Northern Star: Bobby Thornton

Thornton forms quite the impressive first line with teammates Grady Knutson and Niko Gentilini.

CLOQUET, Minn.- C-E-C senior forward Bobby Thornton has had his fair share of goals the past couple of seasons.

But this year, he’s sharing the wealth with his linemates Grady Knutson and Niko Gentilini.

“We’ve been together since sophomore year. We’ve been friends since a super long time. We just work really well together, passing the puck, moving the puck around. We all just work together well,” said Thornton.

Through the Lumberjacks first eight games of the year, the trio lead the team in points with 16 and above.

“That line they compliment each other so well. And obviously you have good players on the back end like Carson Young. They’re all contributing, they have all good points this year. Not that that’s everything but I think it shows that they’re seeing success doing things the right way,” added head coach Shea Walters.

But like all things it took time to get to where they are now.

“We’ve been working really hard before and after practices since our sophomore year as a senior group. The younger kids have followed and we made a lot of progress during the summers and off-season. It’s not just about practicing but we’ve been making a lot of progress outside of practice along with in practice,” said Thornton.

With eyes towards big things down the line.

“It’ll be fun to see. Every season is always different. The midway point is coming up. Typically over christmas so that kind of sets the gauge for what we want to accomplish for the 2nd half and we’re always preparing for the end of the year,” added Walters.

Cloquet-Esko-Carlton will next play Luverne on December 26th.