On April 23, Erik Autio signed his National Letter of Intent and etched his name in Penn State hockey history by becoming the first non-American trained exclusively overseas to sport the blue and white.
However, the freshman defenseman came up just short of crossing off yet another first in program history: becoming the first Nittany Lion to participate in the prestigious IIHF World Junior Championships.
Earlier this month, he became one of 29 players named to the Finnish World Juniors Camp in Canada and battled with 12 other defensemen vying for a spot on the final 23-man roster. Representing his native country of Finland at the international stage is nothing new to Autio, either. At the start of the season, head coach Guy Gadowsky referred to Autio as an unknown commodity and expected him to be a solid, cerebral defenseman for his team.