UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Following a Big Ten Tournament record nine-point weekend against Wisconsin in the quarterfinals, junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) has been named the NCAA Second Star of The Week as announced on Tuesday.
Folkes becomes the fourth player in program history and the third this season to earn an NCAA weekly honor joining classmates Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) who were recognized earlier this season. Junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) received Penn State's first-ever NCAA weekly accolade during the 2017-18 season.
The junior registered three points in each game of the three-game Big Ten Quarterfinals series against Wisconsin this past weekend collecting three goals and six assists overall. Folkes tied his career-high with a trio of assists in game one before collecting his third multi-goal game this season scoring the first and last goal during a 4-3 overtime victory in game three sending Penn State back to the Big Ten Semifinals for the third-straight season and the fifth time in the brief six-year history of the hockey conference.
In nine career Big Ten Tournament games, Folkes has now scored seven goals while adding eight assists for 15 points including five goals and six assists for 11 points in four career B1G Tournament games against the Badgers. Along with his tournament record nine points, the junior's six assists are also just one assist shy of the single-tournament record of seven.
The junior is also now the sixth player in program history to hit the 40-point mark in a single-season and the third this season joining his two linemates, Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges, his 41 points are a new career-high as well as the fourth most in a single-season in program history. Folkes' 17 goals and 24 assists this season are also new career-highs.
With 77 career points, Folkes jumps into a tie with Eric Sheid '16 and Dylan Richard '17 for eighth on the Penn State all-time points list while his 36 career goals rank eighth all-time.
The Nittany Lions next travel to Columbus to battle top-seeded Ohio State in the Big Ten Semifinals on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.