Not this game. Not tonight.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Winter Olympics came to a close and the success of the United States’ gold medal men’s hockey team revived memories of the magical winter of 1980 and the boys of Lake Placid.
That group, of course, had deep ties to Minnesota and the Iron Range, with four Rangers on the squad, including Babbitt’s Buzz Schneider.
That Olympic team has undoubtedly reached legendary status, fueled decades later by the movie Miracle and the often-replayed scene in which the late Herb Brooks inspired his team with a speech that brings goose bumps to almost anyone who has coached or been in a locker room.
While Brooks told his Olympians that the heavily-favored Russians would beat them nine out of 10 times, he offered these words before they took the ice: Not this game. Not tonight.
There probably won’t be any movies made about Ely’s high school girls basketball team and the stakes Tuesday night in Hermantown weren’t quite as high as they were in Lake Placid 46 winters ago - at least one observer found himself thinking about the movie, the Olympic hockey team and even ‘ol Herbie Brooks.
Not this game. Not tonight.
Tomi Cole, like Coach Brooks, already has quite a coaching pedigree even though her 40th birthday is still a ways off.
Of course, her dad is Tom Mc-Donald, who has led the Ely boys’ program for 36 seasons and was a high school and collegiate star in his own right.
Tomi’s uncle Paul racked up the wins at Vermilion Community College and she has uncles, aunts, cousins and more that all patrol the sidelines.
They’re all descendants of the late Bob McDonald, who amassed 1,000 wins while coaching for decades at Chisholm.
Tomi led the Wolves to the section final four in her first season at the helm. This season was solid but not spectacular for her crew.
The injury-induced absence of Audrey Kallberg, a key player on last year’s 7A semifinal team, certainly had an impact and Ely went 13-9 during a regular season when the Wolves won the ones they were supposed to, and lost to the better teams in the section.
Two of those losses came to Chisholm, both by double digits, and despite an upset win on Saturday over second-seeded Deer River, the Wolves faced down the prospect of a season-ending defeat on a quiet March night in Hermantown.
Not this game. Not tonight.
Playoff basketball isn’t like the old days, when folks from Ely, Babbitt, Tower, Cook, Orr, Mt. Iron, Eveleth-Gilbert, Aurora-Hoyt Lakes, Cherry and International Falls packed the Miners Memorial Building for district tournaments, and then everyone from those areas and beyond turned out for the fabled “regionals.”
Four classes, school consolidations, technology and the ill-timed prospect of Ely and Chisholm playing on a weeknight in Hermantown limited the crowd size this week to parents, a couple dozen students and only the most diehard Ely fans.
The atmosphere in the Hermantown gym was the best it could be given the circumstances. Piped-in music replaced the sounds of competing bands that were prevalent decades ago. Both teams were even introduced to music a la the Chicago Bulls from the days of Michael Jordan.
Basketball purists may have been aghast but it’s the way it is now and it’s even grown on some who yearn for the days of yesteryear.
Many in the audience looked down at their phones, whether it was to scroll social media, text friends or family or check scores. The game, after all, figured to be a Chisholm cakewalk.
Not this game. Not tonight.
As tipoff came at 7:30 and the game inched forward, more and more fans had reason to put their phones down and take in what was happening on the court.
Chisholm, led by another McDonald, Tomi’s uncle and 1991 state champion Joel, took an early 11-10 lead, but the Bluestreaks’ shots weren’t falling the way they were in two earlier matchups with the Wolves.
Ely rebounded ably against a more physical Chisholm team and Tomi’s offense was patient and deliberate by design.
Amelia Penke scored inside off of feeds from junior Lydia Shultz and Ruby Lowe fired away from outside and the Wolves led by as many as nine points in the opening half and 26-21 at the break.
The second half started even better for the Wolves as Lowe connected again and it was 36-23 Ely six minutes in.
Wearing Cinderella’s glass slipper, the Wolves seemed to be on their way to the finals, but suddenly the clock seemed to be near midnight.
The Wolves started to tire and Chisholm’s shots started to fall.
Soon it was 38-36 and later 41-40.
Despite some timeouts, the Wolves were in trouble and even Tomi Cole told her able assistant - Tom Omerza - that there was an eternity left to play.
Not long after, the Bluestreaks went in for a layup and it seemed like they would take the lead for good and the Wolves’ upset bid had run its course.
Not this game. Not tonight.
Somehow that layup rimmed off, and Chisholm wouldn’t score a basket in the last four minutes.
There were turnovers. Air balls. A three-pointer that deflected off an Ely hand and was caught underneath by freshman Kaija Shultz.
And at the end, Ely got the ball in the hands of the player who wanted it most - junior Lydia Shultz.
Showing all the savvy that her coach displayed on the floor a couple of decades before, Shultz stepped up when her team needed it most, hitting six straight free throws down the stretch and a perfect 10-for-10 for the game.
That sealed it and the Wolves had their upset and the program had its first-ever berth in a 7A championship game.
Powerful Mt. Iron-Buhl, the state’s top-ranked Class A team and the section Goliath for better than a decade-plus, stood as the Wolves’ opponent Thursday.
The odds were long, even insurmountable some would suggest, but that’s another fight for another day.
Tomi Cole might, or might not, have a game plan or a speech up her sleeve to dethrone the powerful Rangers.
But after all it was supposed to be Chisholm, and not the Wolves, who were to be on top this past Tuesday.
Not this game. Not tonight.
