisconsin Wilderness plan to leave Spooner and relocate to Cloquet for the 2012-13 season.

The renamed Minnesota Wilderness will play at the Cloquet Area Recreation Center, coach Rod Aldoff said Thursday. Aldoff said an official announcement will come at a news conference next week.

“Our arena is possibly being sold, and, if not sold, it could possibly be shut down at the end of September so we had to find a new home,” said Aldoff, a defenseman at Minnesota Duluth from 1991-95. “We’ve been fortunate enough that the city of Cloquet and the arena of Cloquet have taken us in with open arms, and we’re very happy about it.”

The SIJHL is also home to the Duluth Clydesdales and the renamed Minnesota Iron Rangers based in Hoyt Lakes.

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