The Illini kicked off their season with a road trip to St. Louis to meet up with Maryville University. Both games were close, but the Illini were handed their first losses of 2021-22, 3-4 and 4-5.

In Friday night's game it took both teams a little while to get started, but they made it an exciting end to the first period. With just over five minutes to go in the first, and the Illini down a man, senior Braden Stewart found the back of the Saints net. Maryville responded quickly during that same penalty time and tied the game 1-1. The Illini's Thomas Kolaz gave the Illini a brief lead once again, but Maryville scored on the power-play with just seconds left in the period. Maryville was the only team to find the back of the net in the second period with a power play goal making the score 3-2. Early in the 3rd period the Saints extended their lead as both teams returned to full strength. A five minute major penalty against the Illini slowed down the Orange and Blue, but Brandon Hay found the puck and buried it into the back of the Maryville net. Time would expire with the Saints taking game one 4-3 over the Illini.

The Illini started the scoring early in Saturday's game as Thomas Kolaz scored just over a minute after the opening face-off. Just minutes later Maryville responded to even the score at 1-1. While on the power-play, the Illini's Kacper Ryba once again gave the Illini the lead for the remainder of the first period. Just over a minute into the second period Illini Zach Hayes extended the lead over the Saints to two goals. Maryville would respond just two minutes later, getting the puck past Illini goaltender Elliot Gerth, making it a 3-2 game. In the third period Maryville scored two goal to take the lead, but the Illini's Braden Stewart would tie things up at 4-4. The 3-on-3 overtime period would last just 38 seconds before the Saints would take the 5-4 win.

The Illini start off with a record of 0-2-0-0, and head into next weekend looking at a home and an away game against Illinois State University.