By Warren Kozireski —
Penn State senior right wing and assistant captain set career-highs in leading the Nittany Lions in points (29) and goals (16) in earning Big Ten Honorable Mention after the 2021-22 season.
For an encore, the Carolina Hurricanes sixth round selection (181st overall) in the 2019 Entry Draft stands tied for second in the conference in goals (11) and tenth in points (20) through the first 22 games of the 2022-23 campaign.
Wall returned to his hometown Dec. 30-31 as Penn State played at RIT. He netted two goals and added an assist in the first game in front of several dozen family members and former high school teammates.
“You never know how it’s going to go, but I’m glad we got the win and obviously nice to have a couple of points as well.
“Growing up in Rochester and wanting to play college hockey, to be able to do it senior year here…is a dream come true and I couldn’t have drawn it up any better. I tried to really take in every moment out there; I might not get anything like this ever again, so it was just an absolute honor.”
The 6’1” 190 lb. soon-to-be-23-year-old (Feb. 1) played junior hockey for the Buffalo Jr. Sabres in 2015-16 before jumping to play prep school hockey at Salisbury School for one-plus seasons.
In 2018-19 it the BCHL and Chilliwack where he broke out offensively with 31 goals and 64 points over 49 games prior to arriving on the Penn State campus.
In addition to wearing the “A”, Wall is playing the point on one of the power play units and kills penalties along with his top line duties.
And he is very aware that he is in the home stretch of his final season of collegiate hockey.
“It is totally in the back of your mind that it’s coming to an end, but right now I’m just trying to take it all in. A lot of alumni say they wish they were still here, so you really take that advice and don’t take a day for granted because it’s going to go by in the blink of an eye like it already has, so take it day-by-day and really enjoy it and really enjoy being around the guys; you’re not going to see them forever.”
(Penn State Men’s Hockey Photos)
