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Wildcats’ Tolvanen earns 3rd WCHA honor

EDINA, Minn. – Atte Tolvanen has made the most of his chance to mind the Northern Michigan University net with an injury to star senior Mathias Dahlstrom.

The freshman sensation earned his third weekly WCHA honor barely a month into the college hockey season when he was named Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.

The rookie goaltender, who twice previously was named league Rookie of the Week, stopped 80 of 81 shots in the Wildcats’ three-point series last weekend at home against Bemidji State (Minnesota).

Tolvanen posted his first collegiate shutout in Friday’s scoreless tie after stopping all 46 shots on goal. It marked only the third 0-0 game ever played by an NMU team.

Then on Saturday, the Vihti, Finland, native stopped 34 of 35 shots, including 14 in the third period, as Northern won 3-1 for its first win ever over the Beavers at the Berry Events Center.

Tolvanen’s 80 saves was second-highest in the country by an NCAA Division I goaltender, giving him the second-most saves in the nation, 243, for all of October.

It knocked his goals-against average down to 1.99 and saves percentage up to .942, tied for sixth and fourth, respectively, among goalies nationally who have faced at least 150 shots.

Tolvanen earned top WCHA rookie awards for the weeks of Oct. 4-11, when he turned away 66 of 71 shots in a pair of ties at Wisconsin, and Oct. 19-25, when he stopped 63 of 67 in an NMU split with then nationally ranked Michigan Tech.

Dahlstrom earned the same distinction of winning both a Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors in the same season last year.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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