The 2024–25 Princeton Tigers Men's ice hockey season was the 122nd season of play for the program and the 63rd in ECAC Hockey. The Tigers represented Princeton University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink and were coached by Ben Syer in his 1st season.

Season After compiling just one winning campaign in nine seasons, Princeton elected to made a head coaching change and brought in Ben Syer, who had spent the previous thirteen years as an assistant with Cornell. With relatively few changes to the roster, Syer's chief issue was installing his playing system with the new club. There was a predictable learning curve early in the year with the Tigers winning just once in their first six games. A lack of scoring and inconsistent play in goal were the primary causes but the defense was able to limit the opposition to a relatively small number of shots.

With the season shaping up to be a rebuilding year, the Tigers met tournament-hopeful Ohio State at the end of February and pulled off two improbably victories. Arthur Smith had not done well in his first start of the season but whatever issues he had appeared to have been resolved when he got his second go around. The sophomore netminder stopped 66 of 68 shots that weekend while Jake Manfre recorded 4 points to change the course of Princeton's season. The stellar netminding continued for the next month, though due the winter break only three games were played in December. The offense was also able to score at a consistent, if modest, basis during the Tiger's run. By the beginning of January Princeton was not only above .500 but they had even climbed up to #20 in the PairWise rankings, giving them a good opportunity to earn an at-large bid.

Unfortunately, once January rolled around, Smith's play came back down to earth. That, coupled with the offense drying up, caused the team to follow their 5-game winning streak with six consecutive losses. In desperation, the team turned to Ethan Pearson, who was able to right the ship for a short time and lead the team to another small streak of four victories. However, that short burst was immediately followed by another drought that sent the roller-coaster of a season careening downwards as the postseason was approaching. Princeton was able to win its final two games on their schedule but their Jekyll and Hyde performance throughout the season, there was no telling which Tiger team would show up in the playoffs.

As it turned out, the Tiger's weak second half caused them to drop to 9th in the standings and forced the team on the road for the First Round of the ECAC tournament. They were set against Brown, who had a fairly similar season to the Tigers, and those commonalities showed in their match. Both teams had low-scoring offenses that resulted in each side failing to convert on three power play opportunities in the game. Either side could only muster a single goal heading into the third period with both squads well aware that the next goal could decide the match. Brown was able to pull ahead in the first half of the third and then hold Princeton off for much of the next 10 minutes. With time winding down, Pearson was pulled for an extra attacker but all that served to do was allow the Bears to collect an empty-net goal and effectively seal the match. Princeton was able to score afterwards, but with only 4 seconds remaining on the clock it was too little too late and the Tigers' season was over.

Departures Joe Berg Forward Graduation (retired) Nick Carabin Defenseman Graduate transfer to Connecticut Mike Kennedy Defenseman Graduation (signed with Coventry Blaze) Mackenzie Merriman Forward Graduation (retired) Ian Murphy Forward Graduate transfer to Notre Dame Adam Robbins Forward Graduation (signed with Tahoe Knight Monsters) Nick Seitz Forward Graduation (signed with Coventry Blaze)

Recruiting Julian Facchinelli Forward 20 Woodbridge, ON Drew Garzone Forward 20 Dover, MA Kai Greaves Defenseman 21 Cambridge, ON Miles Gunty Forward 20 Bethesda, MD Jake Manfre Forward 20 Smithtown, NY Luc Pelletier Forward 21 Courtenay, BC Patrick Reilly Defenseman 20 Avon, NJ

Roster As of September 6, 2024.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics C 30 12 14 26 12 F 30 8 9 17 12 F 30 7 8 15 28 D 30 4 10 14 4 RW 26 3 11 14 0 D 30 6 7 13 33 F 27 3 8 11 6 D 29 4 6 10 8 F 29 3 7 10 4 F 28 5 4 9 27 LW 29 3 5 8 35 RW 24 2 4 6 10 D 17 2 3 5 12 F 18 2 2 4 2 C 25 1 3 4 6 C 29 1 3 4 24 D 30 1 3 4 12 D 29 2 1 3 2 C/LW 29 1 2 3 19 D 25 1 1 2 2 F 11 0 2 2 0 RW 2 0 0 0 0 D 9 0 0 0 2 G 13 0 0 0 0 G 17 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 12 Total 71 113 184 272

Goaltending statistics 17 1031:37 7 8 2 40 418 1 .913 2.33 14 779:07 5 7 1 39 323 1 .892 3.00 Empty Net - 14:26 - - - 7 - - - - Total 30 1825:10 12 15 3 86 741 2 .896 2.83

Rankings

PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.

Awards and honors Brendan Gorman All-ECAC Hockey Third Team

References