Editor’s note: Mining Journal sports writer Ryan Stieg is accompanying the Northern Michigan University hockey team on its trip to the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit where the Wildcats play games Tuesday evening and today. Today is his report from some of the pregame routines through game action on Tuesday.

DETROIT – The big day finally arrived Tuesday as the Northern Michigan University hockey team was set to face No. 10 Michigan later that evening at the Great Lakes Invitational.

Before the game, though, the Wildcats went through their typical routines. After a group breakfast, the players had a short morning skate at Joe Louis Arena where they tested the goalies one last time and tried to straighten out any remaining issues.

Between 4:15 and 5 p.m., the team arrived at Joe Louis prepared and ready to go. The bus was dead quiet on the way over and things primarily stayed that way up until the game. Various players went through their stretches, some used the exercise bike and they taped their sticks.

The person who had by far the most interesting routine was starting goalie Atte Tolvanen, who put on quite the show in the locker room. The freshman was already in a zone on the bus as he had headphones on and was staring straight ahead during the short trip.

Alone in the locker room before the team dressed, the Finnish netminder replaced his headphones, closed his eyes, sat in a chair and turned off his mind to whatever was around him. After listening to the music, he ended the song by speaking the final words out loud and going through an entertaining spectacle.

Tolvanen jumped up and down, did a couple spins and stretched out on the floor. These weren’t simple stretches, either. He spread his legs wide, grabbed a small ball and rapidly bounced it between his hands and the floor working on his coordination. After all that, he calmly put the ball down and left the room. It was something to see.

Before the game, head coach Walt Kyle addressed the team and emphasized the importance of getting lots of shots on net. Northern has struggled at times this season accomplishing that task and Michigan’s goaltending has been decent, but not as great as other teams the Wildcats have faced.

“I want you to promise yourselves that you’ll put pucks at the net tonight,” he said. “Do not pass up chances to take pucks to the net. We have to generate shots. I want you to dictate the pace here today. The ice gets bad here as the periods go, so let’s get the puck up, get that puck going, fore-check those walls, be aware of what’s happening and … get people to the net and pucks at the net and get this thing going.”

The Wildcats clearly listened to what Kyle had to say as they ended up outshooting Michigan 37-34.

The game began with Michigan in control. The Wolverines had two nice scoring chances in front of the net, both denied by Tolvanen.

After the first few minutes, Northern started to exchange punches and generated its own chances. Forward John Siemer had a nice opportunity down low and both Filip Starzynski and Robbie Payne almost beat Michigan goalie Steve Racine.

Northern’s best chance came when Dominik Shine made two nifty moves through the Wolverines defense and got a good shot on net, but couldn’t get it in.

The Wolverines got on the board first when Cutler Martin fired a rocket over Tolvanen’s left shoulder and under the crossbar. The goalie bounced back quickly though as he shut down a breakaway attempt to keep the deficit at one goal going into the break.

Between periods, defensemen Zach Urban and Brock Maschmeyer made suggestions to the defense on how to fix things and create more scoring chances. Other players also suggested some techniques before Kyle came in to address the team.

In the second period, Northern put together the plan they came up with during the break and tied the game on a goal by Gerard Hanson. Hanson got a nice feed across the crease from Ryan Trenz and beat Racine glove-side for his first goal of the year.

The Wildcats offense continued to excel as the period went on and took the lead at 11:41 on a goal by suburban Ann Arbor native Dominik Shine.

During a scrum in front of the Michigan net, the puck squirted free to Barrett Kaib at the point. Kaib’s shot was stopped by Racine, but let out a rebound. Shine and teammate Cohen Adair lunged for the puck with Shine tapping it into the wide-open net.

The lead didn’t last though as Michigan tied the game 2-2 on a power play goal. The Wolverines had a chance to take their second lead of the contest later in the period after they got a five-minute power play thanks to a contact-to-the-head penalty by Hanson. However, the Wildcats penalty kill shined and kept the game tied going to the third period.

In the final period, the Wildcats came out flat and Michigan capitalized by peppering Tolvanen with shots. He kept them at bay until the 4:05 mark when Kyle Connor notched his 12th goal of the season. Connor worked his way behind the net and lifted the puck over Tolvanen to give the Wolverines a 3-2 lead.

Northern had a golden opportunity to retie it as the Wildcats got a five-minute power play of their own. However, the power play unit couldn’t generate much offense and NMU was left with a 3-2 loss. As a result, the Wildcats got bounced to the third-place game today against Michigan State, which blew a two-goal lead and fell to Michigan Tech in overtime in the afternoon.

In the locker room after the game, Kyle discussed how the power play faltered, but emphasized that his squad was just as good as the nationally ranked Michigan team.

“That’s a good job,” he said to the team. “We got tired as the game went and we were going to get tired. We got really sloppy on our power play late. We had a chance. Our power play let us down tonight. Again, I think a lot of that was fatigue.

“That is the No. 10 team in the country. You’re every bit as good as that team. Every f***ing bit as good as that team.”

After talking briefly about Michigan State, Kyle praised his players for the amount of shots that they took and how they controlled the majority of play.

“You can hold our heads up tonight,” he said. “That was a good effort.”

Northern plays MSU at 3:30 p.m. today. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Detroit.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.