Becoming Penn State men’s hockey’s all-time leading scorer motivates Nate Sucese to shoot even higher
Nate Sucese knows the numbers, all of them. They serve as both motivation and validation — but mostly motivation.
The 5-foot-8 senior center moved atop Penn State hockey’s all-time goal scoring list last weekend. His 56 career goals hardly mean he’s done, though, especially with 23 games remaining in the regular season.
He knows there are 22 people ahead of him on the national goal-scoring list this season and he also wants to improve his faceoff percentage (49.3%), which places him third nationally. He wants to “fill the net more” and push that faceoff percentage seven or eight points higher.
His personal expectations are high, and his performances are consistent.
“That’s the goal of any athlete, being able to perform at your highest level day in and day out,” Sucese said. “I came in here, being a freshman I wanted to make a statement, to be the best player I could be every single day. I wanted to be a player that everybody knew what they were going to get every Friday and Saturday night.”
Along with motivation, Sucese’s approach speaks to a mentality — an aggressive demeanor that differentiates Penn State. While some teams talk about battling and fighting on defense, the Nittany Lions focus on doing the same on offense.
“It’s a mentality of getting to the net and outworking your opponent,” Sucese said.
Coach Guy Gadowsky has consistently praised the movement of his defensive players, he points to their “feet” as a descriptor.
For his offensive players, especially the Sucese — a player with elite speed on an already fast team — Gadowsky praises a mentality. When he does so, he grits his teeth a bit, driving home the point that Penn State’s attacking offense matters and sets a tone.
Sucese embodies that approach.
“He scores highlight real goals but he also scores gritty goals. He just finds a way to produce,” Gadowsky said. “His mental toughness to produce in any type of game and no matter who he’s playing with is impressive.”
This weekend’s series provides another somewhat typical test for Penn State, a team with primarily an offensive mindset facing one with a defense-first approach.
Penn State enters the two-game series against Ohio State averaging 4.73 goals per game — that’s third nationally. Meanwhile, Ohio State allows just 1.8 goals per game, fifth nationally. Ohio State has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of its 10 games this season. Penn State has scored five or more in seven of its 11 games.
“It up to us to come out and start the fight Friday night,” Sucese said, emphasizing that the team that best plays to its personality has the best chance to win.
No. 6 Penn State (9-2, 5-1 Big Ten) vs. No. 11 Ohio State (6-3-1, 2-2-0)
Series: 7 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday
Radio/TV: Game coverage on 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com
Notable: Ohio State leads the series, 15-10-2, and the Buckeyes are 7-4-1 at Pegula Ice Arena. … Penn State ranks third nationally, converting 32.6% of its power-play opportunities. Ohio State is ninth (26.0). … Six of Ohio State’s 10 games, including the last four in a row, have been decided by one goal.