Penn State Hockey: Goalie Oskar Autio Commits To Nittany Lions

Penn State hockey has its first family affair as goalie Oskar Autio, brother of current senior defenseman Erik Autio verbally committed to the program on Tuesday morning.

At just 5-foot-11 Oskar currently plays at the international level in the Finnish prospects program. While stats about Oskar’s career are somewhat limited, in 2016-17 he did start in goal for 29 games posting a .918 save percentage over that span. Unfortunately for those hoping to see the two brothers on the ice at the same time, Oskar is likely a season or two removed from finally arriving at Penn State.

It’s currently unclear which recruiting class Autio will eventually commit to, unlike football and basketball, hockey’s recruiting window is somewhat larger with a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to the initial enrollment. For example Penn State forward Denis Smirnov was originally slated to join the program in 2015-16 but eventually joined in 2016-17.

While slightly speculative, Autio’s 1999 birthday would seem to align him with the 2018-19 recruiting cycle, Penn State currently has six commits for that class already.

In either regard Penn State hockey now has its first family pipeline, only time will tell if Oskar’s impact will reach the level of his older brother, whose double-overtime winner against Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament locked up an NCAA Tournament bid.