Nate Sucese — Penn State hockey’s all-time leading point-scorer — will get his pro career started in the desert.

The Arizona Coyotes announced that they signed Sucese to a one-year, entry-level contract on Friday.

After a productive junior career with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, Sucese put together one of the most impressive, consistent four-year spells in Penn State hockey history. He owns the program’s records for goals scored (61) and points (140) in 147 appearances for the team. Sucese’s lowest single-season point total was 29 (14 goals, 15 assists) in 36 games played as a sophomore.

The forward split time between center and wing throughout his college career, but he produced at a high level no matter where he was deployed on the ice. Sucese’s Penn State career began with a 36-point freshman year in which he scored 17 goals and helped the Nittany Lions win their first-ever Big Ten title and earn their first-ever NCAA tournament bid. After posting 29 points a season later, Sucese rebounded to total 75 points (30 goals, 45 assists) over his junior and senior seasons.

Sucese became Penn State hockey’s goal-scoring king during the 2019-20 season. He slipped a score past Minnesota’s Jared Moe on November 16 to break Andrew Sturtz’s previous mark of 54 goals, and he added a second tally later in Penn State’s 6-3 victory at Mariucci that evening.

Sucese is the second Penn State hockey senior to sign an NHL contract this offseason. He joins longtime linemate and team captain Brandon Biro, who inked a two-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres earlier this week. The Arizona Coyotes don’t have any obvious connections to Penn State on the same level as Terry Pegula’s, but they’re a young, exciting team that loaded up for a Stanley Cup playoff run before the NHL’s season was suspended.