Typically, hockey players score goals when skating — on their skates, on the surface of the ice.

Northern Michigan’s Robbie Payne, though, isn’t your typical scorer.

Last month against the No.9-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks, the senior center scored from flat on his caboose. The goal turned out to be the game-winner.

And if all of that wasn’t impressive enough, Payne performed the feat while his team was short-handed.

“It definitely was the weirdest goal I’ve had,” Payne told Ryan Stieg of the Mining Journal after the game. “It hit my hand first and I pushed it back out. (Zach) Diamantoni actually shot it first and it went off my chest. Then I laid on my butt, saw it again and luckily, I whacked it in.”

Play until you hear the whistle, right @SportsCenter? Payne's score in a 4-1 @NMUHockey victory over #9 @msumavericks! #SCtop10 #ShareNMU pic.twitter.com/8M4QMj9Df3

— NMU Athletics (@NMU_Wildcats) November 5, 2017

Payne leads the Wildcats into the New Year as one of the nation’s top scorers, with 15 goals and 21 points on the year.

Northern Michigan plays an away double at Minnesota State at the end of the month before going south to Las Vegas for the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational, a four-team tournament including Arizona State, Boston College, and Northern Michigan’s archnemesis Michigan Tech.

As an added bonus, the action all takes place at the Golden Knights’ newly renovated T-Mobile Arena on January 5-6.

Watch all four games of the Ice Vegas Invitational live — only on FloHockey!

In Vegas, Payne needs to steady a team whose talent and flashes of brilliance have been impaired by bouts of inconsistency. The Wildcats have defeated multiple top-10 opponents on the year — the Mavericks, as mentioned, and also an overtime victory over the Wisconsin Badgers in October — but they’ve also suffered some brutal defeats.

In fact, Northern Michigan has lost five games this season by a three-goal margin or worse, but — most puzzling of all — four of those five losses were book-ended one way or another by a multiple-goal win.

So what’s the answer to such inconsistency? Whatever it is, it probably begins with Robbie Payne.

The Gaylord, Michigan, native isn’t just the country’s second-leading goal-scorer — he’s an absolute maestro, and a leader on and off the ice. Payne has twice been named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) player of the week. Predictably, he consistently earns the praise of Northern Michigan head coach Grant Potulny.

@NMUHockey
For the second time this season, Jordan Klimek is the @WCHA_MHockey Defensive Player of the Week! It is the fifth time the Wildcats have earned a weekly conference award this season!
STORY: https://t.co/Mr4k3oHa80#NMUwildcats #ShareNMU pic.twitter.com/4l9CqOeKIp

— NMU Athletics (@NMU_Wildcats) December 18, 2017

“He just scores big goals for us,” the skipper told the Daily News-Miner's Brad Joyal earlier in the season. “That’s what goal scorers can do — they don’t need much, and Robbie’s no different.”

Teammate Zach Diamantoni told Andrew Vitalis, writing for the WCHA, that Payne’s hockey IQ sets him apart.

“There are a lot of times where he's just always in the right place at the right time and it's not by accident,” the senior forward said of Payne. “He knows where to be and can read a play and anticipate where the puck is going to end up. Also, he plays around the net; he loves getting to the net. He's a very skilled player and he likes going to the net, and that helps him score goals.”

“He's a leader,” Potulny added. “Every day he comes to practice ready to work and he sets the pace.”

At 10-8-2, Northern Michigan currently sits in the top half of the WCHA standings at the midway point of the year, the Wildcats’ best record heading into an in-season tournament during Payne’s career.

In his sophomore season, the team was 6-6-6 entering the Great lakes Invitational, where they lost their first game before defeating Michigan State for third place of four teams.

In Vegas, Northern Michigan will face Arizona State — which moved into Division I hockey in 2015; the Sun Devils have yet to face the NMU — in their first game. On Saturday, the Wildcats will face either Boston College — whom they haven’t played since 1999 — or rival Michigan Tech, against whom they hold a 70-60-14 overall mark.

“We are honored to participate in the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational,” Potulny told NMUWildcats.com. “We look forward to bringing Northern Michigan hockey to Las Vegas and are excited for the opportunity to play at the state-of-the-art T-Mobile Arena.”

Don’t forget to tune into FloHockey to catch Robbie Payne and his Wildcats, starting January 5 at 8 PM EST.

By Jacob Messing

Have a question or a comment for Jacob? You can find him on Twitter @JMessing23.