Penn State’s Smirnov, Sucese named Big Ten hockey’s top stars of week

A big weekend for a pair of Penn State freshmen led to honors from the Big Ten.

Denis Smirnov and Nate Sucese were the Nos. 1 and 2 Stars of the Week for the conference in men’s hockey.

Smirnov posted a five-point weekend, notching the game-winning goal on a breakaway in a 6-3 win against Wisconsin on Saturday, then tallied two goals and two assists in a 5-2 win Saturday.

Sucese also notched five points last weekend to earn the No. 2 star, picking up a goal and an assist on Friday and two goals and one assist on Saturday.

Minnesota’s Tyler Sheehy earned the No. 3 star.

The No. 9 Nittany Lions host the No. 5 Golden Gophers at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena with the Big Ten lead on the line.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Penn State’s Smirnov, Sucese named Big Ten hockey’s top stars of week."