After dropping both games in the opening weekend against Harvard and Dartmouth, men’s ice hockey, led by new head coach Ben Syer, (1–2–1 overall, 1–2–1 ECAC) kicked off their first road trip of the season in style with a win over Yale (1–4–1, 1–2–1), before earning a point in a shootout loss to Brown (0–3–1, 0–3–1).
Senior goaltender Ethan Pearson was the standout for the Orange and Black, playing in back-to-back games and allowing only two goals in his 125 minutes of play on Friday and Saturday.
Three-goal second period lifts Tigers over Bulldogs for first win of Syer era
As the Tigers traveled to New Haven on Friday night, Princeton entered Ingalls Ice Rink having won five of its previous six games against Yale, dating back to the 2021–22 season. Thanks to a dominant middle period over a Yale program that was picked to finish 10th in the ECAC Coaches Preseason Poll, Princeton sealed the first win of the Ben Syer’s tenure as head coach with a 4–1 victory.
To get things going for Princeton in the first period, junior forward Brendan Gorman sniped a power play goal from the left circle past Yale goaltender Jack Stark. The goal was Gorman’s second of the season. The power play continues to be a strength for the Tigers after ranking fourth in the nation in power play efficiency during the 2023–24 season.
“We work on a lot of details with how things are run in the zone,” sophomore forward Joshua Karnish told The Daily Princetonian. “Guys are just always working on [the power play] pretty much every day throughout the week in practice and doing a good job of hammering in those details and what we are instructed to do from the coaches, and I think it really paid off last year and certainly paid off this year as well.”
Heading into the second period nursing a 1–0 lead, Princeton first-year forward Luc Pelletier was booked for misconduct after a hitting the head of a Bulldog, putting Yale on a five-minute power play. To make matters worse, junior defenseman Tyler Rubin was called for a tripping minor during the same timeframe, putting the Tigers down two men for an entire two minutes.
Lucky for the Tigers, their impenetrable defense and Pearson's strong play held strong to successfully kill the penalties. To start the season, Princeton has killed 12 of 14 penalties for a 85.7 percent kill rate — a massive improvement from last year’s dreadful 75.2 percent.
The momentum shifted to Princeton following the kill, as Princeton scored three unanswered in short order. In the final 6:33 of the second period, successive goals from senior defenseman Noah de la Durantaye, first-year forward Jake Manfre, and sophomore forward Joshua Karnish gave the Tigers a comfortable 4–0 cushion.
For Manfre, a deflection in front of a shot from junior defenseman Nick Marciano netted the forward his first career collegiate goal. For Karnish, a snipe from the right circle off a goal-line pass from junior forward Jaxson Ezman was his first of the season and officially put the game away for the Orange and Black.
“It was really good to finally get it in the net, and now I can start building from that,” Karnish told the ‘Prince.’ “Usually your first goal of the season takes a weight off of your shoulders, and it’s always great to be able to help the team win.”
From there, despite a late goal from Yale, all Princeton needed was Pearson to close out the Bulldogs. Pearson finished the night with 21 saves on 22 shots, including several crucial saves on Yale’s five power play opportunities of the night.
“Pearson was absolutely essential, he played absolutely unbelievable,” Karnish said about Pearson. “Without his stellar performance in net, I don’t know how the games would have went, but he kept us in it pretty much the entire weekend. He was always locked down, and that instilled confidence in us players that our goalie is doing such a good job.”
Tigers lose in shootout to Bears
Despite it being custom to switch goaltenders in back-to-back games, head coach Ben Syer chose Pearson for game two of the weekend, over rested sophomore goaltender Arthur Smith. Pearson ultimately rewarded Syer for that decision, stopping 29 of 30 en route to a shootout loss in Providence.
On the offensive side, there was little help to backup Pearson and the defensive effort Saturday night. The lone goal for the Tigers? Unsurprisingly, a power play goal in the first period, this time from junior defenseman David Ma. Ma wristed a puck from the point that eluded the Brown goaltender, marking Ma’s first of the season and first in nearly three years.
Ma, The Goal!
— Princeton Men's Ice Hockey (@princetonhockey) November 17, 2024
After a long road back from injury, David Ma scores his first goal since Nov. 13, 2021 — a span of 1,099 days!
You deserve it, D-Ma!@ecachockey | @NCAAIceHockey | @TeamECH | @Buccigross | @MikeMcMahonCHN pic.twitter.com/AKJjtDFHvu
If the Yale game was an offensive explosion, the story of the Brown game was an inconsistent offensive letdown. Even with the lack of offense against the Bears, it’s a good sign that the Tigers limited high-danger chances for the Bears and posted back-to-back performances with only one goal allowed, a welcomed change from last season’s dreadful average 3.8 goals allowed per game.
Pearson’s armor was infallible until early in the second, when a loose puck found its way to Brown forward Max Scott, who slapped a one-timer past Pearson short-side. It was the only shot that would elude Pearson until the shootout, when Scott, again, solved the netminder.
This time, in the skills competition, Scott skated in slowly and waited out the patient Pearson, slipping the puck through the five-hole of Princeton for the win. With the goal and saves made on Princeton’s Gorman and sophomore forward Ian Devlin, Princeton was forced to settle for only a point in Providence.
Princeton will hit the road again for massive early season tests against Colgate (5–5–2, 2–1–1) and No. 6 Cornell (3–1–2, 1–1–2), on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23.
Karnish noted the team’s philosophy heading into next weekend.
“Our strength as a team is to do the best we can to play our best in the defensive zone, so limiting odd man rushes as much as possible and really just taking care of the puck every time one of us gets it so puck position will be key.”
Cole Keller is a head Sports editor at the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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