UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Following his team's 6-4 loss to Michigan State on Saturday night, Penn State men's hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky confirmed that freshman forward Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) will miss the remainder of the 2018-19 season.
Talvitie suffered a lower body injury in the first period of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship Gold Medal game last Saturday night. The injury will require surgery bringing the rookie's freshman campaign in Hockey Valley to an end.
"Aarne's presence on the ice will be missed, however, because of the quality of person and teammate he is off the ice he will still be a huge part of our program's success this season," mentioned Gadowsky. "Our main priority now is to provide him the best medical and therapeutic service possible."
Talvitie captained his Finland squad to a 5-2 record at the 2019 WJC scoring three goals while adding four assists for seven points. He had the primary assist on the overtime game-winner to shock host Canada in the quarterfinals before battling through his injury to lead his squad to a 3-2 victory over Team USA in the Gold Medal game. The gold medal is the third for the Finn's in the last six seasons while Talvitie became just the sixth NCAA player to captain the WJC gold medal-winning team.
Prior to departing for British Columbia, Talvitie had a very consistent first semester with the Blue and White scoring five goals while adding 11 assists for 16 points in 17 games played. At the time, his 16 points ranked second among Big Ten rookie's just one point behind Wisconsin's K'Andre Miller.
Penn State returns to action next weekend as they host No. 4 Ohio State in a crucial Big Ten Conference series on Friday and Saturday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
