Eveleth: one of the "sweetest" teams in the state and probably the
northern part of this country.
Eveleth's forward line of Neil Celley, Pat Finnegan, and
Wally Grant:
considered one of the greatest in Minnesota high school hockey.
Eveleth In Range Rec League Eveleth News, Jan
4, 1945
The Eveleth entry in the Range Recreational Hockey
League will make a two-day invasion of the western end of the
league this weekend.
Eveleth is strongly favored to take high honors in the
league with an all veteran outfit returning to Coach Cliff
Thompson. Last year's forward line of Pat Finnegan,
Wally Grant, and Neil Celley will again be intact this season.
This fast skating, flashy stick-handling trio is one of the best
in the state.
The Eveleth pucksters have been practicing nightly at
the local Hippodrome.
Eveleth
Over Hibbing, 9-4 Eveleth News, Jan 11, 1945
Last Friday evening the Eveleth hockey team journeyed
to Hibbing, to the artificial ice in the Memorial Building, to
start its puck season.
Celley and Grant had two goals each.
Eveleth
Drobnich
Cossalter
Peterson
Finnegan
Celley
Grant
G
D
D
C
W
W
Hibbing
Minerich
Rukavina
Bostyoncic
Miller
T. Mikolich
J. Mikolich
Eveleth spares:
Martinson, M. Gulbranson,
G. Gulbranson, Bigich, Gambucci, Ventrucci. Hibbing spares: Osborne, Johnson,
Rutherford, Isaacson, Sorci.
Eveleth Trounces
Virginia, 14-3 Eveleth News, Jan 18, 1945.
One of the "sweetest" teams in the state and probably
the northern part of this country.
Eveleth's power was clearly shown in last Sunday
evening's encounter when the forward line of Finnegan, Grant,
and Celley tallied two goals before the fans had a chance to get
seated.
Celley had three goals and three assists.
Grant had three goals. Finnegan had two goals.
First
Period Scoring: 1. E., Celley (UA); 2.
E., Gulbranson (UA); 3. E., Grant (UA); 4.
E., Cossalter (UA); 5. E., Gambucci (Martinson);
6. E., Finnegan (Celley). Second Period Scoring: 7. E., Celley (UA);
8. V., Bonner (UA); 9. V., Tario (UA); 10.
E., Ventrucci (Martinson); 11. V., Peterson (UA);
12. E., Bigich (UA). Third Period Scoring: 13. E., Celley (Bigich);
14. E., Grant (Celley); 15. V., Allen (UA);
16. E., Finnegan (UA); 17. E., Grant (Celley).
Eveleth
Drobnich
Cossalter
Peterson
Finnegan
Celley
Grant
G
D
D
C
W
W
Virginia
LeMeiux
Tamte
Branstrom
Roswald
Bonner
R. Peterson
Eveleth Leaves Range Rec League Eveleth News,
Jan 18,1945
Eveleth has definitely dropped out of the Range
Recreational League. One reason is that they
outclassed the rest of the field in the league. If Eveleth is
included in play for the league championship, the other teams
may become discouraged and drop out of the league.
Eveleth will continue to scrimmage the teams in the league.
Willard Ikola [7th grade], youthful goalie for the
Eveleth high school hockey team, showed by his performance last
Sunday evening that the local pucksters won't have to worry
about their goalie for some years to come.
Eveleth Swamps
Chisholm, 16-1 Eveleth News, Jan
25, 1945
Eveleth again had everything its own way last Sunday
evening as it downed a Chisholm team that was poor at skating,
poor at stick-handling, and poorly versed in the fundamentals of
hockey.
Chisholm did try a new angle to keep down the score.
One goalie wasn't doing much good against Eveleth's driving
offense. So when Eveleth's forwards swept down the
ice, the two Chisholm defensemen dropped back into the net to
help the goalie ward off the flurry of flying pucks.
The result was that Eveleth managed but a 16-1 victory.
No date has been set for next hockey game to be
had by Eveleth.
Eveleth Subdues
Taconite Team, 6-2 Eveleth News,
Feb 1, 1945
Taconite, which is the leader in the Range Recreational
Hockey League, without a defeat, was subdued last Saturday
afternoon on its own rink. This win was probably the
hardest game of the exhibition season for Eveleth.
It was the forward wall of Neil Celley, Pat Finnegan,
and Wally Grant which sparked Eveleth to their victory.
Eveleth Downs Virginia,
12-2 Eveleth News,
Feb 1, 1945
The Eveleth high school sextet racked up its second
victory of the week last Sunday evening in Virginia as it downed
the home team 12-2. That unstoppable forward wall of
Finnegan, Grant, and Celley
was again responsible for the victory.
Eveleth Represents
Region 7 Eveleth News, Feb
8, 1945
The Eveleth high school hockey team was crowned
Regional 7 puck champs last week, when the Coleraine sextet, the
only other team entered in this region, withdrew from the event.
Eveleth Swamps Granite Falls, 16-0
St. Paul
Pioneer Press, Feb 16, 1945
Eveleth treated the
fans to one of the most amazing passing exhibitions a high
school team ever put on.
So steady and untiring was the Eveleth assault that
only on rare occasions was Granite Falls able to work the
puck into enemy territory.
Falls didn't stand a chance against the Golden
Bears.
Eveleth
usually played against amateur junior and senior
teams from
the Iron Range in 20 minute period games,
rather than the
typical 12 minute periods of high school games.
Led by legendary coach Cliff Thompson, Eveleth
was merciless.
For the Falls players, who had to have the
off-sides rules explained to them throughout the
game, it was a rude awakening.
fromFrozen Memories,
by Ross
Bernstein
Neil Celley had three goals and four assists.
Pat Finnegan had three goals with three assists.
Wally Grant added three goals and two assists.
Reserve, Milan Bigich, had three goals and one assist.
Eveleth out-shot Granite Falls 32-1.
First Period Scoring: 1. E., Celley
(Grant); 2. E., Grant (Finnegan); 3. E.,
Cassalter (UA); 4. E., Finnegan (Celley,
Grant); 5. E., Celley (Finnegan). Second Period Scoring: 6. E.,Bigich
(Martinson); 7. E., Bigich (Gulbranson);
8. E., Finnegan (Celley); 9. E., Peterson (Celley);
10. E., Bigich (UA); 11. E., Martinson (Bigich);
12. E., Gulbranson (Martinson). Third Period Scoring: 13. E., Grant
(Finnegan); 14. E., Finnegan (Celley);
15. E., Grant (UA); 16. E., Celley (UA).
Eveleth
Drobnich
Cossalter
Peterson
Finnegan
Celley
Grant
G
D
D
C
W
W
Granite Falls
Velde
Beckman
Brevich
Field
Knutson
Glingbile
Eveleth Over St. Paul Washington, 10-0 St. Paul Pioneer
Press, Feb 17, 1945
With vicious body checking and head-on collisions
marking the action, the game turned out to be a roughhouse
affair and kept the crowd in a continuous uproar, as sixteen
penalties were dished out.
But the brilliant of Eveleth dominated the play as the
invaders rocketed through Washington defense for three goals
in the first period, four more in the second, and three in
the last session.
The score might have been even higher if Washington's
Okoneski hadn't played a great game, batting aside several
shots from players virtually on top of him. In
all, Okoneski came up with 22 saves, most of them of the
difficult variety.
Wally Grant had four goals. Pat Finnegan
had three goals and two assists. Neil Celley had
three goals.
Eveleth out-shot St. Paul Washington 32-4.
First Period Scoring: 1. E., Celley (UA);
2. E., Celley (Grant); 3. E., Celley (UA). Second Period Scoring: 4. E., Grant (Casslter);
5. E., Finnegan (UA); 6. E.,Finnegan (UA);
7. E., Grant (UA). Third Period Scoring: 8. E., Grant
(Finnegan); 9. E., Grant (Finnegan); 10.
E., Finnegan (UA).
Eveleth
Drobnich
Cossalter
Peterson
Finnegan
Grant
Celley
G
D
D
C
W
W
Washington
Okoneski
Graham
Kieger
Struntz
Macioch
Salwasser
Eveleth Captures State Puck Title
Beats Thief River Falls, 4-3 St. Paul Pioneer Press,
Feb 18, 1945
Eveleth's power-packed team reigns as first king of
Minnesota high school hockey domain after coming from behind
to defeat a great Thief River Falls sextet.
The Bears needed all the tricks and knowledge acquired
in its Range hockey repertoire to ascend the throne, but it
also needed a flaming competitive spirit to beat an opponent
which refused to admit defeat until the final horn.
Thief River Falls played by far its best game of the
tournament. After falling behind 2-0 with-in the
first three minutes of the game, they pulled themselves
together to score once in the remaining time of the opening
period. They took the lead with two goals in the
second.
However, Eveleth came back to pound in two quick goals
early in the final period when Falls was caught short-handed
with Wes Hovie in the penalty box.
Thief River Falls fought back valiantly from this point
to the finish, but only occasionally could they break
through the closely knitted and rugged Eveleth defense and
most of their shots were taken from outside the blue line.
First Period Scoring: 1. E., Finnegan (Celley);
2. E., Finnegan (Grant); 3. TRF. Brossoit
(Baker0. Second Period Scoring: 4. TRF., Vigness
(UA); 5. TRF., Vigness (Baker). Third Period Scoring: 6. E., Grant (UA);
7. E., Grant (Martinson).
Eveleth
Drobnich
Cossalter
Peterson
Finnegan
Grant
Celley
G
D
D
C
W
W
Thief River Falls
Engelstad
Baker
Doyle
Johnson
Lund
Hovie
