Men's Ice Hockey Opens 2023-24 At #19 Harvard & Dartmouth

Friday, November 3

Cambridge, Mass.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

#15/19 Harvard

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Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

Men's Ice Hockey Opens 2023-24 At #19 Harvard & Dartmouth

October 31, 2023 | Men's Ice Hockey

Princeton at #15/19 Harvard
November 3 | 7 p.m. | Bright-Landry Center
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats | Game Notes

Princeton at Dartmouth
November 4 | 7 p.m. | Thompson Arena
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats

SO WE MEET AGAIN
For the second season in a row, Princeton heads to Cambridge to open a season against Harvard. Last season, the Tigers built a 2-1 lead early in the third period on goals from Boston natives Liam Gorman and Jack Cronin before the Crimson rallied with three goals and a 4-2 win. The Tigers and Crimson would play four times last year, including a 4-3 overtime win for the Crimson at Hobey Baker Rink in January and an ECAC Quarterfinal Series in Cambridge which resulted a 2-0 sweep for Harvard.

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART
For the second year in a row, Princeton is the final NCAA Division I team to start its season. So, while we are still looking for that elusive first win of the season, on the positive side the Orange and Black is the only team in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey to enter this weekend both undefeated and unscored on.

BUILDING OFF 2022-23
Picked to finish 12th in the ECAC Preseason Poll last year, Princeton entered its game at St. Lawrence last season in 6th place with an 11-12-0 record overall and a 7-9-0 record inside the ECAC. Right in the middle of a race towards a home playoff game, a season-ending injury to starting netminder Ethan Pearson 5:00 into the SLU game knocked the season off course. The Tigers went 1-5-0 down the stretch before rallying for a 6-4 win at Union in the ECAC First Round.

The 13 wins overall and 8 inside ECAC play were the most by a Princeton team since the 2017-18 ECAC championship team won 19 and 10, respectively. Against Ivy opponents, Princeton went 5-5-0 for the second season in a row – tied for the most Ivy wins by a Ron Fogarty coached team (2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23).

REELING IN RANKED TEAMS
The Tigers have 19 wins over ranked opponents during Ron Fogarty's tenure, including a 5-0 win at No. 20 RIT and a 3-2 (OT) win over No. 12 Providence this year and a 5-4 win at No. 8 Cornell last season. Princeton has at least one win over a ranked team in each of its last seven seasons.

YOUNG GUNS READY TO ROLL
Princeton may line up the youngest team in the nation in terms of games played this season. Only 19 of the 26 skaters on the roster have skated in a college hockey game with seven freshmen joining the team for 2023-24. Those 19 returning players have played in a total of 785 college hockey games – an average of 41.3 games-per-player. Only Nick Seitz (84 games) and Adam Robbins (81 games) have played three full seasons entering 2023-24. The other five members of the Class of 2024 did not play during 2020-21 as the Ivy League did not compete due to COVID-19.

CAREER YEARS
Eight of Princeton's returning skaters had career years during the 2022-23 season. Joe Berg (+2 points), Nick Carabin (+10 points), Jack Cronin (+12 points), Noah de la Durantaye (+7 points), Mike Kennedy (+2 points), Ian Murphy (+10 points), Adam Robbins (+1 point) and Nick Seitz (+6 points) all increased their scoring output from 2021-22 to 2022-23. In goal, Ethan Pearson turned his freshman season (0-2-0; 7.16 GAA, .826 sv%, 100:16 of play) into a sophomore season where he was among the ECAC's top goalies (11-9-0, 4 shutouts, 2.71 GAA, .903 sv% 1174:14 of play) before his season-ending injury.

BRINGING BACK THE POINTS
Princeton returns 173 of its 230 points from last season, accounting for 75% of points tallied during the 2022-23 season – a percentage which ranks No. 10 among all Division I teams entering the season.

HUNTING A WIN IN CAMBRIDGE
The Tigers are in search of their first win at Bright-Landry since a 2-1 (OT) win on 3/2/13, entering on a streak of 11 trips to Harvard without a win (0-10-1). Princeton's last win overall against the Crimson was a 4-2 win at Baker Rink on 1/11/19, eight games ago (0-7-1).

IN SEARCH OF SEASON OPENING SUCCESS
Princeton is looking for its first win in a season opener since a 5-3 win at St. Cloud State on 11/1/19. The last two season openers have been losses at Army (4-1) and Harvard (4-3).

SHORT-HANDED SPECIALISTS
The Tigers ranked No 2 in the ECAC and No. 8 in the nation last year with six total SHGs. Liam Gorman and Spencer Kersten each had two of the shorties, leading the ECAC and sitting No. 6 in the country but have been lost to graduation. Princeton's six team short-handed goals last year were the fourth-most in a season since 2002-03, and only Andrew Calof (3; 2010-11) had more SHGs in a season than Gorman and Kersten since that 02-03 season.

TIGERS RETURN TWO ALL-IVY SELECTIONS
Ian Murphy (second-team All-Ivy) and Ethan Pearson (honorable mention All-Ivy) are the two of Princeton's four All-Ivy selections from last season returning this campaign. For Murphy, this was the second All-Ivy honor of his career after being named first-team All-Ivy in 2022.

THE MURPH
For the second year in a row, Ian Murphy is the top returning scorer on the team. After posting 9-10-19 numbers in 2021-22, he popped off for 15-14-29 last season to lead Princeton in goals, assists, and points. He had two hat tricks last season, tying for most by an ECAC player and second-most by any player in the NCAA. After spending the summer of 2022 at NHL Development Camp with the Vancouver Canucks, he spent this past summer at NHL Development Camp with the St. Louis Blues.

PEARSON PROTECTS THE NET
Junior Ethan Pearson had taken over the starting goalie role before a season-ending injury at St. Lawrence last season, posting an 11-9-0 record with a 2.71 GAA. He had four shutouts last season, which tied for No. 2 all-time in a season by a Princeton netminder. His 2.71 GAA in 21 games played ranks No. 7 in a season all-time by a goalie to play in at least a third of Princeton's games.

JACK ATTACK
Jack Cronin struck for five PPGs and was second on the team with 12 goals overall last year. He scored 10 more goals last year than he did in his freshman season, and his 12-point growth from 2021-22 to 2022-23 was the most of any player on the team.

GORMAN FAMILY SCORING RACE
Sophomore Brendan Gorman is chasing down his older brother, Liam (Class of 2023), and father, Sean (Class of 1991) on his family's all-time scoring leader list. Brendan averaged 0.6 points-per-game last season as a true freshman.
1. Liam Gorman -- 36 pts. (16g, 20a) in 91 games
2. Sean Gorman -- 23 pts (5g, 18a) in 99 games
3. Brendan Gorman -- 19 pts. (5g, 14a) in 31 games

DE LA SOUL
Junior defenseman Noah de la Durantaye tallied a career-high 17 points last season, up from 10 as a rookie in 2021-22. He leads all returning defensemen in goals (4), assists (13) and points (17).

ABOUT ADAM
Adam Robbins tallied 14 points (5g, 9a) in 32 games last season after registering 15 points (5g, 10a) over his first 49 combined games. Of his nine assists last season, seven came on the power play. During the 2020-21 year, Robbins won a Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel.

SETTING SEITZ
Another NYC product had a standout 2022-23 in Nick Seitz. Last year, he connected for a career-high 15 points (9g, 6a) in 28 games after tallying 11 points (3g, 8a) over his first 56 games.

CARABIN CARRIES HIS WEIGHT
Assistant captain Nick Carabin stepped in a larger role last season as a junior and delivered with a career-high 11 points (1g, 10a) in 32 games after registering just one assist in 21 games during the 2021-22 season.

DJ SPINS GOLD
David Jacobs had 15 points (5g, 10a) as a freshman last year over 32 games. He had five different one-goal games, and is looking for his first career multi-goal game. He did have three multi-point (1g, 1a) games.

LET'S GO CAMPING
Three players on this year's team have attended NHL Development Camps:
Noah de la Durantaye - Vegas (2022)
Brendan Gorman – Vegas (2023)
Ian Murphy - Vancouver (2022), St. Louis (2023)

A total of 24 Tigers have been drafted in the NHL since the draft began in 1963. On the current roster, senior Liam Gorman was a sixth-round pick, 177th overall, by Pittsburgh in 2018. His rights were traded to Chicago this past June.