UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Head Coach Guy Gadowsky and the Penn State men's ice hockey team announced captains for the 2019-2020 season earlier this week. Rising senior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) was voted team captain by his peers while classmates Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) and Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) will serve as alternates.
"It is very humbling and a great honor to represent this team, as well as the university as captain next season," commented Biro. "I've had the privilege to play under three great captains during my time at Penn State and I hope to have the same impact on my teammates and the school that they had on me."
Biro, who served as an alternate to Chase Berger this past season, becomes the seventh Nittany Lion captain in program history and the second from Alberta following in the footsteps of David Glen '16 who served as captain during the 2015-16 season.
Coming off a career-year where he became just the seventh player in Penn State history to register a 40-point season, Biro finished with a career-high 16 goals and 24 assists and was named an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention selection as well as earning NCAA First Star of the Week in February and a pair of Big Ten weekly honors throughout the year. Biro's 91 career points are currently sixth on the Penn State all-time scoring list while his 31 goals and 60 assists rank tied for ninth and third all-time, respectively.
Myllari, has been a defensive leader for the Nittany Lions ever since stepping foot on campus in the fall of 2016 and will conclude his Penn State career with a letter on his sweater for the first time as a senior next season. The Kanata, Ontario native set a new program record during the 2018-19 season with his 17th career goal he is now the all-time leader for a defenseman at Penn State while his 52 points and 35 assists ranks tied for fifth and seventh among blue-liners, respectively.
Two seasons ago a then sophomore Folkes took a pair of then freshmen in Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges under his wing as the trio formed one of the most lethal forward lines in all of college hockey. Now, heading into his senior season, he will don an 'A' for the first time in his storied career as a Nittany Lion.
As are so many Nittany Lions, Folkes is coming off a career season in 2018-19 where he set career-highs in every offensive category with 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points becoming the sixth player in program history to hit the 40-point mark in a single-season. Folkes also set a Big Ten Tournament record with 10 points in five games this past March scoring four goals while adding six assists.
Folkes will enter next season eighth on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 78 points while his 37 goals also rank eighth all-time. Folkes' line with Barratt and Limoges combined for 53 goals and 70 assists for 123 points in 32 games paired together during the 2018-19 season good for 3.84 points per game, the most in the nation by any one line.
