2021-22 Penn State Men's Hockey Media Guide

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NITTANY LION HOCKEY STAFF KEITH FISHER Associate Head Coach • 10th Season • St. Cloud State ’00 • • • • • • • • •

AHC

23 years of coaching experience in college and junior hockey Promoted to Associate Head Coach in July 2018 Helped in recruiting all eight players to sign NHL deals, including four in 2020 Guided Penn State to its first B1G Tournament Championship in 2017 Helped the Nittany Lions reach back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 2017 and 2018 Spent six seasons at Princeton, helping guide the Tigers to pair of NCAA Tournaments (2008, 2009) Coached five NHL players at Princeton Coached Princeton’s only two ECAC Players of the Year as well as two Hobey Baker Award Finalists Coached five years with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers

• Native of Zim, Minnesota

MEET COACH FISHER

Keith Fisher enters his fourth season as associate head coach and 10th overall with the Nittany Lions in 2021-22. Fisher has 23 years of coaching experience in college and junior hockey and was elevated to associate head coach in July 2018.

AT PENN STATE

This past season, while navigating Covid-19 protocols and restrictions as well as an extended 34-day pause, Fisher helped guide a young Nittany Lion team to its sixth-straight Big Ten Tournament semifinal appearance.

single-season point and goal records with 50 and 23, respectively, tying for the national lead in points, marking the first time in program history a Nittany Lion has done so.

Following season’s end, the Nittany Lions saw a pair of players earn All-America honors for the first time as Cole Hults and Nate Sucese were recognized by CCM/AHCA on the second team west. Hults also became the first-ever Nittany Lion to be named Big Ten Player of the Year.

Penn State reached the Big Ten semifinals for the fourth time in its brief five-year history in the conference following the 201718 season. The run to the postseason was highlighted by four-straight victories against college hockey power Minnesota to end the season. Fisher also witnessed Andrew In 2018-19, Fisher once again helped guide Sturtz shatter the Penn State all-time goals the most prolific offense in the country as record on his way to becoming the fourth the team led the nation in scoring with a Nittany Lion to ink an NHL contract followsingle-season record 4.54 goals per game ing the season. and set single-season records for goals Fisher also helped guide Penn State to (177), assists (301) and points (478), each of back-to-back 20-win campaigns in 201516 & 2016-17 and the programs first-ever which were also tops in the nation. Penn State reached its second Big Ten Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2017. Championship game in the past three seasons while posting their second most victories in a season finishing 22-15-2. During the year sophomore Alex Limoges set the

Following a rocky start to 2020-21, Penn State rattled off nine wins in a 12-game stretch from December to January and was one of the hottest teams in the nation before the 34-day Covid shutdown. Following the season junior Aarne Talvitie became the 10th Nittany Lion to sign an NHL deal when he agreed to his entry-level contract with the New Jersey Devils and senior captain Alex Limoges inked a deal with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League. Fisher helped lead the Nittany Lions to their first-ever Big Ten regular-season championship in 2019-20 with program highs in conference wins (12) and points (41). Penn State earned the top overall

2021-22 PENN STATE HOCKEY

With a team composed of Fisher’s and fellow assistant Matt Lindsay’s recruits, the Lions improved their win total in each season from 2013-14 through 2016-17 while advancing to the Big Ten semifinals twice before capturing the crown in 2017. During the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, Penn State has had record-breaking offensive productions setting new standards each season. In 2016-17 the Nittany Lions broke numerous offensive records, set just the year prior, including most goals (160), assists (265), points (425), shots (1,719), goals/gm (4.10) and shots/gm (44.1) to

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NITTANY LION HOCKEY STAFF

Fisher’s recruiting and coaching acumen has been vital to the rise of Penn State hockey, with back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in 2017 and 2018 and a pair of Big Ten Championships (2017 & 2020). Fisher also played an instrumental role in recruiting Penn State’s first two graduate transfers with Ludvig Larsson (2018-19) and Tim Doherty (2020-21).

seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a firstround bye and advanced to its sixth Big Ten semifinal in seven years prior to the postseason being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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