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NCAA goalie scores no-doubter goal and pulls out a hilarious celebration

The 2018-19 season has been a strange one in regards to offence coming from those wearing the pads with so many goaltenders finding the back of the net in a variety of leagues.

Perhaps North Michigan University’s goaltender Atte Tolvanen was aware of that when he found the puck on his stick late in the third period of a recent game against Michigan Technological University. With his Wildcats up 4-2 at the time and the opposition’s cage unguarded, he only had to think about it for a second before launching the puck over everybody.

The great thing about the tally is that it was a no-doubter, right into the middle of the net. It was the kind of goal that would make fans participating into those intermission games where you have to shoot the puck into a small slot from the centre dot jealous.

The only thing better than the shot by the older brother of Nashville prospect Eeli Tolvanen was his fantastic celebration. As a goaltender, you don’t get many opportunities to score and he took advantage of the spotlight.

The drive-by of the his bench is awesome and his enthusiasm is infectious.

After being named the WCHA Goaltender of the Month for November, NMU’s Atte Tolvanen showed his can do more than just stop pucks in a recent game. (North Michigan University Athletics)
After being named the WCHA Goaltender of the Month for November, NMU’s Atte Tolvanen showed his can do more than just stop pucks in a recent game. (North Michigan University Athletics)

According to the Northern Michigan Wildcats, it was just the second time that a goaltender has scored in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) history. The first came back in January of 1989.

Sadly, for the sake of his statistics, Michigan Technological University would sneak a puck past the senior netminder in the dying seconds of the game to make the final score 5-3.

However, this should be approached like a hole-in-one in golf – whatever happens in the rest of the round is irrelevant because you’ve just done the improbable.

Plus, Tolvanen can now brag about the fact that he has one more goal than seven of his teammates that have seen action this season.

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