Sports

by Toni Zaverl
It was another good night in the Ely high school gym as the alumni players come together to play in the second annual Ely Hoop Club alumni basketball game.
We switch gears up this year and played the alumni game before Christmas and seem to have a good turnout.
This alumni game was put in place by Hoop Club board member Toni Zaverl to bring back old time fun and have an event that will bring the community together as well as serve for a fundraiser for the Hoop Club Scholarship fund.
The Ely Hoop Club would like to thank all the players who sign up and played in this year’s game. Also the family and fans that came to watch and make this special and annual event happen.

by Tom Coombe
The styles changed but the results remained largely the same for Ely’s Nordic Wolves.
Both Ely ski teams took part in the Dec. 19 Cloquet Invitational, which featured classic rather than freestyle competition.
The switch did little to slow down the Wolves, who came home with second-place finishes in both the boys and girls competitions.
The Ely boys competed without all-state skier Jasper Johnston, who has been taking part in U.S. Junior National qualifying events, and fell five points shy of the host Lumberjacks in the seven-team boys event.
Senior Raif Olson was the individual runner-up and sophomore Gabriel Pointer was a spot behind in third.
A third-place showing by senior Brooke Pasmick helped lift the Wolves to second-place among the girls - eight points back of Mesabi East.

by Tom Coombe
Brielle Kallberg hit a milestone on Monday, and this week she and her teammates will take their next steps toward another one.
The Ely senior scored her 1,000th career point during the high school girls basketball team’s 72-50 home victory over Chisholm.
It was the final home game for the Wolves before this week’s Hoops for Hope Holiday Tournament.
Now in its sixth year, the fundraiser for the Spiritwood Foundation has generated well in excess of $15,000 and a successful tournament will bring the Ely program close to the $20,000 mark.
Ely Head Coach Darren Visser started Hoops for Hope in 2014, in part to incorporate community service as part of the program.
“The Hoops For Hope Tournament has helped our teams to see that they can have a positive impact on their community,” said Visser. “The community gives so much to our kids and this is a way to give back.”

by Tom Coombe
Ely’s high school hockey team remains without a victory, but the Timberwolves’ fourth straight defeat was their most competitive yet.
The Wolves put up a season-high 31 shots on goal in a 1043 loss to Moose Lake Area, in a Dec. 13 contest at the Ely Arena.
Ely’s final game before a holiday break was very competitive for two periods, and came on the heels of a lopsided 12-0 defeat against section contender Eveleth-Gilbert just three days earlier.
Senior Luke Olson, who had all four goals for Ely, scored twice in the first 10 minutes of play to give the hosts an early 2-1 lead.
The Rebels, who had a size advantage against an Ely team that includes several freshmen and eighth-graders, were more physical and got to the Wolves as the contest progressed.
Rebels Jordan Fjosne and Henry Ribich both scored in the final five minutes of the opening period on the way to hat tricks of their own.

by Tom Coombe
Ely’s high school girls basketball team is a missed free throw away from a perfect start.
Other than a late collapse that resulted in an overtime defeat to Two Harbors last weekend, it has been smooth sailing for the Timberwolves, who improved to 4-1 Tuesday night with a 60-24 romp at Silver Bay.
The lopsided win eased some of the sting from Saturday, when a shorthanded Ely team ran out of gas in the second half as a 16-point lead went by the wayside and the visiting Agates rallied for a 51-47 win.
Ely missed several free throws late in regulation and a last-second basket forced overtime, where the Wolves again struggled at the free throw line.
Ely went 17-for-40 from the line, which set the stage for a tough finish.

by Tom Coombe
It may be too early to say how the Ely Timberwolves will stack up this winter in Section 7A, but Tuesday’s season-opener offered more than a few reasons for optimism.
The Wolves, despite an overall lack of height, a key injury-related absence, and several new faces in the lineup, ran away from visiting Two Harbors in the second half of a 76-41 high school boys basketball victory.
Senior Dylan Fenske had 31 points and 11 rebounds and classmate Evan Omerza dished out a game-high 11 assists as the Wolves warmed up after a slow start.
Fenske and Omerza are the only returning starters for an Ely team that, entering the 2019-20 season, is a question mark in 7A.

by Tom Coombe
This winter, Ely will field one of the youngest teams in the history of its high school hockey program.
Yet head coach Ben Johnson said there’s no shortage of talent or desire among the Timberwolves, who open the 2019-20 season this weekend with a two-game home set against Kittson Central of northwestern Minnesota.
Only a handful of upperclassmen are on a 23-player roster, but fifth-year head coach Ben Johnson nonetheless likes what he has seen out of his team in early-season practices.
“We’re three weeks ahead of any team we have had the last four years,” said Johnson. “Obviously we’re super super young, but they are good players who are catching on quick. By far it’s the best attitude and work ethic we’ve had going into a season.”
The Wolves went just 5-16-1 last winter, but their fifth win was historic - a 3-2 playoff victory over International Falls in what was the program’s first-ever win against the Broncos.

by Tom Coombe
If high school athletes could qualify for a pension, Erika Mattson and Brielle Kallberg would be vested.
Both senior standouts have been part of the Timberwolves’ varsity team for six years and starters for five, and they provide a potent one-two punch as Ely opens the 2019-20 high school girls basketball campaign Tuesday at Nashwauk-Keewatin.
Mattson has developed into one of the deadliest three-point shooters in northeastern Minnesota while Kallberg, a state track qualifier and an NCAA Division II volleyball recruit, is one of the best athletes in Section 7A.
They’ll team with fellow senior Winter Sainio to provide both talent and leadership to an otherwise young, and relatively inexperienced, Ely team.
“We have a lot of key people back with Winter, Brielle and Erika and then it gets to a lot of youth,” said Ely Head Coach Darren Visser. “We go from three experienced players down to a lot of younger players.”

by Tom Coombe
A season of growth in the water couldn’t have ended much better for Northeast Range/Ely.
All that was missing from last weekend’s Section 7A girls swimming meet was a bid to state and Ely senior Brooke Pasmick, nearly had that, finishing third in the 100 backstroke and missing out on moving on by less than two-tenths of a second.
NRE also returned home from Hibbing with several medals and a slew of team-record and personal-best performances.
Not bad for a team that had just one senior - Pasmick - and was loaded with swimmers in ninth grade or below.
“Today was only the beginning for a young team like ours,” said Ely ninth grader Lily Tedrick, who earned two medals at section and set team records in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.

by Tom Coombe
Two Ely Timberwolves are taking their games to a new level.
Seniors Luke Olson and Brielle Kallberg, standouts in an array of sports at the high school, both signed letters of intent this week to play collegiate athletics.
Olson has accepted an offer to join the men’s track and field team at NCAA Division I South Dakota, while Kallberg is set to play volleyball at Minnesota State-Moorhead, an NCAA Division II school.
Signing ceremonies Wednesday in Ely capped a recruiting process that resulted in significant interest in both Timberwolves.
Olson visited several schools before settling on South Dakota, and Kallberg attracted the attention of numerous college volleyball programs.
A state champion last spring in the 800 meter run, Olson becomes the second Ely athlete to currently compete at the Division I level in track, joining 2017 Ely graduate Josh Heiman, a triple jumper at Army.