Men's Hockey Announces 2024-25 Team AwardsMen's Hockey Announces 2024-25 Team Awards

Men's Hockey Announces 2024-25 Team Awards

Aiden Fink voted MVP, Simon Mack Top Defenseman and Charlie Cerrato Freshman of the Year to highlight team awards

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men’s ice hockey team closed out its 13th season as a varsity program with its first-ever Frozen Four appearance earlier this month and recently announced its 2024-25 team awards. 

Penn State finished the year with a 22-14-4 record marking its sixth 20-win season over the first 13 years of the program all of which have come in the last 10 years. The 22 wins are tied for the second-most in a single-season in program history. The Nittany Lions advanced to their fourth NCAA Tournament reaching the Frozen Four for the first time in program history before falling to Boston University, 3-1, in the national semifinals. Penn State concluded the campaign ranked No. 5 in both national polls, the highest final ranking in program history.

In total five team voted awards were distributed including the eighth annual Team Culture Award as well as Team MVP, Top Defenseman, Freshman of the Year, and the Players’ Player. The team also recognized its leading scorer, top student-athlete and the Iron Lion, which praises the top performer in the weight room.

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Sophomore sensation Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) was voted Team MVP for the second-straight season, along with being the top scorer, after rewriting the single-season record books at Penn State with 53 points and 30 assists while tying the single season record for goals with 23. Fink also tied his own single-season record with eight powerplay tallies to ascend to the top of the all-time list with 16 man-advantage markers in two seasons.

Fink ranked in the top-10 nationally in each offensive category; points (4th), goals (T-9th), assists (T-7th), powerplay goals (T-9th), and shorthanded goals (T-8th) while his 1.33 points per game were good for third in the nation and is the second-best mark in a single-season at Penn State.

The Calgary, Alberta native was the first Nittany Lion unanimously selected to the All-Big Ten First-Team as well as becoming Penn State’s first Hobey Baker Top-10 Finalist and just the third All-American in program history.

Fink enters his junior season in Hockey Valley as Penn State’s all-time leader in points per game at 1.18 while ranking just outside the top-10 in goals and points with 38 and 87, respectively.

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A second repeat award winner is senior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) who has been voted as the Top Defenseman in back-to-back seasons. Mack recently signed an ATO with the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL following one of the most successful seasons for a Nittany Lion blueliner all-time.

The Brockville, Ontario native was named an All-B1G second team selection this season after registering 30 points on three goals and 27 assists with a plus-23 rating and 71 blocked shots.

Mack’s point total ranked third in the Big Ten and tied for eighth nationally among blueliners while his plus/minus paced the Big Ten and was the fourth-best in the nation among defensemen. His 27 assists also paced all B1G d-men while ranking fourth in the nation.

The d-man’s 30 points tied the Penn State single-season record for points by a defensemen while his 27 assists are the most-ever in a single-season for a Nittany Lion blueliner and rank tied for third-most all-time. The former captain’s plus-23 rating is also tied for the sixth-best in a single-season at Penn State while his 71 blocked shots are good for the ninth-most in a single-season.

Mack ends his time in Hockey Valley tied for fourth all-time in games played with 149 while his 65 points are the third-most by a Nittany Lion defensemen with his 54 assists and 11 goals ranking third and seventh all-time among blueliners. His 184 blocked shots and plus-41 rating are good for fifth and sixth all-time as a Nittany Lion.

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Freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) burst onto the scene in Hockey Valley and was voted by his peers as the 2024-25 Freshman of the Year following the second-best rookie campaign in program history. Cerrato finished the year with 42 points on 15 goals and 27 assists topping all freshmen in the Big Ten in each offensive category while his point and assist totals ranked second nationally and his goal total was good for third among first-year skaters.

The Fallston, Maryland native became just the second Nittany Lion rookie to reach the 40-point mark and tied for the fifth highest scoring season of all-time while his 27 assists are the second-most by a freshman and tied for the third-most in a single-season all-time and his 15 goals were tied for the fifth-most by a PSU rookie.

Sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) also had a career-year for the Blue & White registering career-highs across the board with 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points while skating in all 40 games this season. Dowiak, often praised by his teammates and coaches for his commitment and strength, led the team at the faceoff dot winning 58.8 percent (288-for-490) of his draws on the season. Dowiak was named the 2024-25 Iron Lion as well as the Player’s Player which is awarded to the player who best exemplifies work ethic and commitment to Penn State hockey’s on ice objectives.

Finally, senior Carson Dyck (Lethbridge, Alberta) was honored with the team’s Culture Award as well as the Top Student-Athlete. This marks the second time Dyck has earned the Culture Award after infamously becoming the youngest player to be honored with the award following his sophomore season in 2022-23. The award is presented annually since 2017-18 to the student-athlete who best influences a positive culture of quality and values off the ice.

Often dressing as the extra skater and playing just a few shifts a game, Dyck appeared in 28 games for the Nittany Lions this season. He went on to score the game-winning goal to sweep Michigan at Yost Ice Arena in the B1G Quarterfinals, essentially locking up Penn State’s spot in the NCAA Tournament in the process.

It has been stated many times this season that Dyck along with the entire leadership group were the catalysts for keeping the locker room positive amidst a nine-game winless start to Big Ten play and springboarding a 15-4-4 mark in the second half which led to the program’s first-ever berth in the Frozen Four.

2024-25 Penn State Team Awards
Team MVP: Aiden Fink
Top Defenseman: Simon Mack
Freshman of the Year: Charlie Cerrato
Players' Player: Dane Dowiak
Culture Award: Carson Dyck
Top Scorer: Aiden Fink
Top Student-Athlete: Carson Dyck
Iron Lion: Dane Dowiak