Tolvanen’s shutout earns WCHA Goaltender of the Week honors

BLOOMINGTON — Northern Michigan University Men’s Ice Hockey (3-5-0, 2-2-0-0 WCHA) senior goaltender Atte Tolvanen was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Goaltender of the Week the league office announced Monday afternoon.

Tolvanen played a key role in guiding the Wildcats to a conference split with then-No. 9/10 Bowling Green State University. The Falcons opened the series with a 3-1 win, but NMU recorded their second shutout of the season on Saturday with a 2-0 victory.

The series began with Tolvanen making 24 saves against the NCAA highest scoring offense. He recorded 35 saves on Saturday to record his second shutout of the season and 10th of his career. Tolvanen and the Wildcat defense also held BGSU to 0-13 in the power play with the Wildcat goaltender making 17 of his 59 saves in the series when the Falcons had a man advantage.

For the season, Tolvanen has 221 saves which is the third-highest total in the NCAA. He has started in each of the eight Wildcat contests this season and owns a save percentage of .917 and goals against average of 2.50.

It is the first weekly award for the Wildcats this season after NMU received 13 a season ago. Seven different student-athletes split those 13 weekly honors and four monthly conference honors in 2017-18. It is the fifth weekly award of Tolvanen’s career who earned the goaltender honor once a season ago and the defensive honor three times as a sophomore.

The Wildcats will host their final non-conference season of the season this weekend when they welcome Cornell University (2-2-0, 2-0-0-0 ECAC) to the Berry Events Center. Puck drop for each contest on Friday and Saturday evening is set for 7 p.m.