By Journal Sports Staff

SAULT STE. MARIE — Northern Michigan University goaltender Atte Tolvanen has proven himself several times in his career that he’s one of the best in the nation at his position and he did it again Saturday night.

With the Wildcats clinging to a slim 1-0 lead in the second and third periods, the senior netminder stood tall as he shut down shorthanded shots, breakaway attempts and even a penalty shot as he led NMU to a 2-1 victory over No. 20 Lake Superior State.

Tolvanen finished with 25 saves and if wasn’t for a LSSU goal with 12 seconds left, he would’ve had his 12th shutout as a Wildcat, which would’ve tied the school record.

NMU (6-8, 5-3 WCHA) forward Luke Voltin got the Wildcats on the board at the 2:19 mark of the first period. Voltin got a nice feed from Jarrett Lee and beat LSSU (7-4-1, 4-3-1) goalie Nick Kossoff blocker-side. Northern would then maintain that advantage until late in the third period.

For the rest of the game, it was basically the Tolvanen show. In the second period, he stopped the Lakers’ Anthony Nellis on a breakaway. Nellis was then awarded a penalty shot after being taken down on his breakaway, but Tolvanen easily deflected out Nellis’ attempt.

With just over seven minutes left in the third period, Tolvanen made arguably his best two saves of the night. First, he stuffed LSSU’s Ashton Calder on a rush and then sprawled across the crease to rob the Lakers’ Max Humitz’s rebound shot.

With 1:16 left in the game, Northern forward Troy Loggins added some breathing room with an empty net goal to put the Wildcats 2-0. Lake State got one back in the closing seconds as Steven Ruggiero’s shot went just under the crossbar over Tolvanen, but that’s all the Lakers could get.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.