No. 18 Penn State men’s hockey lost a big piece of its blue line during Saturday’s 4-0 victory over No. 15 Ohio State.

Defenseman Kevin Kerr suffered a broken wrist midway through the game and will be out of the lineup indefinitely, according to head coach Guy Gadowsky. Despite suffering the injury, Kerr managed to finish the game and help his team beat the Buckeyes by four goals.

“Kevin Kerr actually broke his wrist in the second period and basically played half the game with a broken wrist,” he said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “I give him a lot of credit; that was a tough game and that’s not an easy thing to do. He did it and he deserves a lot of credit for it.”

Kerr has had plenty of injury troubles during his time in Happy Valley; he has only played in six of the team’s 18 games so far this season. Last year, a lower-body injury ended his season after the first 25 games of the season. His presence and offensive touch (one goal, six assists) on the blue line will certainly be missed.

Gadowsky did not give an update on the status of alternate captain Erik Autio, another left-handed defenseman who did not play in either of the Nittany Lions’ two games against Ohio State. If Autio cannot play this weekend against Robert Morris, the team’s defense pairings will need to be re-shuffled.

Freshman Alex Stevens filled in on the third pair while Erik Autio was out; if Autio cannot play again, James Gobetz may draw into the lineup in his place. The Nittany Lions’ series against Robert Morris begins on Friday at 7 p.m. Puck drop of the second game of the series is at 7 p.m. Saturday back at Pegula Ice Arena.