UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's ice hockey team completed its 10th season as a varsity program back in March and earlier this week announced its 2021-22 team awards.
After finishing the season fifth in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions made their seventh-straight conference semifinal appearance and eighth overall, both of which are Big Ten bests, before ultimately dropping a hard-fought, 3-2, decision to top-seeded and regular-season champion Minnesota.
In total five team voted awards were handed out including the fifth annual Team Culture Award as well as Team MVP, Top Defenseman, Freshman of the Year, and the Players' Player. Additionally, the team recognized its top scorer and top student-athlete as well as the Iron Lion, which recognizes the top performer in the weight room.
Junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) was voted Penn State's Most Valuable Player as well as the 2021-22 Players' Player by his peers. The Players' Player award honors someone who best exemplifies work ethic and commitment to Penn State hockey's on ice objectives.
MacEachern finished second on the team in points and goals this season with career-high totals of 28 and 14, respectively, while pacing the team with an average of 0.78 points per game. The junior's six powerplay tallies also led the team as well as tying the Penn State single-season record for man-advantage goals. MacEachern's 14 goals were tied for the ninth-most in the Big Ten while his six powerplay markers were tied for second in the conference and placed him 19th nationally.
Freshman Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) earned 2021-22 Freshman of the Year honors after turning in one of the best single-seasons by a first-year player in Penn State hockey history. The rookie finished the year third on the team in points and goals with 26 and 13, respectively. His 26 points tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in a single-season at Penn State while his 13 goals tied Chase Berger '19 for the sixth-most in a single-season by a rookie and were the most goals scored by a freshman since Evan Barratt's 11 in 2017-18.
Kirwan's 13 goals were tied for the sixth-most in the country by a freshman and ranked fourth among rookies in the Big Ten.
Senior Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.), who recently announced he will be returning to Hockey Valley for a fifth season in 2022-23, was voted the Top Defenseman for the 2021-22 season. DeNaples paced the blue-line with 60 blocked shots and a plus-12 rating while skating in all 38 games this season. The senior tallied a pair of goals, including the overtime winner at Wisconsin, while adding six assists for eight points.
Entering his fifth and final season next year, DeNaples ranks top-10 all-time for Penn State defensemen in each offensive category. The Moscow, Pennsylvania is currently eighth all-time in points and assists by a defenseman at Penn State with 34 and 27, respectively. DeNaples is also the all-time leader in plus-minus at Penn State with a plus-50 rating in 133 career games.
Senior Adam Pilewicz (Sewickley, Pa.) earned the fifth annual Team Culture Award as the student-athlete who best influences a positive culture of quality and values off the ice. This marks the second-straight season Pilewicz has earned the Culture Award marking the first time since the award's inception that an individual has won it multiple times.
Pilewicz had a career-year in 2021-22 skating in all 38 games tallied career-highs across the board with three goals and four assists for seven points while blocking 50 shots.
Sophomore Christian Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) was named the 2021-22 Iron Lion as the top performer in the weight room as well as the Top Student-Athlete. The Iron Lion recipient is one of the strongest pound-for-pound athletes on the team and possesses a strong work ethic while being consistent in doing the little things right on a daily basis.
After tallying just one assist in 22 games as a freshman, Berger skated in all 38 games this season registering career-highs with two goals and 13 assists for 15 points, the second-most on the team for defenseman scoring.
Junior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) had a career-year in 2021-22 finishing the season as the team's top scorer with 16 goals and 13 assists for 29 points. Wall ranked sixth in the Big Ten with his 16 goals as that mark is tied for the ninth-most in a single-season in Penn State history and were the most goals scored by a single player since the 2018-19 season.
2021-22 Penn State Team Awards
Team MVP: Connor MacEachern
Top Defenseman: Paul DeNaples
Freshman of the Year: Ryan Kirwan
Players' Player: Connor MacEachern
Culture Award: Adam Pilewicz
Top Scorer: Kevin Wall
Top Student-Athlete: Christian Berger
Iron Lion: Christian Berger
