Ely has long been a familiar and frequent opponent for the North Shore Storm boys hockey team. Curious about the history between the two teams, I took a deep dive into past matchups and found a striking trend. Last season, the Timberwolves faced off against the Storm twice, losing 4-1 in their first encounter and suffering a 7-0 shutout in their second.
The season before that, the Storm managed to defeat Ely in all three of their matchups, a feat they had also accomplished the previous year. In fact, after combing through records, I couldn’t find a single instance of the Storm losing to Ely all the way back to the 2012-2013 season, showcasing a dominant streak spanning more than a decade.
The Storm extended their long winning streak against the Timberwolves, securing their first victory of the season in early December.
Freshman Kade Norman opened the scoring in the first period with an unassisted goal. Early in the second, North Shore doubled their lead when senior Ayden Althaus capitalized on a powerplay, assisted by Norman and fellow senior Jacob Carpenter.
Ely answered back just minutes later with their own powerplay goal, but before the second period concluded, Norman struck again for his second goal of the night, with Althaus providing the assist.
Heading into the third period the Storm was in the lead. The Timberwolves pulled even with a goal about eleven minutes in, but North Shore wasted no time reclaiming their advantage. Just 32 seconds later, Norman found the net again, completing an impressive hat trick. Sophomore Nox Peterson contributed his first assist of the night on the play.
Peterson picked up another assist later in the game when senior Cooper Anderson netted what would become the final goal of the evening. Fellow senior Reese Radtke also earned an assist on the play.
Freshman Dax Krech was solid between the pipes all night, stopping 17 of 19 shots on goal. The game ended with a 5-2 score, maintaining the Storm’s long winning streak against Ely. They’ll get another chance to face off in February, as the season winds down.
On December 5th, the Storm traveled to Coleraine to take on Greenway. Althaus struck first for North Shore with an even-strength goal, assisted by Norman in the opening period. Greenway responded by sneaking two goals past Krech in the second, including one on the powerplay.
In the third period, the Storm responded with two goals in quick succession. At 13:19, Carpenter converted on a powerplay, with assists from Norman and senior Ethan Meeks to tie the game. Less than two minutes later, Althaus put North Shore in the lead for the first time with an exciting short-handed, unassisted goal. Unfortunately, Greenway quickly answered, sending the game into overtime where the Storm ultimately fell short.
The Storm’s schedule put them against Ashland at Sonju Arena on December 10th followed by back-to-back games against Fort Frances, Ontario. On the 13th the game was held at Rukavina Arena while the second was at Sonju Arena. Details will be reported in a future Northshore Journal issue near you!
