This story was written by NMU Sports Information

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio---Atte Tolvanen made a season-best 40 saves to lead the Northern Michigan University hockey team to its third-straight shutout victory and a road sweep of Bowling Green.

After Brock Maschmeyer broke a scoreless tie near the middle of the second period, Tolvanen made 20 of his saves to prevent the Falcons from netting the equalizer. Dominik Shine tacked on an empty-net goal with a fraction of a second remaining in regulation to make the final score 2-0.

Tolvanen finished the weekend with 75 saves and the school record for consecutive scoreless minutes. His shutout streak, which dates back to the second period of Jan. 20's game against Alaska-Anchorage, now stands at 215:49 minutes. 

During the scoreless first period, Bowling Green outshot Northern Michigan, 11-5.

The Wildcats' best scoring opportunity came around the six-minute mark when a Falcon shattered his hockey stick while taking a point shot, springing Robbie Payne and Zach Diamantoni on a 2-on-1 rush.

Payne raced into the offensive zone, drawing the defenseman with him. He then fed a wide-open Diamantoni, who was stuffed by Chris Nell.

With less than 15 seconds remaining on the clock, Tolvanen came up with his biggest save of the opening stanza. After Kevin Dufour blocked a point shot, he beat a Wildcat to the loose puck in the neutral zone and charged in alone on Tolvanen. Tolvanen calmly directed his shot out of danger to keep Bowling Green off of the board.

In the second period, the Falcons continued to pepper Tolvanen with shots, adding 16 to their total. Just three minutes in, Mitch McLain used his speed to generate a 2-on-1 rush, but Tolvanen denied the WCHA's leading goal scorer with a glove save.

Both teams had a quality scoring opportunity during Northern Michigan's first power play of the middle stanza. First, Payne deflected a Gerard Hanson shot off the crossbar and out. Then, Lukas Craggs forced a turnover and got around his defender to get an uncontested look on net. Tolvanen read his move and made the pad save.

Maschmeyer crashed the net to get the Wildcats on the board at the 11:18 mark.

After Troy Loggins dropped a pass back to Philip Beaulieu, Beaulieu hung onto the puck and then threaded it through traffic for Maschmeyer to deflect past Nell from the left edge of the crease. 

In the opening minutes of the final frame, the Falcons tested Tolvanen, forcing him to make kick saves on McLain and John Schilling to maintain the Wildcats' advantage.
 

With 10:15 on the clock during a Bowling Green power play, Tolvanen went post to post to stone Brett D'Andrea.

Good puck movement by the Falcons set up D'Andrea up for a bid from the edge of the right circle, and Tolvanen lunged across the crease to glove D'Andrea's bullet.

D'Andrea's chance was the closest the Falcons would come to solving Tolvanen, who now has made 86-straight saves dating back to Jan. 20's game. Bowling Green pulled Nell for the extra skater with just under two minutes remaining in regulation, but a too many men on the ice penalty gave Northern Michigan a power play to close out the game.

Shine ultimately capped the scoring with a fraction of a second left on the clock, picking off a pass in the neutral zone and firing the puck into the empty net.

The Wildcats are 5-0-2 in their past seven games and winners of four in a row. They return to the Berry Events Center next weekend to square off against Alaska-Fairbanks as they look to continue to rise up the WCHA standings.

This story about Friday's game was written by NMU Sports Information

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio---Atte Tolvanen stopped all 35 Bowling Green shots he faced to power the Northern Michigan University hockey team to its second-straight shutout victory Friday night at BGSU Ice Arena.

The Wildcats scored two first-period goals, and then tacked on an empty netter in the final minute of regulation, to run their unbeaten streak to six games and snap a six-game losing skid to the Falcons.

Northern Michigan jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 6:00 of the opening stanza, 22 seconds into its 5-on-3 power play.Brock Maschmeyer faked a shot and then dished the puck to Shane Sooth, who roofed it over Chris Nell's shoulder from the middle of the right circle. Zach Diamantoni made it a two-goal game at 11:18 by driving the net.

After Robbie Payne managed to get a pass off to Darien Craighead while being hauled to the ice, Craighead sent a shot on net that was redirected by Diamantoni past Nell.

In the middle stanza, Tolvanen made 16 saves to preserve the Wildcats' 2-0 lead. During the Falcons' second power play, he came up with big glove saves on both Mitch McLain and Mark Friedman.

With just under five minutes left in that frame, Stephen Baylis nearly pulled Bowling Green within one. In transition, Baylis fired a shot into traffic. The puck deflected right back to him, and he forced Tolvanen to make a blocker save to keep the Falcons off of the board.

Northern Michigan limited Bowling Green to just eight shots on net in the third period to help Tolvanen run his shutout streak to 155:49 minutes. With 51.9 seconds remaining in regulation, Payne iced the game with an empty-net tally.