2021–22 Ohio State Buckeyes men's ice hockey season

Entering the season, Ohio State was picked to finish last in the Big Ten.[1] The Buckeyes, however, began the season well, winning three of their first four games. While the victories helped, the first few weeks also settled the goaltending competition when freshman Jakub Dobeš established himself as the starter over Ryan Snowden. Ohio State was able to use stellar performances from the Czech goalie to dramatically exceed expectations for the year.

After beginning their conference schedule, OSU swept Penn State and then earned splits with Michigan, Minnesota and Notre Dame, all ranked teams. While their record wasn't particularly outstanding by the end of December, Ohio State had played well enough to rise up to 17th in the ranking, putting them in a prime position to make the NCAA Tournament. In the first half of the year, Ohio State's offense was clicking along at more than three goals per game and was performing very consistently, being held under 3 goals on just five occasions.

The Buckeyes played even better after the Winter Break, losing just once in twelve games. While their opponents weren't particularly strong, OSU was able to get up to 8th in the polls and, more importantly, they were in the top 10 of the PairWise rankings. All the Buckeyes needed to guarantee themselves a spot in the tournament was a win or two in the final few weeks of the season but, just as they were ready to make postseason plans, the wheels came off.

Ohio State's final two opponents were top two teams in the conference, Minnesota and Michigan. Both were playing at a very high level while the Buckeyes were seemingly coasting into the conference tournament. The OSU offense, a strength all season, failed. The team scored just 6 goals in 4 games. Worse, Dobeš didn't play particularly well as the team allowed 8 goals against in both weekends and were swept by both teams. The four consecutive losses could not have come at a worse time, dropping Ohio State down the rankings, but the team's postseason hopes were still alive due to the strength of their conquerors.

Ohio State sat 13th in the PairWise as they began the Big Ten Tournament. While the top 10 were automatically qualified for the NCAA tournament, the next 6 could receive bids based on postseason results. As long as Ohio State got out of the conference quarterfinals, they would likely receive an at-large bid. Their opponent, Penn State, had had a dreadful conference season; despite being just one place behind the Buckeyes, PSU was 22 points lower in the standings. The first game went to script for OSU as the offense seemed to get back on track but it was the defense that looked to be a problem. While they won 4–3, Ohio State allowed 52 shots against and that trend continued over the next two games. Penn State carried the bulk of the play, outshooting the Buckeyes by at least 10 in each of the three games. While Ohio State was able to score in the first match, they faltered in games 2 and 3, allowing the Nittany Lions to win both and potting themselves on the postseason bubble.

After losing the series, Ohio State was dropped down to 15 in the PairWise. Because none of the Atlantic Hockey teams were in the top 16, that was the lowest possible position that could make the tournament. Ohio State could only wait and hope that there were no upsets for any of the five other conference championships. The next week the team got a slight boost when both the Big Ten and NCHC all advanced teams that were guaranteed bids to their respective championships but they had to hold their breath as spoilers from the CCHA, ECAC and Hockey East continued. On the final day of conference play, Ohio State needed each of those three championship games to go a specific way but they could only get two. When Harvard won the ECAC championship, Ohio State was knocked out and their season was over.[2]

As of August 23, 2021.[3]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
2		James Marooney	Junior	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1999-08-16	Chaska, Minnesota	Waterloo (USHL)	—
3		Cole McWard	Freshman	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	2001-06-09	Fenton, Missouri	Tri-City (USHL)	—
4		Mason Lohrei	Freshman	D	6' 4" (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2001-01-07	Madison, Wisconsin	Green Bay (USHL)	BOS, 58th overall 2020
7		Evan McIntyre	Sophomore	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	2000-10-17	Oakville, Ontario	Penticton (BCHL)	—
9		Dominic Vidoli	Junior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-06-23	Wake Forest, North Carolina	Sioux City (USHL)	—
10		Georgii Merkulov	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2000-10-10	Ryazan, Russia	Youngstown (USHL)	—
11		Kamil Sadlocha	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-04-12	Carpentersville, Illinois	Madison (USHL)	—
13		Tate Singleton	Junior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	177 lb (80 kg)	1998-09-05	West Lebanon, New Hampshire	Central Illinois (USHL)	—
14		Dalton Messina	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-03-29	Macomb, Michigan	Youngstown (USHL)	—
15		Cam Thiesing	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	2001-03-26	Nashville, Tennessee	Green Bay (USHL)	—
16		Quinn Preston (A)	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1997-10-21	Trenton, Michigan	Dubuque (USHL)	—
17		Mark Cheremeta	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-07-12	Parkland, Florida	Dubuque (USHL)	—
18		Michael Gildon	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	196 lb (89 kg)	2001-06-21	Plano, Texas	USNTDP (USHL)	—
20		Matt Cassidy	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	1999-07-31	Medford, New Jersey	Youngstown (USHL)	—
21		Joe Dunlap	Sophomore	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-11-30	Windham, New Hampshire	Fargo (USHL)	—
24		Ryan O'Connell	Senior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-04-25	Manotick, Ontario	Penticton (BCHL)	TOR, 203rd overall 2017
26		Jaedon Leslie (A)	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	1998-08-04	St. Albert, Alberta	Fort McMurray (AJHL)	—
27		Eric Cooley	Graduate	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-05-05	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Niagara (AHA)	—
28		Jake Wise	Senior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-02-28	Reading, Massachusetts	Boston University (HEA)	CHI, 69th overall 2018
29		Gustaf Westlund (C)	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-12-12	Stockholm, Sweden	Lincoln (USHL)	—
30		Ryan Snowden	Junior	G	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1998-03-06	Lincoln University, Pennsylvania	Central Illinois (USHL)	—
33		Will Riedell (C)	Graduate	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1996-10-09	Greensboro, North Carolina	Lake Superior State (WCHA)	—
34		Reilly Herbst	Freshman	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-02-17	Niwot, Colorado	Omaha (USHL)	—
44		Jakub Dobeš	Freshman	G	6' 4" (1.93 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	2001-05-27	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Omaha (USHL)	MTL, 136th overall 2020
61		Grant Gabriele	Senior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	197 lb (89 kg)	1997-04-17	Brighton, Michigan	Waterloo (USHL)	—
65		C. J. Regula	Junior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1998-05-29	Bloomfield Hills, Michigan	Shreveport (NAHL)	—
71		Patrick Guzzo	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	2001-11-27	Marysville, Michigan	Waterloo (USHL)	—
94		Travis Treloar	Sophomore	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	177 lb (80 kg)	2001-05-12	Kalmar, Sweden	Lincoln (USHL)	—

[5]

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.[6]