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Wolves looking for a win

Jay Greeney
Posted 12/13/18

ELY – The Timberwolves’ offense continued to struggle on Tuesday, managing a disappointing 17 shots on goal in a 7-1 loss to a combined Eveleth-Gilbert Area team.

Ely, still winless, put the …

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Wolves looking for a win

Posted

ELY – The Timberwolves’ offense continued to struggle on Tuesday, managing a disappointing 17 shots on goal in a 7-1 loss to a combined Eveleth-Gilbert Area team.

Ely, still winless, put the first shot on goal, but the Golden Bears dominated the rest of the way, peppering Ely goalie Chase Sandberg with 25 shots in the opening period. Two connected with the back of the net to give the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead. They padded their lead with three more goals in the second period.

Ely showed a bit more offense in the second stanza, with nine shots on goal, but none put points on the board.

Ely didn’t give up, however, as they held Eveleth-Gilbert to just ten shots in the final period. The Golden Bears added another goal early in the period, before Ely’s Luke Olson put one in the net with an assist from Nick Mattila to narrow the margin to 6-1. The Golden Bears would add one more goal before the final buzzer to wrap up scoring.

For the game Chase Sandberg kept 49 of 56 shots out of the goal for a .880 save percentage. The Wolves managed just 17 shots on goal for the contest.

In action last Friday night, a late Wolves’ rally came close against May-Port, but ultimately fell short. May-Port won 7-6 in a hard-fought contest.

The Patriots jumped out to a four-goal lead before Ely posted back-to-back goals from Nick Mattila and Luke Olson. May-Port finished the first period with a goal to take a 5-2 lead into the second.

May-Port opened the second period with a goal before the Wolves followed with two of their own from Austin Meskill and Luke Olson’s second of the game, leaving the score 6-4 going into the final period.

Things got interesting in the third stanza as the Patriots scored at the 1:03 mark to take a commanding three-goal lead. The Wolves’ Nick Mattila took it upon himself to make it a game. He scored at the 7:11 and 12:32 minute marks to make the hat trick and leave Ely just one goal back. That would be all the scoring, however, and May-Port took the win.

Senior Tyler Housey was in goal for Ely as he defended 13 of 20 shots for a .650 save percentage. The Wolves outshot May-Port with 33 attempts.

It was a well played game from the penalty box as each team committed just one infraction for a total of two minutes.

The Wolves traveled to Two Harbors Thursday to take on North Shore. A strong third period gave North Shore a 6-2 victory. North Shore is a combination of Two Harbors, Cook County, and Silver Bay high schools.

The Storm drew first blood in the opening period, but Ely’s Nick Mattila scored just 1:11 into the second and evened the score. A goal by North Shore just two minutes later gave them a 2-1 lead going into the final period.

The Storm scored early and often in the third as they put four goals on the board before Mattila scored the final point of the game.

Ely goaltender Tyler Housey allowed six goals on 31 shots for a .806 save percentage. Ely had just 22 shots on goal.

The penalty box cost the Wolves six minutes on three penalties whereas the Storm were guilty of four infractions good for eight minutes.

Next up for 0-6 Ely will be a road trip to Moose Lake with a 6 p.m. start. They host Southwest Christian on Saturday in a 3 p.m. matinee.