UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's ice hockey team just completed its seventh season as a varsity program and earlier this week announced its 2018-19 team awards. The Nittany Lions put up some historic offensive numbers this season, but ultimately fell one game shy of a third-consecutive NCAA Tournament bid finishing the regular season No. 16 in the Pairwise Rankings.
In total five team voted awards were handed out including the second annual Team Culture Award as well as Team MVP, Top Defenseman, Freshman of the Year and the Players' Player. Additionally the team recognized its top scorer and top student-athlete as well as the Iron Lion, which recognizes hard work and dedication in the weight room.
The nation's current points leader and First-Team All-CHN pick sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) was voted Most Valuable Player. Limoges, Penn State's top scorer for the 2018-19 season, set new single-season program standards with his 50 points and Big Ten best 23 goals while his 27 assists tie for the second-most in a single-season in program history.
The sophomore had 16 multi-point games and six multi-goal games this season which are also program bests as well as his stretch of five consecutive games with multiple points in early November. Limoges set a Big Ten Tournament record with six goals in the five games while his nine total points are good for the second most in tournament history behind line mate Liam Folkes' (Scarborough, Ontario) 10 points this past tournament. Penn State was 15-2-0 this season when Limoges scored a goal.
The Top Defenseman was awarded to All-Big Ten Honorable Mention sophomore Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) who ranked third in the conference for blue-liners with 28 points, the third most by a defenseman in Penn State history. Hults doubled his goal output from a season ago scoring six while adding 22 assists and turning in a plus-19 rating, which was the second-best mark for defenseman in the Big Ten. Hults' 68 blocked shots ranked ninth in the Big Ten. The sophomore's 48 points and 39 assists for his career rank seventh and fifth all-time for defenseman, but are just 12 back of the program standards.
Freshman Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.) was named the team's Freshman of the Year after a strong defensive campaign where he led the Big Ten and tied for second in the nation with a plus-31 rating as well as ranking fourth in the conference and 11th in the nation with 79 blocked shots. DeNaples scored twice over the final ten games of the season while adding 12 total assists for a 14 point season. The rookie was also honored by the league as one of three finalists for the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, unfortunately he did not receive the award.
Senior captain Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) was voted the 2018-19 Players' Player, which honors the player who best exemplifies work ethic and commitment to Penn State hockey's on ice objectives and was also named the Iron Lion. Berger never missed a single-game in his entire Penn State career setting the program standard with 154 games played. Berger also finished his career second all-time in each offensive category with 51 goals and 67 assists for 118 points following a career-best 14 goal season. The senior added 15 assists for 29 total points in 2018-19, good for sixth on the team.
A two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Distinguished Scholar, Berger was also named the team's Top Scholar Athlete. Berger currently has a 3.95 grade point average as a finance major and is set to graduate in May.
Senior Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.) was a unanimous selection for the second annual Team Culture Award as the student-athlete who best influences a positive culture of quality and values off the ice. A fan favorite since the moment he arrived on campus, Funkey has always kept the locker room loose while also serving as a great leader to get the team ready for big moments. The senior started a career-best six games this season posting a 4-1-0 record and in 21 career appearances has gone 7-5-1 with a .899 save percentage and a 2.77 goals against average.
2017-18 Penn State Team Awards
Team MVP: Alex Limoges
Top Defenseman: Cole Hults
Freshman of the Year: Paul DeNaples
Players' Player: Chase Berger
Culture Award: Chris Funkey
Top Scorer: Alex Limoges
Top Student-Athlete: Chase Berger
Iron Lion: Chase Berger