Star News

  by Bruce Strand, Sports editor Elk River will take on the best hockey team in the state Saturday after grinding out a 4-3 win over Cloquet-Esko-Carlton in their Section 7AAA opener on Tuesday evening. Two goals by Andrew Zerban helped the No. 4 seeded Elks prevail in their final home game.  Ryan Heid and [...]

  by Bruce Strand, Sports editor Five straight losses, three of them in overtime and another by one point, is Elk River’s  ledger for the last two weeks after the Ellks fell to last-place Andover 79-76 at home on Tuesday evening. Despite Andover’s extremely judicious shooting — 23-for-36 from the field, 28-for-37 at the line [...]

Free throw accuracy late in the game helped the Irondale Knights slip past the Rogers Royals  70-65 on Tuesday evening at Irondale. Jock Martinek scored 22 points for Irondale (11-12), sinking 7 of 8 free shots. Nolan Johnson scored 17, and Mark Stasson 14, including 6-for-6 at the line. The Knights were 18-for-20 and Rogers [...]

  by Bruce Strand, Sports editor The Rogers and Elk River gymnasts overcame the weirdness of competing against each other as both teams performed as well as they could have hoped at Section 8AA on Saturday. Rogers was team runner-up and the Elks, with just four competitors, placed fifth among eight, and combined they had [...]

The Elk River wrestlers lost to Cambridge-Isanti 56-21 in the first round of Section 7AAA on Friday at St. Michael, finishing their dual meet season 5-15. The Elks will host the section individuals next Saturday. Cambridge-Isanti 56, Elk River 21 106 – Tommy Guy. CI,dec Garrett Caldon 9-8 113 – Cole Moening, ER, dec Monty [...]

  by Bruce Strand, Sports editor Elk River had a 14-point lead with eight minutes left but Park Center overtook the Elks 61-60 on Friday evening at ERHS. Senior center Victoria Jenson scored 23 points in the Elks’ upset bid. Park Center got 26 from speedy 5-10 soph Cayla McMorris, a potential Miss Basketball candidate. [...]

by Bruce Strand, Sports editor Elk River dropped its fourth straight game, and second  overtime loss in that skid, to Park Center 80-73 on Friday evening in Brooklyn Park. It was a tumultous game. Park Center’s coach was ejected during the second half for berating referees. Pirate fans were throwing change unto the floor, and [...]

by Bruce Strand, Sports editor Like a president, Anders Franke is serving a four-year term as Elk River goalie. He was well-prepared as soon as he took office even though ninth grade was the first time he ever wore an Elk uniform at any level. The 5-foot-7, 155-pound one-sport athlete has made all-conference every year [...]

  The Elk River-Rogers-Zimmerman gymnasts, split into three for sectionals Saturday, will try land some individuals in the state tournament as team titles are out of sight. “Our Rogers team should score 135 to 138, maybe 139, and Elk River could be anywhere from 132 to 136,” said coach Jenn Bartlett about the two entities [...]

  by Bruce Strand, Sports editor If the Elk River-Zimmerman girl skaters could have hung on for just 51 more seconds Thursday, they would have made their fourth state trip in five years. Instead, the Elks gave up a goal that tied it 1-1 and had to duke it out for almost another hour with [...]