Penn State hockey makes splash addition from the transfer portal

Less than a week ago, the Penn State hockey team suffered a major blow when four-year starting goaltender Liam Souliere entered the transfer portal to use his fifth year of eligibility elsewhere. It raised a major question for one of the most important positions on the ice heading into a pivotal season for the program. An answer was needed and needed quickly. Now, the Nittany Lions have filled that need with former UConn goaltender Arseni Sergeev.

Penn State hockey makes splash addition from the transfer portal

Coach Guy Gadowsky didn’t waste any time finding the answer. On Tuesday, goaltender Arseni Sergeev committed to Penn State from the transfer portal after playing two years at UConn. The Yaroslavl, Russia native was drafted by the Calgary Flames in 2021, before beginning his career at UConn. He played in 20 games his freshman season, posting a 2.61 GAA and 0.912 SV%. He followed that up with a 2.70 GAA and a 0.913 SV% in his sophomore campaign. The numbers from these two seasons would all rank in the top five of single-season GAA and SV% in program history at Penn State. 

BREAKING: Former @UConnMHOC goalie Arsenii Sergeev has transferred to @PennStateMHKY, via his Instagram and first reported by @agallucci17

The Russian sophomore had 8 wins with a 2.70 GAA and a 9.13 save percentage.

The blue and white have found their second goalie. pic.twitter.com/pAoL5mWLIg

— Josh Bartosik (@Josh_Bartosik) April 2, 2024

Reviewing Sergeev’s career

Sergeev put these numbers up playing on one of the worst teams in one of the toughest conferences in college hockey. UConn has never made the NCAA tournament in their hockey program’s existence, yet Sergeev had to regularly face last year’s national champion Quinnipiac and presumed the No.1 overall pick in the summer’s NHL draft, Macklin Celebrini.

Prior to playing college hockey, he played for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, where he was a teammate of current Penn State forward Dane Dowiak among other current Big Ten skaters. With the Storm, he posted a remarkable 2.25 GAA and a 0.913 SV% in 43 games. Both of those numbers were the best in the USHL for the 2021-2022 season. He earned USHL Goaltender of the Year honors. 

Sergeev and his track record of consistent success should provide a reliable backstop to complement what will be one of the most talented rosters in program history, including current forward Aiden Fink and incoming forward Charlie Cerrato, who has a chance to be one of the highest draft picks in Nittany Lion history this summer. 

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