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Ely goes 1-2 in weekend home finale

Keith Vandervort
Posted 2/6/20

ELY – The Timberwolves hockey team finished their home season with a 5-2 loss against the North Shore Storm Tuesday night. On senior night, Ely’s only goals came from freshman Kole Macho, …

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Ely goes 1-2 in weekend home finale

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ELY – The Timberwolves hockey team finished their home season with a 5-2 loss against the North Shore Storm Tuesday night.
On senior night, Ely’s only goals came from freshman Kole Macho, who scored at 6:59 in the first period with an assist by Logan Loe and Luke Olson.
The Storm answered at the 9:34 mark, and Macho scored again at 15:54, on a power play with an assist by senior Luke Olson, to give Ely a temporary 2-1 lead. North Shore scored at the end of the period to tie the game 2-2. North Shore scored once in the second period and added two more goals in the final frame for the 5-2 win.
The Timberwolves, who went penalty free on their home ice, took 23 shots on goal for the night, while the Storm peppered Ely goalie Ben Cavalier with 36 shots.
Weekend action
Ely traded games with Bagley-Fosston last weekend, getting a win and a loss. The Timberwolves beat the Flyers, 5-4 Friday for their third win of the season, and lost 4-1 on Saturday.
On Friday night, the Flyers took a two-goal lead before senior forward Luke Olson opened the scoring gate for Ely, hitting the back of the net at 15:07 and 16:13 in the second period, with assists by Dalton Schreffler, Seann Prigge and Jimmy Zupancich, to tie the score at 2-2.
Olson continued scoring on two more power play opportunities in the third period, at 2:34 and 5:46, with assists by Prigge, Schreffler and Jackson Flom, to give the Timberwolves a 4-2 lead. The Flyers answered with two goals of their own, at 8:56 and 10:39, to tie the score at 4-4.
Olson scored his fifth goal of the night and the game winner, again on a power play, at 12:19 to give the Timberwolves their second win of the season over Bagley-Fosston.
 “It was a great effort by the whole team and a good home win for the big crowd we had,” said Head Coach Ben Johnson. “The team definitely took advantage of every opportunity.”
The Flyers were called for several penalties for the night, including a five-minute major. “We had just two penalties and played a pretty disciplined game,” Johnson said.
Goalie Chase Sandberg got the win. The Flyers had 25 shots on goal, while Ely had 19 scoring chances.
Ely faced a more physical and determined Bagley-Fosston team on Saturday afternoon. “They came at us with a strong will to go home with a win and they took care of business,” Johnson said.
The Flyers took a three-goal lead, scoring at 10:51 in the first period, and 00:37 and 9:28 in the second frame, before Olson lit the lamp at 15:37, assisted by Prigge and Kole Macho to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Timberwolves pulled their goalie with the hopes of changing the momentum, but the Flyers scored at 15:04. “The late empty-netter was tough,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that injuries and the flu bug have hit his team hard late in the season. “We even had one of our assistant coaches, Jake Myers, in the hospital because of an apparent spider bite,” he said.
Ely travels to Moose Lake on Friday, Feb. 7, and closes out their regular season at Mora-Milaca on Thursday, Feb. 13.