The 2021–22 Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey season was the 16th season of play for the program. They represented Penn State University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. This season marked the ninth season in the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Guy Gadowsky, in his 11th season, and played their home games at Pegula Ice Arena.

Penn State's season began with a bang and the Nittany Lions won six of their first seven games, culminating with a win over North Dakota at the Bridgestone Arena, the home of the Nashville Predators. The hot start got PSU its first ranking of the season but their circumstances quickly changed. As soon as they began their conference schedule, Penn State lost four game in a row with both their offense and defense crumbling. They recovered a bit at the end of November but the respite didn't last long and the Nittany Lions finished the first half of their season near the bottom of the Big Ten standings.

After a win over Army to kick off their second half, Penn State lost four consecutive game again and were wallowing at the bottom of their conference. Oskar Autio hadn't been playing well in goal and the team began to move away from his as the primary starter. Liam Soulière began sharing the load in goal and the team got a boost at the end of January when they made their only conference weekend sweep of the year. The offense then failed afterwards and Penn State lost another 5 games in a row before managing a split with Big Ten bottom-feeder Michigan State to close out the regular season.

The team's terrible season was supposed to end quickly against Ohio State, who were gearing up for the NCAA tournament. Instead of surrendering to expectations, the Lions fought hard against the Buckeyes; after losing the first game by just a goal, the offense bombarded the OSU cage with 81 shots in two games. Soulière held back the counterattack just enough to earn two 1-goal wins and Penn State knocked out #12 team in the country. The Lions were nearly able to pull off a stunning comeback the following game when they tied Minnesota after being down 0–2, but a late goal from the Gophers ultimately ended their season.

As of September 5, 2021.^[1]

More information No., S/P/C ...

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
3		Paul DeNaples (C)	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	1998-09-19	Moscow, Pennsylvania	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
4		Simon Mack	Freshman	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2001-03-29	Brockville, Ontario	Des Moines (USHL)	—
5		Christian Berger	Sophomore	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	2000-05-22	St. Louis, Missouri	Omaha (USHL)	—
6		Jimmy Dowd Jr.	Sophomore	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	161 lb (73 kg)	2000-07-09	Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey	Chicago (USHL)	—
7		Carson Dyck	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2001-06-07	Lethbridge, Alberta	Okotoks (AJHL)	—
9		Xander Lamppa	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	2000-04-30	Rochester, Minnesota	Waterloo (USHL)	—
10		Christian Sarlo	Sophomore	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	2001-06-29	Lynbrook, New York	Lincoln (USHL)	—
11		Ryan Kirwan	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2002-02-27	DeWitt, New York	Green Bay (USHL)	—
12		Ben Schoen	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	2002-05-18	Maumee, Ohio	Tri-City (USHL)	—
13		Danny Dzhaniyev	Freshman	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	145 lb (66 kg)	2002-09-15	Brooklyn, New York	Dubuque (USHL)	—
14		Ben Copeland	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-04-27	Edina, Minnesota	Colorado College (NCHC)	—
15		Kenny Johnson	Junior	D	6' 4" (1.93 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1998-05-28	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Victoria (BCHL)	—
16		Dylan Lugris	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2001-06-23	Buffalo, New York	Jersey (NCDC)	—
17		Chase McLane	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	2000-04-22	Trenton, Michigan	Tri-City (USHL)	NSH, 209th overall 2020
18		Clayton Phillips (A)	Graduate	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1999-09-09	Edina, Minnesota	Minnesota (Big Ten)	PIT, 93rd overall 2017
19		Connor McMenamin (A)	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-02-25	Collegeville, Pennsylvania	Tri-City (USHL)	—
21		Kevin Wall	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-02-01	Penfield, New York	Chilliwack (BCHL)	CAR, 181st overall 2019
23		Tyler Paquette	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2001-03-18	Collegeville, Pennsylvania	Green Bay (USHL)	—
24		Adam Pilewicz (A)	Graduate	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1996-07-20	Sewickley, Pennsylvania	Johnstown (NAHL)	—
28		Tyler Gratton	Junior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	1999-08-06	Pottstown, Pennsylvania	Central Illinois (USHL)	—
29		Connor MacEachern	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1999-07-01	Brooklin, Ontario	Youngstown (USHL)	—
30		Doug Dorr	Sophomore	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1999-05-07	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Utica (NCDC)	—
31		Liam Soulière	Sophomore	G	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-03-16	Brampton, Ontario	Victoria (BCHL)	—
35		Oskar Autio	Senior	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1999-10-06	Espoo, Finland	Chicago (USHL)	—
		Mason Snell	Junior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-06-18	Courtice, Ontario	Penticton (BCHL)	—

Close

^[3]

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.^[4]