ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Sophomore Vince Pedrie was named a First-Team All-Big Ten honoree highlighting five Penn State players who earned postseason accolades as announced by the league office Monday afternoon.
Pedrie becomes the first Penn State defenseman to earn first-team recognition and just the second Nittany Lion in program history to garner first-team laurels joining Casey Bailey who earned the same distinction following the 2014-15 campaign.
Pedrie led all Big Ten blue-liners in goals with seven while adding 19 assists for 26 points, which is good for second in the conference. The sophomore was also second in the conference with 16 points on two goals and 14 assists in 20 Big Ten games while earning a plus-11 rating. Pedrie is currently a plus-22 overall this season.
In addition a trio of Lions were also recognized as honorable mention as senior David Goodwin, also the teams Sportsmanship Award honoree, earns this distinction for the third consecutive season along with freshman classmates Denis Smirnov and Peyton Jones. Jones and Smirnov also join classmate Kris Myllari as members of the All-Freshman Team.
Goodwin and Smirnov tied for eighth in the Big Ten in scoring with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points apiece in their 20 conference games. Smirnov, who leads the entire country in freshman scoring with 43 points, ranked third for rookies in Big Ten scoring behind the 23 points from Minnesota’s Rem Pitlick and Wisconsin’s Trent Frederic, who also landed on the All-Freshman Team.
Myllari led all freshman blue-liners with nine points (four goals, five assists) in 20 conference games while Jones started all, but one Big Ten game this season turning in a 10-8-1 record with a 2.83 goals against average and an .895 save percentage in conference play.