This story was written by NMU Sports Information

MARQUETTE---Atte Tolvanen tied the NCAA men's hockey record by posting his fifth-straight shutout victory Saturday night at the Berry Events Center.

Tolvanen stopped a career-high 48 shots, and Robbie Payne provided the offense, as the Northern Michigan hockey team dispatched Alaska-Fairbanks, 2-0, to earn its third-straight sweep of a WCHA opponent.

Dating back to Jan. 20's game against Alaska-Anchorage, Tolvanen has gone 335:39 minutes without allowing a goal, good for second in NCAA men's history. Over that stretch, he has made 207-consecutive saves.

Around the eight-minute mark of the first period, both teams had a quality chance. After Payne made a move to get around a man and fire a shot on net, Davis Jones directed the puck wide. The Nanooks immediately went into transition, springing Austin Vieth ahead.

Philip Beaulieu managed to get back in time to deflect his bid into the netting.

Tolvanen finished the opening stanza with 13 saves. At the end of Nanooks' first man advantage, he came up with two of his biggest, turning aside Marcus Basara and then denying Justin Woods's bid to pot the rebound.

With 54.3 seconds left on the clock, Brandon Morley nearly capitalized on a Wildcat turnover, but Tolvanen calmly snared the puck to maintain the scoreless deadlock.

Alaska-Fairbanks came out flying in the middle stanza. With 15:41 on the clock, Nikolas Koberstein forced a turnover along the boards to generate a 2-on-1 opportunity. After walking in on net, he dished the puck to a wide-open Kylar Hope at the right edge of the crease. Tolvanen lunged to snare Hope's bid and keep the Nanooks off the board.

Alaska-Fairbanks ultimately outshot Northern Michigan, 20-7, in the second period. But Payne found the back of the net twice in a four-minute span near the end of the frame to give the Wildcats the lead.

First, at 13:53, Payne took a feed from Darien Craighead, patiently skated in a few strides to the middle of the right circle and then beat Jones through a Zach Diamantoni screen.

Then, at 16:59 Payne struck on the power play, potting a booming Brock Maschmeyer rebound past Jones.

Early in the final frame, Northern Michigan was forced to spend extended time on the penalty kill. At the tail end of the Nanooks' second power play, Tolvanen came up with a save on a Basara shot and then denied two bids by Troy Van Tetering to send the rebound home. Dominik Shine then laid down to block a Kobertstein point shot seconds before the man advantage expired.

With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Zach Frye had an uncontested look in transition, but Tolvanen gloved his bullet to keep his shutout streak alive.

Alaska-Fairbanks pulled Jones to try to solve Tolvanen, but Shane Sooth drew a penalty to force him to return to his net and allow Northern Michigan to close out the game on the power play.

The Wildcats, now unbeaten in their past nine games (7-0-2) and winners of their past six, climbed into a tie for sixth in the WCHA standings with this weekend's sweep.

Northern Michigan will travel to Minnesota State on Feb. 17-18.

This following is a recap of Friday night's game

MARQUETTE---Atte Tolvanen made 39 saves to propel the Northern Michigan University hockey team to its fourth-straight shutout victory Friday night at the Berry Events Center.

The Wildcats found the back of the net during each period to down Alaska-Fairbanks, 3-0, and move to 6-1-2 in 2017.

Demico Hannoun's first career goal broke the stalemate at 9:36 of the opening stanza. Philip Beaulieu broke up a Nanook breakout, and the puck kicked out to Hannoun at the right point. Hannoun immediately fired a shot on net, and the puck found the space between Davis Jones's pads and his blocker.

Tolvanen finished the first period with 11 saves. In the first three minutes, Colton Leiter had an uncontested look from the slot, but Tolvanen directed the puck wide.

Later on, Leiter had another golden opportunity in transition, but he rang the puck off of the crossbar and out.

With less than two minutes remaining in the frame, Josh Erickson managed to weave through the Wildcat defense to find a shooting lane in tight, but Tolvanen blocked the shot and then covered the puck before a Nanook could pounce on it.
 

Robbie Payne extended the Wildcats' lead to 2-0 at 4:48 of the middle frame. While being dragged to the ice on the goal line, Darien Craighead managed to send a backhanded pass to Payne in front of the net. Payne drew the puck from his forehand to his backhand before flipping it just inside of the left post.

The final six minutes of the second period were spent on special teams as Northern Michigan took three penalties and Alaska-Fairbanks was assessed one.

Twenty-four seconds into what would have been a 1:12 Nanook 5-on-3 advantage, Jordan Klimek drew a penalty to make it 4-on-3 instead.

Tolvanen made 14 saves in the second period, with nine coming during that penalty marred stretch. At one point, he denied James LaDouce's point shot through a heavy screen and held on to the puck in a heated scrum.

Just 1:08 had elapsed in the third period when Payne and Zach Diamantoni teamed to make it a 3-0 game with a tic-tac-toe goal.

After Dominik Shine sprung the junior duo on a 2-on-1 rush, Payne passed the puck off to Diamantoni, who gave it right back to him to fire past Jones.

Tolvanen preserved his shutout streak byby coming up with three saves during the Nanooks' final man advantage of the game. After stopping back-to-back bids by Tyler Cline, Tolvanen sprawled out to deny LaDouce's attempt to stuff the loose puck home.