2018–19 Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey season

The 2018–19 Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey season was the 13th season of play for the program and the 6th season in the Big Ten Conference. The Nittany Lions represented Pennsylvania State University and were coached by Guy Gadowsky, in his 8th season.

2018–19 Penn State Nittany Lions
men's ice hockey season
Conference4th Big Ten
Home icePegula Ice Arena
Rankings
USCHO17
USA TodayNR
Record
Overall22–15–2
Conference11–12–1–1
Home15–8–0
Road6–7–1
Neutral1–0–1
Coaches and captains
Head coachGuy Gadowsky
Assistant coachesKeith Fisher
Matt Lindsay
Andrew Magera
Captain(s)Chase Berger
Alternate captain(s)Kevin Kerr
Brandon Biro
Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey seasons
« 2017–18 2019–20 »

Season

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Playing most of their non-conference schedule at home, Penn State rose up the rankings with a hot start to the season. The team cooled off when their conference schedule began and the Nittany Lions could not find any consistency for several months. Penn State ended up a game below .500 in the Big Ten standings and faced the prospect of having to win the Big Ten Tournament to receive an NCAA berth. After a rocky start the Nittany Lions overcame Wisconsin in the quarterfinal round, then pulled off an upset over top-ranked Ohio State to set PSU against Notre Dame. Both teams faced a win or go home scenario and played a close game throughout. The Fighting Irish gained three separate 1-goal leads and they were able to keep their final edge, holding Penn State off in the third period despite a barrage of shots from the Lions' nation-leading offense.

Departures

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Player Position Nationality Cause
Erik Autio Defenseman   Finland Graduation (Signed with SaiPa)
Matthew Erlichman Goaltender   United States Graduation (Retired)
Trevor Hamilton Defenseman   United States Signed Professional Contract (Grand Rapids Griffins)
Matt Mendelson Forward   United States Left Program (Retired)
Brett Murray Forward   Canada Signed Professional Contract (Youngstown Phantoms)
James Robinson Forward   United States Graduation (Signed with Jokers de Cergy)
Andrew Sturtz Defenseman   Finland Signed Professional Contract (Ottawa Senators)

Recruiting

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Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Oskar Autio Goaltender   Finland 18 Espoo, FIN
Paul DeNaples Defenseman   United States 20 Moscow, PA
Ludvig Larsson Forward/Defenseman   Sweden 22 Malmö, SWE; transfer from Merrimack
Max Sauvé Forward   United States 20 Acushnet, MA
Aarne Talvitie Forward   Finland 19 Espoo, FIN; selected 160th overall in 2017

Roster

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As of September 3, 2018.[1]

No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
2   Cole Hults Sophomore D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1998-05-22 Stoughton, Wisconsin Madison Capitols (USHL) LAK, 134th overall 2017
3   Paul DeNaples Freshman D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 184 lb (83 kg) 1998-09-19 Moscow, Pennsylvania Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)
4   Kris Myllari Junior D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1997-02-05 Kanata, Ontario Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)
5   Kevin Kerr (A) Senior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 183 lb (83 kg) 1996-02-09 Bensalem, Pennsylvania Tri-City Storm (USHL)
6   James Gobetz Junior D 6' 2" (1.88 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1996-08-06 St. James, New York Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
7   Evan Bell Sophomore D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 191 lb (87 kg) 1997-06-25 Livonia, Michigan Fargo Force (USHL)
8   Chase Berger (C) Senior F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 194 lb (88 kg) 1994-11-14 St. Louis, Missouri Tri-City Storm (USHL)
9   Alex Limoges Sophomore F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1997-09-16 Winchester, Virginia Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
10   Brandon Biro (A) Junior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-03-11 Sherwood Park, Alberta Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)
11   Max Sauvé Freshman F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1998-09-02 Acushnet, Massachusetts Avon Old Farms (USHS–CT)
12   Ludvig Larsson Senior F/D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 182 lb (83 kg) 1995-10-02 Malmö, Sweden Merrimack (HEA)
13   Nikita Pavlychev Junior F 6' 7" (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1997-03-23 Yaroslavl, Russia Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) PIT, 197th overall 2015
14   Nate Sucese Junior F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1996-07-12 Fairport, New York Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)
17   Evan Barratt Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-02-18 Bristol, Pennsylvania USNTDP (USHL) CHI, 90th overall 2017
19   Derian Hamilton Senior D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 174 lb (79 kg) 1994-07-06 Port McNeill, British Columbia Powell River Kings (BCHL)
20   Aarne Talvitie Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 198 lb (90 kg) 1999-02-11 Espoo, Finland Espoo Blues U20 (Nuorten SM-liiga) NJD, 160th overall 2017
22   Alex Stevens Sophomore D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1997-02-27 Plymouth, Minnesota Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)
23   Blake Gober Junior F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 179 lb (81 kg) 1995-01-18 Colleyville, Texas Bloomington Thunder (USHL)
24   Adam Pilewicz Sophomore D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1996-07-20 Sewickley, Pennsylvania Johnstown Tomahawks (NAHL)
25   Denis Smirnov Junior F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1997-08-12 Moscow, Russia Fargo Force (USHL) COL, 156th overall 2017
26   Liam Folkes (A) Junior F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 182 lb (83 kg) 1996-02-26 Scarborough, Ontario Brockville Braves (CCHL)
27   Sam Sternschein Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1998-04-27 Syosset, New York Lincoln Stars (USHL)
28   Alec Marsh Senior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 1995-11-28 Bridgewater, New Jersey Fargo Force (USHL)
31   Peyton Jones Junior G 6' 4" (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1996-02-14 Langhorne, Pennsylvania Lincoln Stars (USHL)
33   Chris Funkey Senior G 5' 10" (1.78 m) 174 lb (79 kg) 1994-03-16 Orland Park, Illinois New Jersey Hitmen (USPHL)
35   Oskar Autio Freshman G 6' 0" (1.83 m) 183 lb (83 kg) 1999-10-06 Espoo, Finland Chicago Steel (USHL)

Standings

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Conference record Overall record
GP W L T 3/SW PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#12 Ohio State 24 13 7 4 3 46 79 52 36 20 11 5 108 83
#10 Notre Dame * 24 11 11 2 2 37 63 65 40 23 14 3 112 91
#20 Minnesota 24 11 10 3 0 36 76 75 38 18 16 4 117 108
#17 Penn State 24 11 12 1 1 35 101 96 39 22 15 2 177 139
Wisconsin 24 9 10 5 2 34 69 81 37 14 18 5 113 130
Michigan 24 9 10 5 2 34 76 75 36 13 16 7 110 114
Michigan State 24 8 12 4 2 30 68 88 36 12 19 5 99 122
Championship: March 23, 2019
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and Results

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Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Exhibition
October 6 4:55 PM vs. Brock* Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania (Exhibition)   Autio W 3–2  1,804
Regular Season
October 11 7:07 PM vs. #17 Clarkson* #16 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Funkey W 4–3  5,975 1–0–0
October 12 7:07 PM vs. #17 Clarkson* #16 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 5–1  6,121 2–0–0
October 10 7:07 PM vs. Niagara* #10 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Funkey W 8–2  6,063 3–0–0
October 20 3:37 PM vs. Niagara* #10 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 4–1  6,145 4–0–0
October 26 7:07 PM vs. #13 Princeton* #10 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 4–2  6,139 5–0–0
November 2 7:07 PM vs. Arizona State* #6 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Funkey W 6–5  6,002 6–0–0
November 3 8:07 PM vs. Arizona State* #6 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones L 3–4 OT 6,147 6–1–0
November 9 7:07 PM vs. Robert Morris* #8 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Funkey W 7–2  6,180 7–1–0
November 10 7:05 PM at Robert Morris* #8 Colonials ArenaNeville Township, Pennsylvania   Jones W 11–6  1,403 8–1–0
November 16 7:07 PM vs. #16 Michigan #5 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Funkey L 4–6  5,873 8–2–0 (0–1–0–0)
November 17 7:07 PM vs. #16 Michigan #5 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 7–6 OT 5,810 9–2–0 (1–1–0–0)
November 23 5:05 PM at #5 Ohio State #6 Value City ArenaColumbus, Ohio   Jones W 4–3  6,034 10–2–0 (2–1–0–0)
November 24 8:05 PM at #5 Ohio State #6 Value City ArenaColumbus, Ohio   Jones L 2–5  3,838 10–3–0 (2–2–0–0)
November 30 8:07 PM at Wisconsin #6 Kohl CenterMadison, Wisconsin FSW Jones T 3–3 SOW 8,369 10–3–1 (2–2–1–1)
December 1 8:07 PM at Wisconsin #6 Kohl CenterMadison, Wisconsin FSW Jones L 5–8  10,055 10–4–1 (2–3–1–1)
December 7 7:07 PM vs. #5 Notre Dame #9 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Autio L 4–5  6,061 10–5–1 (2–4–1–1)
December 8 7:07 PM vs. #5 Notre Dame #9 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 9–1  6,213 11–5–1 (3–4–1–1)
December 15 7:30 PM vs. Princeton #9 Wells Fargo CenterPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania   Jones T 4–4 OT 8,490 11–5–2
January 4 9:03 PM at Minnesota #9 3M Arena at MariucciMinneapolis, Minnesota ESPN U Jones W 4–2  7,375 12–5–2 (4–4–1–1)
January 5 8:05 PM at Minnesota #9 3M Arena at MariucciMinneapolis, Minnesota   Jones L 1–4  8,952 12–6–2 (4–5–1–1)
January 11 8:03 PM vs. Michigan State #11 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 4–2  6,096 13–6–2 (5–5–1–1)
January 12 7:07 PM vs. Michigan State #11 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones L 4–6  6,199 13–7–2 (5–6–1–1)
January 18 7:07 PM vs. #4 Ohio State #13 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones L 1–4  6,131 13–8–2 (5–7–1–1)
January 19 3:07 PM vs. #4 Ohio State #13 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones L 4–6  6,094 13–9–2 (5–8–1–1)
January 24 7:32 PM at Michigan #15 Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan   Autio L 1–5  5,647 13–10–2 (5–9–1–1)
January 26 7:03 PM vs. Michigan #15 Madison Square GardenNew York, New York BTN Jones W 5–2  9,271 14–10–2 (6–9–1–1)
February 8 6:01 PM vs. Minnesota #18 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 7–2  6,131 15–10–2 (7–9–1–1)
February 9 6:01 PM vs. Minnesota #18 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones W 6–2  6,229 16–10–2 (8–9–1–1)
February 15 7:05 PM at Michigan State #17 Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan   Jones L 3–5  5,185 16–11–2 (8–10–1–1)
February 16 7:05 PM at Michigan State #17 Munn Ice ArenaEast Lansing, Michigan   Jones W 5–3  5,941 17–11–2 (9–10–1–1)
February 22 6:33 PM vs. Wisconsin #19 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania BTN Jones W 8–2  6,110 18–11–2 (10–10–1–1)
February 23 7:07 PM vs. Wisconsin #19 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Jones L 3–7  6,151 18–12–2 (10–11–1–1)
March 1 7:10 PM vs. #17 Notre Dame #18 Compton Family Ice ArenaNotre Dame, Indiana NBCSN Jones L 4–5 OT 4,238 18–13–2 (10–12–1–1)
March 2 7:05 PM vs. #17 Notre Dame #18 Compton Family Ice ArenaNotre Dame, Indiana   Jones W 3–2  4,950 19–13–2 (11–12–1–1)
Big Ten Tournament
March 8 8:07 PM vs. Wisconsin* #18 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania (Big Ten Quarterfinal Game 1)   Jones L 3–4  3,381 19–14–2
March 9 6:07 PM vs. Wisconsin* #18 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania (Big Ten Quarterfinal Game 2)   Jones W 6–2  4,886 20–14–2
March 10 6:07 PM vs. Wisconsin* #18 Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania (Big Ten Quarterfinal Game 3)   Jones W 4–3 OT 3,285 21–14–2
Penn State wins series 2–1
March 17 3:31 PM at #6 Ohio State* #17 Value City ArenaColumbus, Ohio (Big Ten Semifinal) BTN Jones W 5–1  4,545 22–14–2
March 23 8:03 PM at #16 Notre Dame* #17 Compton Family Ice ArenaNotre Dame, Indiana (Big Ten Championship) BTN Jones L 2–3  5,988 22–15–2
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

[2]

Scoring Statistics

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Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Alex Limoges C 39 23 27 50 10
Evan Barratt C/LW 32 16 27 43 55
Liam Folkes C 39 18 24 42 8
Brandon Biro LW 37 16 24 40 4
Nate Sucese LW 39 19 18 37 24
Chase Berger C 39 14 15 29 8
Nikita Pavlychev C 39 14 15 29 57
Cole Hults D 39 6 22 28 24
Ludvig Larsson C/D 39 9 16 25 22
Denis Smirnov RW/LW 37 8 14 22 6
Kris Myllari D 39 4 17 21 12
Sam Sternschein LW 39 9 9 18 10
Aarne Talvitie C/LW 17 5 11 16 2
Kevin Kerr D 35 2 13 15 19
Alec Marsh C/LW 34 7 7 14 18
Paul DeNaples D 39 2 12 14 6
Alex Stevens D 35 1 10 11 43
Evan Bell D 21 1 8 9 6
Adam Pilewicz D 14 2 2 4 0
James Gobetz D 23 0 3 3 8
Derian Hamilton D 26 0 3 3 6
Blake Gober F 30 0 3 3 31
Max Sauvé F 9 1 1 2 0
Oskar Autio G 3 0 0 0 0
Chris Funkey G 7 0 0 0 0
Peyton Jones G 32 0 0 0 0
Bench - - - - - 10
Total 177 301 478 389

[3]

Goaltending statistics

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Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Peyton Jones 32 1878 18 12 2 104 942 0 .901 3.32
Oskar Autio 3 122 0 2 0 7 59 0 .894 3.42
Chris Funkey 7 340 4 1 0 20 152 0 .884 3.53
Empty Net - 21 - - - 8 - - - -
Total 39 2363 22 15 2 139 1153 0 .892 3.53

Rankings

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Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 (Final)
USCHO.com 16 16 10 10 6 8 5 6 6 9 9 11 13 15 15 18 17 19 18 18 17 17 16 17
USA Today 15 NR 11 9 6 8 5 6 6 9 9 10 9 10 12 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

[4]

Players drafted into the NHL

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Round Pick Player NHL team
6 181 Kevin Wall Carolina Hurricanes

† incoming freshman

[5]

References

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  1. ^ "2018–19 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". Penn State Nittany Lions. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "Penn State Nittany Lions (Men) 2019-2020 Schedule and Results". College Hockey Stats. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  3. ^ "Penn State Univ. 2018-2019 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  4. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  5. ^ "NHL DRAFT: Second day of NHL Draft concludes, nearly 70 players with NCAA ties chosen overall". USCHO.com. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
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