Ex-Penn State hockey star goalie transfers to Big Ten rival

Penn State hockey fans’ feathers were a bit ruffled when they found out the transfer destination for star goaltender Liam Souliere on Wednesday afternoon. The four-year starter for the Nittany Lions announced he would transfer to Minnesota, arguably Penn State hockey’s biggest rival. Souliere entered the transfer portal at the end of March.

Ex-Penn State hockey star goalie transfers to Big Ten rival

Liam Souliere left his mark on the program during his four seasons with the Penn State hockey team. He committed to the program in October 2018 and quickly garnered fans attention as the top goalie prospect in program history at the time, putting up gaudy numbers for both the Brockville Braves of the CCHL and the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL before stepping on campus.

He arrived on campus in time for the 2020-2021 season, right on the heels of Penn State’s sole Big Ten regular season title the year prior. He spent his freshman year of the COVID-altered season backing up former goaltender Oskar Autio. He made his debut, ironically, on the road at then No. 11 Minnesota in the team’s second game of the year, a narrow 3-2 loss to the Gophers. He picked up his first win over a month later in a thrilling 5-4 OT win over No. 11 Arizona State. He only played four games that season, with disappointing numbers. He went 1-3-0 with a 4.60 GAA.

The 2021-2022 campaign served as a breakout year for Liam Souliere. He and Autio continued to split time, but Liam Souliere spent much more time in the crease that season. He appeared in 15 games, posting a 7-7-1 record with a 2.88 GAA and a .905 SV%. 

The 2022-2023 season was when he lived up to the hype fans in Hockey Valley had been talking about since 2018. With Autio having transferred to Vermont, Souliere was the presumed starter heading into the season. Of the 39 games played by Penn State hockey that season, he appeared in 36 of them. He broke a myriad of records for the program throughout the year. His 19 wins were the second most in a single season in program history.

The 2.43 GAA he posted is the single-season program to go along with the longest shutout streak of 184:55 from 10/28/22-11/5/22. He also posted a shutout in the Nittany Lions 8-0 victory of Michigan Tech in the NCAA Tournament. To date, it is the only shutout in postseason play for the program. 

This past season was a step back for him, with a 12-14-1 record and 3.38 GAA and .874 SV%. Even with the down year, he leaves the program second all-time in wins with 36 and fourth all-time in GAA with a 2.93 GAA. He officially entered the transfer portal on March 27th. Now, Penn State will see him don the maroon and gold at least four times next year during their bi-annual series against Minnesota.

Who will step up next season for the Nittany Lions

This leaves the door open for recent Connecticut transfer Arsenii Sergeev to have the inside track to be the starter with now-junior Noah Grannon being the presumed backup.

Penn State hockey has sustained some big losses in the transfer portal this offseason in addition to Souliere leaving for Minnesota. Forward Ryan Kirwan transferred to Arizona State, while defenseman Dylan Gratton committed to Omaha. Forward Chase McClane is still in the portal. When opening night comes around in October, this team will look very different than this past iteration.

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