Wolves skaters start 0-2

Ely’s high school boys hockey team had a difficult start to the 2005-2006 season.The Timberwolves returned from a Twin Cities weekend road trip with an 0-2 mark, which included an 11-0 beating delivered by private school Holy Family (Waconia) last Friday night.Delano upended Ely 6-3 the following afternoon, sending the Wolves home empty-handed.One bright spot for the Wolves, according to head coach Brian Ensign, was marked improvement in the second half of the road swing.“We regrouped and had a good meeting the next day and talked about some of the things we did wrong,” said Ensign. “They exceeded my expectations as far as the difference between games one and two. They showed a lot of improvement in the second game.”Delano built a 5-1 lead before the Wolves turned things around.Second-period goals by Atte Riihela and Eric Urbas cut the gap to two, and the Wolves applied pressure in the third before the hosts got an insurance goal.“One of their goals went in off of one of our guys,” said Ensign. “They made two of their breakaways and we missed both of ours. And they had two shorthanded goals.”Mike Holm had the Wolves’ other goal.Goaltender Warren Burger had 44 saves for Ely, which was outshot 50-37.The Wolves were never in the game against Holy Family, which scored four first period goals and had an 8-0 lead in the second, sending the game into running time in the final stanza.“They had played a couple games so they had their first-game jitters out of them already,” said Ensign. “They came in undefeated with some momentum and we were a little flat-footed. We didn’t have the systems down that you need to play a very-fast quality team.”Burger and Ryan Puzel combined to make 37 saves for the Wolves, who were at Crosby-Ironton last night.Ely makes its home debut today (3 p.m., Ely Arena) against Proctor, opening up a two-game homestand that also includes a Tuesday night (7:30 p.m.) matchup with Section 7A rival International Falls.