How Erik Autio helped pave the way for the arrival of more Finnish hockey players at Penn State

While Penn State men’s ice hockey has had a handful of Europeans go through the program, including Russia’s Denis Smirnov and Nikita Pavlychev and Finland’s Erik and Oskar Autio and Aarne Talvitie, they have one person to thank for the numerous Finns who have been attracted to the program.

Erik Autio signed with the Nittany Lions in 2014, becoming the program’s first Finnish player. Autio’s presence started somewhat of a Finnish invasion, and in the following years the program would add two more Finns to the program in Autio’s younger brother, Oskar Autio, and Aarne Talvitie.

Without Erik’s footprint on the Nittany Lions program, it is unlikely Oskar and Talvitie would have ended up at Penn State.

“With Erik ... if he wasn’t here, I don’t think me and Oskar would be here right now,” Talvitie said.

Visiting Penn State and seeing not only the Nittany Lion’s program, but also the academic success that could be had within the university’s programs was a large influence on Erik’s decision in coming to Hockey Valley.

Meeting his future teammates, staff and seeing Pegula Ice Arena is what sealed the deal, Erik said.

“There was for sure a big adjustment with the different culture and language, but my teammates and the team staff helped me adjust a lot,” Erik said via email. “I don’t really think the fact that I was the only European was that special, but I for sure did get some comments on the ‘European clothing style’ that I had.”

While with the program, Erik was an NCAA Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree and an alternate captain. The defenseman racked up 58 points in 138 games played over his four years with the Nittany Lions.

Erik attributes his on-ice growth to Penn State, and said that the staff helped him develop not only physically, but mentally.

“I think especially the improvement of my puck moving skills and being able to play at a faster pace have helped me out in games after Penn State,” Erik said. “The experience was unforgettable and playing college hockey was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey.”

Erik was drawn to hockey at a young age due to his older brother’s influence. Olli Autio, who also played defense, used to let his younger brother tag along to the rink.

“I was 4 when I started and immediately fell in love with the game,” Erik said. “I played forward until I was 15 and then I switched to defense.”

With one brother as a forward and one as a defenseman, it only made sense to put their youngest brother Oskar in between the pipes.

While Erik couldn’t offer any advice about what to do in the crease, he could offer Oskar guidance about getting adjusted to being in a collegiate hockey program in a different country.

“Obviously it was all easier for me to come here and kind of adjust to everything, just kind of getting a little bit of the inside scoop from him,” Oskar said. “I definitely felt the confidence just coming in as a freshman. You know, usually you’re kind of scrambling a little bit, not knowing what to do, how everything works. So I think that was the biggest thing for me, is it was just a lot easier to come in.

“First of all, academically — I remember the summer before freshman year. I was back home in Finland and I had no idea how picking classes, or talking to professors, or anything like that worked. Obviously having him there, helping me out and kind of letting me know how the whole system works was huge.”

When Oskar decided to commit to Penn State, it was head coach Guy Gadowsky who asked the Finn for Talvitie’s number. For Talvitie, the decision to come to Penn State was easy, not only because of the program’s success on the ice, but also because of Oskar’s commitment.

Talvitie’s older brother, Otso, played hockey with Erik, and Oskar, and Talvitie played on the same teams for two or three years. Striking up a long lasting friendship with Oskar, Talvitie saw Erik’s games with Penn State on TV in Finland, and then in person against Notre Dame on his visit.

“Our families have known each other because of my brother and Erik playing on the same team, but got especially close after me and Oskar came here together,” Talvitie said. “Right now our families are really close, which is nice.”

To Talvitie, Erik and Oskar’s impact on him personally and on the ice isn’t a small thing.

“It was massive, because from Erik I was able to hear everything that was going on. Hear about the team, how they’d play — told me a lot about Coach Gadowsky and how just things go here,” Talvitie said. “Definitely helped me with making my choice to come here.”

Talvitie, having not lived in the United States before coming to play with the Nittany Lions, found that Oskar, who played with the USHL’s Chicago Steel, was a big help in his own adjustment to the program and life in State College in general.

“There’s been tough times with hockey, with life of course — everybody has those — and just to talk face to face in our own language helps that a lot. You can just relate to the guy,” Talvitie said. “We’re pretty much in the same situation here ... makes it a lot easier to cope with what’s going on. We talk a lot about when things are not going our way, whether on the ice or with our personal lives. That’s definitely a huge part of our friendship.

“I remember freshman year coming here with Oskar. It was exciting, but it had its challenges for us and we were just in the same position … new college, we had to go to school in English, which has its challenges. But, it was so much easier that you had a really good friend from home and he was going through the same thing as you were.”

Gadowksy said that while Erik and Oskar might not be similar in any way on the ice, they bring similar, “top notch” qualities to the program off the ice.

“What is absolutely similar is they’re extremely intelligent, polite, positive people. They really are,” Gadowsky said. “And they’re both excellent students — like excellent, excellent, excellent top students, and they’re top people. They’re both extremely popular with the team. They’re wonderful to deal with … always humble, very polite, very team and positive oriented.”

While the brothers are the only two in their family to have gone to Penn State, it’s been an experience that has impacted them and their family profusely. Seeing Oskar also get to don the blue and white is something Erik said made him extremely proud.

Erik, already having such a close relationship with his brothers, doesn’t feel that that both of them attending Penn State and being a part of the Nittany Lion’s program has made them any closer. But, he does enjoy talking about all things Penn State and their experiences.

“Our family loves Penn State,” Oskar said. “My parents love coming here, my older brother has Penn State apparel that he probably wears around in Finland. It’s been awesome for both of us.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 3:29 PM.