Arsenii Sergeev is a competitor. He’s such a competitor that he wouldn’t let Jimmy Dowd Jr. leave the room until he beat Dowd in ping pong.

Penn State men’s hockey’s newest starting goaltender brings a fiery and energetic personality that’s on display on and off the ice.

“It’s always fun to play with the guys, and enjoy the game, and get better at everything you could,” Sergeev laughed after referencing the ping pong game. “And you always want to play with the best players. It’s a great time during this time, even if I don’t win, I enjoy the game of hockey, so some comparison is going to the hockey as well.”

The Yaroslavl, Russia, native announced his transfer to Penn State from UConn in April. His stats last season were impressive: a .918 save percentage and 2.70 goals-against-average over 15 games. That’s similar to a .912 percentage and 2.61 goals-against-average in the 2022-23 season.

However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

Sergeev’s rough start last season included a November game against Providence in which he allowed six goals. He gave up four against Boston University in October and three against Union in the second game of the season. Although he had a couple of bumps the rest of the way, the latter half of the season was markedly better than the first.

Although his stats improved significantly, he was still splitting the starting job with Logan Terness, who is in the same class and has impressive numbers. Sergeev entered the transfer portal looking for a new opportunity and said Penn State was a good fit for various reasons.

“They do accept similar classes, like majors and stuff like this. Hockey-wise, practicing with the guys, they seemed like great, skilled players. Great, great, group of guys. I decided to work with them and grow up as a player,” Sergeev said.

The 6’4″, 195-pound junior previously spent one season with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, where his 2.08 goals-against average and .918 save percentage led him to a USHL Goaltender of the Year distinction following the 2021-22 season.

Sergeev was drafted by the Calgary Flames with the No. 205 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and looks up to several Russian-born NHL players, especially Sergei Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy, who have each been standout goaltenders in recent seasons.

Now that he’s been drafted by an NHL organization and is almost certainly going to be head coach Guy Gadowsky’s first-choice netminder, the opportunity for Sergeev to grow as a person and player is ripe.

“I decided to take this opportunity for me to this university to grow up as a person, as a player. Great
environment here. I met the coaches… It’s a great coaching staff, great people going here,” Sergeev said.