A Cloquet constant: Friends make high school hockey rink their gathering place

CLOQUET, MINN. – Year after year, decade after decade, a special group of committed friends gathers to watch high school hockey games.

When attending home games for the Cloquet Lumberjacks, people can easily spot them in the same seats, sitting next to each other, cheering on “The Purple.”

Their unwavering support earned them the title of “Legacy Group.” The friends — Donny Lamirande, Kenny Limmer and Dick Millen — routinely sit together in the offensive zone within the Northwoods Credit Union Arena.

They used to gather at “The Rail of Knowledge” at the arena, which became the “Old Crow’s Nest” when friend Freddie Anderson placed a crow decoy on the rail. Anderson, dealing with Alzheimer’s, no longer attends games, Lamirande said.

On this particular night, the Lumberjacks are playing host to Bemidji. Donny is wearing a worn Cloquet hockey baseball cap. Kenny is wearing a Cloquet-Esko-Carlton jacket. There’s a logo of a Lumberjack on his baseball cap. Dick, who has had some hearing loss, asks those around him to decipher the public announcer’s goal calls.

Millen started this gathering when his son, Corey, chose not to follow his dad’s path on the basketball court, opting instead for the sport of hockey. The younger Millen’s arrival in Cloquet began a transition from a basketball town to a hockey town — never mind that Dick Millen was believed to be the school’s first all-state basketball selection.

In fact, Corey, who later played in the NHL and Winter Olympics, influenced others to switch allegiances from the hardwood to the ice, single-handedly changing the complexion of the town’s winter-time trajectory to ice pursuits, which connected Dick with squirt coach Donny Lamirande. Last to the party was Limmer, who was drawn in the same as people were some 40 years ago to Corey, a player who didn’t take what defenses gave him but who took what he wanted.

Lamirande aided young athletes in their hockey pursuits and went on to coach another phenom, former NHL pro Jamie Langenbrunner, about a decade later. But Corey Millen started the trend and is dutifully revered within program annals.

Now in their late 70s and early 80s — and about four decades since Corey Millen’s last shift in a purple and gold Lumberjacks sweater — Dick Millen, Lamirande and Limmer gather to support the Jacks through thick and thin.

Other friends stopped coming to games when Cloquet, now known as Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, became a Class 1A program, Lamirande said. He’s committed to sticking around because “this is what I do in the winter,” he said. He’s also monitoring the careers of a new generation of players skating for C-E-C, including five sons of his former peewee A-level players: Grady Knutson, Karson Young and brothers Hudson and Brahm Snesrud.

Millen’s claim to fame goes well beyond his NHL son. His grandson, Tyler Johnson, was a 2007 Mr. Hockey finalist who played Division I hockey at Colorado College. His great-grandson, Jordan Sewell, is a freshman skating regular varsity shifts.

Millen, 84, and Lamirande, 76, are bound by familial ties as well. Dick is Lamirande’s brother-in-law. Limmer, 76, used to be Lamirande’s neighbor. Lamirande recalled getting his boat ready in recent summers when Limmer would ask about the state of the Jacks.

Lamirande would know. He would flood the outdoor rink at Washington Athletic Park, now home to Cloquet’s baseball team.

Lamirande, who counts turkey hunting and fishing as hobbies, was around for the program’s more humble beginnings, like the time a young man emerged from a car and proceeded to walk across a sidewalk while wearing ice skates.

That stands in contrast to a Jacks team that defeated Bemidji 6-4 that evening to kick off a four-game win streak that included a 3-1 upset of Hermantown, the power of Class 1A, Section 7.

Junior goaltender Jacob Iallonardo stopped 29 of 30 Hawks shots to seal the unlikely victory over Bemidji. C-E-C is 18-4 and hopeful for the approaching Class 1A, Section 7 playoffs.

Cloquet reached the 1982 state tournament with Corey Millen on crutches. Langenbrunner led C-E-C to the 1992 and ’93 Tier I state tournaments. C-E-C also reached state in 2002 and 2008 as a Class 2A participant.

Now that C-E-C showed it can play with Hermantown, the program’s Legacy Group is looking forward to an invitation to Xcel Energy Center, the host of the state tournament, in March.

“This is a fun team to watch,” said Lamirande, who added that high school hockey is his favorite of all levels of hockey.

That sounds good to Limmer.

“Winters are the best,” he said. “I don’t go north or south. We support kids no matter what level they are playing. It helps knowing a lot of the dads of players.”