Penn State Men’s Hockey Ranked in 2026-27 Preseason Poll

Penn State men’s hockey will begin the 2026-27 campaign with a number next to its name.

The Nittany Lions on Monday afternoon were ranked at No. 17 in the preseason USCHO poll, a drop from No. 11 where they finished last season following a 21-14-2 campaign. They began the previous campaign at No. 5 before an underwhelming year derailed by injuries.

This offseason, Penn State lost several top skaters, including Gavin McKenna, who led the team with 51 points and 36 assists last season and was picked No. 1 overall in the NHL Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Also departing were leading scorer Matt DiMarsico and key contributors Aiden Fink, JJ Wiebusch, Charlie Cerrato and Kevin Reidler.

Penn State brought in an impressive recruiting class to replace departing talent, many of whom were drafted this summer. Among them was first-round selection Jaxon Cover, who will join the team for at least one season.

The voters, however, are waiting to see on-ice performance before buying into the hype.

Other Big Ten teams in the rankings include No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 14 Minnesota. Ohio State and Notre Dame are the only conference teams unranked to start the season, though they received votes.

The full top 20 is as follows:

1. Denver
2. Michigan
3. Michigan State
4. North Dakota
5. Minnesota Duluth
6. Wisconsin
7. Quinnipiac
8. Western Michigan
9. Providence
10. Massachusetts
11. Dartmouth
12. Boston College
13. Cornell
14. Minnesota
15. Connecticut
16. Boston University
17. Penn State
18. Minnesota State
19. Michigan Tech
20. Merrimack