As the curtain closed on the 2023–24 season for men’s ice hockey with consecutive losses in half-empty arenas, the need for a change on the ice was brought to a boil. The Tigers have qualified for the NCAA tournament just once since 2009 and haven’t boasted a winning record since the 2017–18 season. While the glory days have been few and far between throughout the program’s 130-year history, new head coach Ben Syer believes he can take the squad to new heights — and he has the track record to prove it.
Syer’s depth of knowledge about the game of hockey comes from his time as assistant coach at his two stops prior to coming to Princeton — Quinnipiac and Cornell. Those two programs, partly with the work of Syer, turned into perennial Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) powerhouses that are in contention for national titles on a yearly basis.
In just his second year on the Quinnipiac staff, Syer — who served as recruitment coordinator for the Bobcats — was tasked with building an entire Division I hockey program from the ground up, as the university entered Division I in the 1998–99 season.
“We were a Division I program just starting out, like, [playing on] a off-campus rink, people couldn’t say nor pronounce Quinnipiac,” Syer said of his first assistant coaching gig. “I’m sure there were many Division III programs at the time that were better funded than we were.”
Slowly over time, the Quinnipiac program evolved into one of the more formidable programs in college hockey, with Syer overseeing milestones for the program during his time on head coach Rand Pecknold’s staff. The program moved into the ECAC in 2005, and the program’s meteoric rise led to the opening of the on-campus TD Bank Sports Center in 2007. The program’s ascension culminated in Quinnipiac’s first National Championship in 2023, emblematic of the long process it takes to build a program from scratch.
“Seeing things grow from the ground level and to be around Rand [Pecknold], where we’re recruiting, was so important in building a program from that level, and how much effort that went in to get the right players,” Syer said.
While with the Bobcats, Syer not only learned how to breed excellence on the ice, but also how to build a winning culture with the right people.
“I got told no a lot of times. But I also realized that we needed to get the right players and continue to push the envelope, move the needle, and that was really important in establishing a foundation of culture,” Syer said.
From there, Syer left the Bobcats in 2011 to take an assistant coach position at Cornell, a role he served in for 13 seasons. With the Big Red, Syer helped head coach Mike Schafer in guiding the team to six NCAA tournament appearances and two ECAC conference championships. Unlike Quinnipiac, the Big Red had a long history of success prior to Syer’s time in Ithaca, with two National Championships and eight Frozen Four appearances in the program’s trophy case.
“It had a history of some really good teams, and there’d be history of guys moving on to play in the National Hockey League and so forth,” Syer told The Daily Princetonian.
With the Big Red, Syer saw firsthand what lies at the core of a program with a winning tradition — something unfamiliar to Tigers men’s hockey fans.
“The thing that I probably took most from there was how important the culture is to a place, and the development of each individual person as it relates to enhancing the culture, and how important that is every day, in every situation.”
At Princeton, Syer will need to put his wealth of knowledge and experience towards reviving a Princeton program that finished ninth of 12 teams in the ECAC in 2023–24 under former head coach Ron Fogarty — though Syer believes he has the right athletes to be successful both on and off of the ice.
“I always look at it like, I chose them,” Syer told the ‘Prince.’ “They didn’t choose me, some of them I knew, others I didn’t. So maybe on paper, so to speak, they weren't my recruits, but I chose them, and I know through doing my research the quality of kids that they are, and that’s what excited me.”
After an introductory press conference in late April, Syer has spent the summer and early parts of the fall semester getting acclimated to Princeton, the program, and building relationships with the players and staff that made up last year’s team. Syer is keenly aware, however, that there is work to be done.
“There’s certain things that make a quality hockey player that translate from junior hockey or prep school, to college hockey. I think it’s my job to be able to impart, you know, I’ll say wisdom [on the players] … We’re not looking for good kids, we’re looking for great kids. There’s a difference, and it’s fun to see when those kids get on campus, and really get to work,” Syer added.
If the Tigers hope to have any chance of having a winning record, they will need to make remarkable improvements on the defensive side of the puck in the coming season. Last season, the Tigers allowed an ECAC-high 90 goals, averaging 3.60 goals against per game. That’s a formula that will lose a lot of hockey games, no matter how many goals of their own the Tigers are able to score.
Luckily for the Tigers, Syer focused largely on the defensive aspect of the game as associate coach at Cornell — and was quite successful. Just last year, the Big Red sported an average of 1.90 goals allowed — a substantial cut below Princeton’s average. Early on in Princeton’s training for the season, the defensive side of the game has been a primary focus for Syer’s staff.
“There’s been great buy-in to be able to compete defensively, and a lot of credit to the guys to do that. I think it’s to continue to work on that daily and in practice, and the finer points of playing good defense allows you to lead you to play good offense,” Syer said to the ‘Prince.’
“I also look at it in terms of football, we want to be able to manage the field and have the time of possession. I mean, it’s why punters make well over a million dollars a year, they can flip a field,” Syer quipped about turning defense into offense. “I want to be able to play in the offensive zone, but when we lose it, I want to make sure it doesn't matter.”
On the other end of the ice, Princeton returns much of the same forward lineup that averaged a more-than-solid 3.0 goals per game, and the nation’s No. 4 ranked power play from 2023–24. From junior forward Brendan Gorman to senior forward Jack Cronin, there is higher-end offensive talent to build with in the coming season, and Syer looks forward to watching these players grow.
“There’s a group of guys that have some great offensive instincts, and you know, it’s to be able to harness those and consistently use those offensive skills that they have to help break pucks out,” Syer said of his top forwards. “So, we’re looking forward to seeing those guys continue to evolve as we go.”
For Princeton hockey, the new era of the program truly begins on Nov. 8 against Harvard, where the Tigers will open the season at Hobey Baker Rink in Syer’s first conference game with the Orange and Black. Through his time at Quinnipiac and Cornell, Syer has been winning for 30 years and will be joining a program that has been losing for far longer.
The challenge could very well prove his toughest yet.
Cole Keller is a head Sports editor at the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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