Ely’s high school hockey team split two section games in a span of four days, but the Timberwolves’ playoff position remains up in the air.
A top-six spot seems out of reach and the Wolves have steered clear of the ninth and final slot with a seven-win regular season.
It appears the Wolves will either be seventh or eighth in Section 7A when the postseason begins Feb. 14, and their final seed could come down to Monday’s game with North Shore, at Silver Bay.
The teams have each won a one-goal contest against the other and the rubber game at Silver Bay is likely for the seventh seed.
But that may be a dubious spot, given the seven seed is likely to travel Feb. 17 to meet powerful Hibbing in the quarterfinal round.
Whomever is eighth would host Moose Lake in a play-in round game on the 14th, with the winner moving on to the arduous task of taking on Hermantown.
Ely fell 4-2 to Greenway Monday night at the Ely Arena, in a game that featured both a slow Wolves start and a furious finish.
The visiting Raiders dominated the first period and took advantage of power play chances, outshooting the Wolves 18-4 and grabbing a 3-0 lead on goals by Brayden Nielsen, Landon Mackey and Vinnie Denucci.
Two goals came in the first three minutes and two were with a man advantage during the period.
Ely had several scoring chances in the second period but came up empty, while Evan Woodman scored on the power play late in the frame and the Raiders took a four-goal lead.
It seemed like that’s how the contest would end as the final period was quiet until Woodman was whistled for a head contact major penalty with 1:52 left.
Within 40 seconds, the Wolves scored two goals and had new life as senior Jayden Zemke and sophomore Cooper Mayranen both scored.
The Wolves got a couple more shots off but winning goaltender Blayne Kelley held them off and preserved the win.
The Raiders outshot Ely 38-22 with Kelley making 20 saves and the Wolves’ Lewis Powell finishing with 34.
Sawyer Hegman, Evan Leeson and Hunter Halbakken added assists for the Wolves.
• Ely got off to a fast start Jan. 30 and went on to a 6-4 victory against Moose Lake Area, completing a regular season sweep.
Senior Rhett Johnson had two goals and two assists for the Wolves, with he and Lucas Stalboerger scoring in the first period for a 2-0 Ely edge.
Junior Owen Marolt had back-to-back goals in the second, and Johnson picked up his second of the night as Ely led 5-1 after two periods.
Moose Lake came storming back, closing the gap to one with only 3:30 to go.
Ely’s Sean Merriman countered just 11 seconds later, getting an assist from Parker Niskala for an important insurance goal.
Powell finished with 32 saves and Ely overcame four third-period penalties to escape with the win.
Hegman assisted on three of Ely’s six goals, while both Zemke and Halbakken had assists during the contest.
Brayden Stand scored twice for the host Rebels.
• Ely hosts Park Rapids at 2 p.m. Saturday in the final regular season home contest of the season.
A Jan. 31 home game, at Babbitt, against the Burnett Blizzard (WI), was canceled.
