# 2023–24 Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Princeton Tigers Men's ice hockey season was the 121st season of play for the program and the 62nd in ECAC Hockey. The Tigers represented Princeton University, played their home games at the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink and were coached by Ron Fogarty in his 9th season.

## Season

Princeton had a decent start to its season, seeing consistent scoring in the first three weeks. With a winning record as they approached Thanksgiving, which included a win over a ranked Cornell squad, the Tigers looked better than they had in years. The only apparent issue at this time was in goal as the team had already started three separate netminders with none of them playing particularly well. By December, Arthur Smith assumed the lead role but that was as much a function of how poorly Ethan Pearson had played as anything else.
When the Tigers began the second half of their season, they had a winning record but had played mostly subpar teams. Their record was set to be tested as they would play five consecutive games against ranked opponents. Unfortunately for Princeton, they did not fare well. The offense struggled to score, averaging less than two goals per in that stretch, while the defense collapsed. The Tigers' goal crease came under siege, seeing at least 35 shots in four of those matches and the inadequate goaltending was fully exposed. Even after the team passed through the gauntlet, the goals against continued to mount; Princeton allowed at least 3 goals in every game for a month and a half. Though the offense recovered slightly once they started playing weaker opponents once more, the Tigers still went 2–9 in that stretch and tumbled down the conference standings. By the end of February the team had not only abandoned any hope of earning a bye into the quarterfinal round but they were barely clinging onto a home game in the first round. Ending the year with two losses knocked them down to 9th and forced them to travel to Boston for their playoff opener.
Princeton largely outplayed Harvard in the match, outshooting the Crimson by 21 while taking only a single penalty. Unfortunately, the Tigers picked the worst time to stop scoring and the single goal allowed by Smith was all that Harvard needed to end the Tigers' season.
After getting knocked out of the postseason, Princeton's athletic director, John Mack, announced that Ron Fogarty would not be returning as head coach.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Benjamin Crewe | Goaltender | United States | Returned to club team |
| Liam Gorman | Forward | United States | Graduate transfer to Massachusetts |
| Matthew Hayami | Forward | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| Spencer Kersten | Forward | Canada | Graduate transfer to Bowling Green |
| Aidan Porter | Goaltender | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Pito Walton | Defenseman | United States | Graduation (retired) |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Carson Buydens | Forward | Canada | 19 | Gladstone, MB |
| Conor Callaghan | Goaltender | United States | 20 | Upper Saddle River, NJ |
| Kai Daniells | Forward | Canada | 20 | Whistler, BC |
| Ian Devlin | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Memphis, TN |
| Josh Karnish | Forward | United States | 20 | Marlton, NJ |
| Arthur Smith | Goaltender | United States | 19 | Farmington, CT |
| Michael Young | Forward | United States | 21 | Kings Park, NY |

## Roster

As of August 2, 2023.

### Team photo
## Standings

2023–24 ECAC Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #6 Quinnipiac † | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 99 | 39 | 39 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 160 | 79 |
| #9 Cornell * | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 44 | 74 | 45 | 35 | 22 | 7 | 6 | 115 | 65 |
| Colgate | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 85 | 68 | 36 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 120 | 112 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 66 | 60 | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 92 | 91 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 62 | 58 | 35 | 18 | 16 | 1 | 95 | 97 |
| Union | 22 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 75 | 75 | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 123 | 121 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 49 | 64 | 39 | 14 | 19 | 6 | 90 | 118 |
| Harvard | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 49 | 64 | 32 | 7 | 19 | 6 | 70 | 106 |
| Princeton | 22 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 70 | 90 | 30 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 89 | 114 |
| Yale | 22 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 46 | 57 | 30 | 10 | 18 | 2 | 63 | 91 |
| Brown | 22 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 43 | 69 | 30 | 8 | 19 | 3 | 61 | 98 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 58 | 89 | 37 | 10 | 23 | 4 | 93 | 150 |
| Championship: March 23, 2024 † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | TV | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Exhibition ||||||||||
| October 24 | 5:00 pm | at Toronto* | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | W 4–2 | 468 | |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| November 3 | 7:00 pm | at #19 Harvard | Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts | ESPN+ | Pearson | T 4–4 $^{SOW}$ | 150 | 0–0–1 (0–0–1) |
| November 4 | 7:00 pm | at Dartmouth | Thompson Arena • Hanover, New Hampshire | ESPN+ | Smith | L 4–5 | 2,839 | 0–1–1 (0–1–1) |
| November 10 | 7:00 pm | Yale | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | W 5–4 $^{OT}$ | 1,802 | 1–1–1 (1–1–1) |
| November 11 | 7:00 pm | Brown | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Callaghan | W 3–2 $^{OT}$ | 1,553 | 2–1–1 (2–1–1) |
| November 17 | 7:00 pm | Colgate | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Callaghan | L 3–6 | 2,040 | 2–2–1 (2–2–1) |
| November 18 | 7:00 pm | #10 Cornell | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | W 2–1 $^{OT}$ | 2,500 | 3–2–1 (3–2–1) |
| November 24 | 7:00 pm | at Ohio State* | Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio | | Smith | L 3–6 | 4,355 | 3–3–1 |
| November 25 | 7:00 pm | at Ohio State* | Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio | | Pearson | L 3–4 | 3,010 | 3–4–1 |
| December 1 | 7:00 pm | at Union | Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 2–7 | 1,338 | 3–5–1 (3–3–1) |
| December 2 | 7:00 pm | at Rensselaer | Houston Field House • Troy, New York | ESPN+ | Smith | W 6–4 | 2,241 | 4–5–1 (4–3–1) |
| December 8 | 7:00 pm | at Sacred Heart* | Martire Family Arena • Fairfield, Connecticut | FloHockey | Smith | W 4–0 | 3,671 | 5–5–1 |
| December 9 | 7:00 pm | Sacred Heart* | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | T 2–2 $^{OT}$ | 2,153 | 5–5–2 |
| December 30 | 7:00 pm | Harvard | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | W 5–2 | 2,453 | 6–5–2 (5–3–1) |
| January 5 | 7:00 pm | at #17 New Hampshire* | Whittemore Center • Durham, New Hampshire | ESPN+ | Smith | L 2–5 | 4,190 | 6–6–2 |
| January 6 | 4:00 pm | at #17 New Hampshire* | Whittemore Center • Durham, New Hampshire | ESPN+ | Smith | L 1–3 | 4,449 | 6–7–2 |
| January 12 | 7:00 pm | at #5 Quinnipiac | M&T Bank Arena • Hamden, Connecticut | ESPN+ | Smith | L 2–9 | 3,203 | 6–8–2 (5–4–1) |
| January 13 | 7:00 pm | #5 Quinnipiac | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 1–3 | 2,453 | 6–9–2 (5–5–1) |
| January 19 | 7:00 pm | at #14 Cornell | Lynah Rink • Ithaca, New York | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 2–6 | 4,181 | 6–10–2 (5–6–1) |
| January 20 | 7:00 pm | at Colgate | Class of 1965 Arena • Hamilton, New York | ESPN+ | Smith | L 3–6 | 908 | 6–11–2 (5–7–1) |
| January 30 | 7:00 pm | Army* | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | W 4–3 $^{OT}$ | 1,281 | 7–11–2 |
| February 2 | 7:00 pm | Dartmouth | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 1–5 | 1,593 | 7–12–2 (5–8–1) |
| February 9 | 7:00 pm | at Clarkson | Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 2–4 | 2,477 | 7–13–2 (5–9–1) |
| February 10 | 7:00 pm | at St. Lawrence | Appleton Arena • Canton, New York | ESPN+ | Pearson | W 5–4 $^{OT}$ | 1,168 | 8–13–2 (6–9–1) |
| February 16 | 7:00 pm | Rensselaer | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 3–4 | 1,098 | 8–14–2 (6–10–1) |
| February 17 | 7:00 pm | Union | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Smith | T 2–2 $^{SOW}$ | 1,196 | 8–14–3 (6–10–2) |
| February 23 | 7:00 pm | at Yale | Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Connecticut | ESPN+ | Smith | W 4–1 | 2,774 | 9–14–3 (7–10–2) |
| February 24 | 7:00 pm | at Brown | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Smith | W 5–1 | 895 | 10–14–3 (8–10–2) |
| March 1 | 7:00 pm | St. Lawrence | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | T 4–4 $^{SOL}$ | 1,258 | 10–14–4 (8–10–3) |
| March 2 | 7:00 pm | Clarkson | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Pearson | L 2–6 | 1,059 | 10–15–4 (8–11–3) |
| ECAC Hockey Tournament ||||||||||
| March 8 | 7:00 pm | at Harvard* | Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts (First Round) | ESPN+ | Smith | L 0–1 | 1,482 | 10–16–4 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. Source: ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Adam Robbins | F | 30 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 8 |
| Brendan Gorman | C | 29 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 19 |
| David Jacobs | RW | 30 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 18 |
| Ian Murphy | C/RW | 25 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 10 |
| Nick Seitz | F | 30 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 14 |
| Jack Cronin | RW | 26 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 8 |
| Kai Daniells | F | 30 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 14 |
| Noah de la Durantaye | D | 29 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 6 |
| Nicholas Carabin | D | 27 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 26 |
| Tyler Rubin | D | 30 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 22 |
| Jaxson Ezman | F | 15 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| Mike Kennedy | D | 30 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 47 |
| Joshua Karnish | C/LW | 27 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 28 |
| Joe Berg | F | 30 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Jayden Sison | RW | 30 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 19 |
| Carson Buydens | C | 22 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Nick Marciano | D | 22 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Michael Young | F | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Kevin Anderson | F | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Ian Devlin | D | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Alex Konovalov | F | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ethan Pearson | G | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brendan Wang | D | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Mackenzie Merriman | F | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Arthur Smith | G | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connor Callaghan | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | | | 89 | 156 | 245 | 293 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Arthur Smith | 21 | 971:21 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 48 | 426 | 1 | .899 | 2.96 |
| Ethan Pearson | 15 | 726:35 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 49 | 288 | 0 | .855 | 4.05 |
| Connor Callaghan | 7 | 119:37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 58 | 0 | .853 | 5.02 |
| Empty Net | - | 23:07 | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 30 | 1840:40 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 114 | 772 | 1 | .870 | 3.72 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR |
| USA Hockey | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25. Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.