ELY TIMBERWOLVES

Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com

Head coach: Ben Johnson, fifth season

2018-19 record: 4-15-1

Conference: Independent

Section: 7A

Key departures: F Nick Mattila (26-13—39); F Austin Meskill (7-10— 17); D Dean Boese

Key returners: Sr. F Luke Olson (35-16—51); sr. D Dalton Schreffler (4-11—15); sr. D Seann Prigge (0-8—8); sr. F Jason Skube (1-6—7)

Outlook: Depth and experience are constant issues for the Timberwolves, who have an extremely young core.

Captains Prigge, Schref- fler and the high-scoring Olson will be key. Then there’s younger players such as Justin Nyman and Jimmy Zupancich, who Ely coaches expect to have a breakout season. Sophomore goaltender Chase Sandberg (5.91 GAA, .840 save percentage) won all four games for the Timberwolves last season but may split time with freshman Ben Cavalier this year.

“With such a young core of players, we are excited to continue to build for the future — since we have success coming from our youth program — and it’s just a matter of time till we have healthy numbers,” Johnson said.

Ely defeated International Falls 4-3 in a first-round playoff game last February, the first time the Timberwolves won a postseason game in ages.

“Last season’s playoff upset, beating International Falls for the first time in school history, was a big sign that our young core needed. Keep working hard and stay positive, and good things will happen,” Johnson said.

Rick Weegman, News Tribune

Roster

Schedule

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

Feb. 1 —

Feb. 4 — North Shore, 7 p.m.

Feb. 7 — at Moose Lake Area, 6 p.m.