NITTANY LION HOCKEY STAFF 2021-22 PENN STATE HOCKEY
GUY GADOWSKY HC Head Coach • 10th Season • Colorado College ’89 • • • • • • • • • •
MEET COACH GADOWSKY
Guy Gadowsky guides the Nittany Lions in his 22nd collegiate season at the helm of an NCAA Division I program and his 10th at Penn State in 2021-22.
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In a season unlike any other in 2020-21, Gadowsky led Penn State back to the Big Ten semifinals for the sixth consecutive season and the seventh time overall as he became the winningest coach in the history of the tournament after securing his 11th victory in B1G tournament play. The Bench Boss registered his 150th career victory at Penn State in his 300th game as Nittany Lion head coach on January 9, 2021 at Ohio State.
Enters his 22nd season as an NCAA Division I Head Coach Overall Record: 328-330-60 (.498) Penn State Record: 155-132-23 (.540) Back-to-Back NCAA Tournament Appearances in 2017 and 2018 2017 Big Ten Tournament Champion | 2019-20 Big Ten Regular Season Champion 2014-15 Big Ten Coach of the Year Developed Penn State’s first NHL player, Casey Bailey (Toronto Maple Leafs) Inducted into the Alaska Nanook Hall of Fame in September 2014 2007-08 ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year (Princeton) 2001-02 CCHA Coach of the Year (Alaska Fairbanks)
Penn State captain Alex Limoges went on to sign an AHL contract with the San Diego Gulls and in just 23 games scored 11 goals while adding 10 assists for 21 points. Following the season Aarne Talvitie inked his entry-level, NHL contract with the New Jersey Devils while earlier in the season former Nittany Lion Peyton Jones also put pen to paper on an NHL contract giving Penn State six NHL signees in the past two seasons and 10 overall. Near the conclusion of the 2020-21 NHL season former Penn State forward Brett Murray (2017-18) made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres becoming the second Nittany Lions to skate in an NHL contest. Gadowsky led Penn State to its first-ever Big Ten regular-season championship during the 2019-20 season with a single-season program record 12 conference victories and 41 points. The Penn State bench boss was named a finalist for the Big Ten Coach of the Year award while leading the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for the sixth time in the seven-year history of the conference. Penn State earned a first-round bye straight to the semifinals. Gadowsky secured his seventh career 20win season and his fourth in the past five years at Penn State in 2019-20 becoming one of just two Big Ten programs to have four 20-win seasons over the past five years. He also had the Nittany Lions in line for their third NCAA Tournament appearance before the postseason was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic with Penn State finishing the season No. 7 in the final PairWise rankings marking the highest finish in program history. Gadowsky registered his 300th career victory in October against Sacred Heart. In 2019-20 he coached Penn State’s first-ever CCM/AHCA All-Americans as both Cole Hults and Nate Sucese landed
on the Second-Team West while also being named First-Team All-Big Ten. Hults earned Penn State’s first-ever Big Ten Player of the Year honors while also garnering Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year while Sucese took over as the program’s all-time leader in goals (61) and points (140) during the 2019-20 season. At the conclusion of the season the Nittany Lions saw four players sign NHL entry-level contracts while three others signed AHL deals. In 2018-19, Gadowsky led Penn State to its second-highest win total in program history with 22, and became the winningest coach in Big Ten Tournament history, compiling a 10-6 record over six seasons. The Nittany Lions returned to the Big Ten Championship game for the second time in the past three seasons, but dropped a tough 3-2 decision at Notre Dame. Penn State secured its most Big Ten wins in program history with 11 while its 35 points were also the most in a single season. The Nittany Lions once again led the nation in goals per game with a new single-season record of 4.54 while also setting single-season records for goals (177), assists (301) and points (478), each of which were also tops in the nation. Gadowsky saw sophomore Alex Limoges become the first Nittany Lion ever to lead the nation in points as he set a single-season program record with 50 while his 23 goals were also a new program standard and ranked tied for second in the nation. Sophomore Evan Barratt became just the fourth player in program history and third in the last three seasons to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors. Barratt, along with teammate Aarne Talvitie, also became the first Nittany Lions ever to represent their countries at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Talvitie captained Finland to the gold medal while Barratt helped Team USA take home the silver.
WELCOME TO HOCKEY VALLEY