Folkes' Natural Hat-Trick Leads No. 7 Men's Hockey Past Merrimack, 7-0Folkes' Natural Hat-Trick Leads No. 7 Men's Hockey Past Merrimack, 7-0
Craig Houtz

Folkes' Natural Hat-Trick Leads No. 7 Men's Hockey Past Merrimack, 7-0

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Senior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) registered the ninth hat-trick in program history and first-ever on the road as No. 7 Penn State rolled Merrimack, 7-0, Friday night in non-conference action from Lawler Rink as part of the inaugural Turkey Leg Classic.

Penn State improves to 11-3-0 on the year with the victory while the Warriors fall to 2-9-2 overall with the setback.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Penn State controlled play early firing the first eight shots of the game and opened the scoring as Folkes took a feed from freshman Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) in the slot and fired past the glove of Warrior net-minder Troy Kobryn for the 1-0 edge at 6:47 of the first period.
  • Folkes extended the lead to 2-0 as he redirected a pass from junior Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) that took a tricky bounce fooling Kobryn and lighting the lamp at 17:24 of the first period.
  • The senior then secured the natural hat-trick finishing off an odd-man rush with some tic-tac-toe passing from Barratt and freshman Tyler Graton (Pottstown, Pa.) for the 3-0 margin at 9:17 of the second period.
  • Senior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) extended the lead to 4-0 as he collected the puck at the blueline and threw a shot on net the snuck past the glove of Kobryn at 14:56 of the middle frame.
  • Just 58 ticks later, Limoges the fed the puck toward the front of the net off the half wall and Barratt somehow got a stick on it and the puck popped up in the air falling behind Kobryn and into the back of the net for the 5-0 lead.
  • The Nittany Lions keep the pressure on as senior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) blasted a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from junior Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) that went bar-down for the 6-0 margin at 4:30 of the third period.
  • PSU got another late tally with the man-advantage as junior Alex Stevens (Plymouth, Minn.) one-timed a Barratt offering to the back of the net at 18:05 for the 7-0 final.

GOALTENDING

  • Sophomore Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) stopped all 16 shots he faced to secure his first career victory and improve to 1-1-0 on the year.
  • This also marks Autio's first-career shutout as he becomes the sixth different Nittany Lion goalie in program history to collect a shutout. Penn State now has two shutouts this season.
  • Kobryn falls to 1-4-1 after making 23 saves over the opening 40 minutes before being relieved by Jere Hutamaa who stopped nine pucks in the third period.

NOTES

  • Penn State held commanding 39-16 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
  • The Nittany Lions improve to 3-0-0 on the road this season and are now 9-1-0 when scoring first and a perfect 8-0-0 when leading entering the third period.
  • Penn State has now scored at least one power-play goal in six-straight games and seven-of-eight.
  • Folkes extends his career-long goal streak to five games while also tying his career long point streak at six games in the process. The senior registered his fourth multi-point game this season and the 21st of his career while also securing his sixth career multi-goal game and the first this season.
  • Folkes becomes the ninth different Nittany Lion to register a hat-trick, but just the first to do so on the road as the previous eight all came on home-ice including the last seven at Pegula Ice Arena. The senior is now tied with Casey Bailey for fifth on the Penn State all-time goals list with 45 for his career.
  • Limoges extends his season-long point-streak to six games after a trio of assists marking his fifth multi-point game this season and the 24th of his career. The junior's five-game assist streak is a new career long.
  • With his three assists, Limoges moves past Andrew Sturtz and Erik Autio and into sixth on the Penn State all-time assists list with 51 now for his career.
  • Barratt tied his career-high with four points and three assists while extending his season-long point-streak to six games and collecting his fifth multi-point game this season and the 22nd of his career.
  • With his second period goal, Myllari is now tied with Kevin Kerr for fifth on the Penn State all-time points list for defensemen with 57 in his career.
  • Smirnov extends his season-long point streak to six games following his third period tally.

NEXT UP
Penn State concludes the inaugural Turkey Leg Classic with a trip to UMass-Lowell on Saturday night with puck drop slated for 6:00 p.m. The winner of the contest will be crowned the first-ever Champion as the River Hawks defeated RPI 4-0 earlier Friday afternoon.

For more information on the 2019-20 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.