By Warren Kozireski–
At the end of the 2018-19 regular season, Penn State junior and Fairport native Nate Sucese stood second among all juniors at the Division I level in career goals with 47, seventh in career points with 99. That put him one point from becoming just the fourth player in Penn State’s short seven-year hockey history to reach 100 career points.
He also recently jumped into third place all-time for the high-powered Nittany Lions offense—among the best in the nation with more than 4.50 goals per game—in career goals and holds the school record for points in one period, four set during his freshman season on March 25th against Union.
Heading into his final regular season game this season, he stood 37th in the nation in points per game and 27th in goals per game.
The 5’8”, 174 lb. winger played for Fairport High School in 2012-13 before playing prep at The Gunnery School for one year, spent two seasons with the Jr. Sabres and two more in the USHL with Dubuque before heading to State College.
His older brother, Jonathan, played part or all of four seasons at the Division III level with Geneseo through 2013-14 and finished with 24 points in 66 career games.
It didn’t take long for the younger Nate to make his impact felt with the Nittany Lions as he tied for fourth on the team with 36 points and was third with 17 goals in his freshman campaign. He was not chosen Big Ten Rookie of the Year, losing to Wisconsin’s Trent Frederic, despite scoring more goals and registering more points. He added 29 points during his sophomore year and had 34 points in 34 games this season.
Earlier in February, the Buffalo born son of Sally and John passed the 100 career games played plateau.
(psu photo)
