Men's Hockey Opens 2025-26 With Alaska-Fairbanks At Baker Rink

Princeton vs. Alaska-Fairbanks | October 31 | 7 p.m. -- Halloween Spoktacular (Costume Contest & Candy Giveaway)
Hobey Baker Rink
Tickets | Live Stats | ESPN+ | International Stream | Game Notes

Princeton vs. Alaska-Fairbanks | November 1 | 7 p.m. -- Cancer Awareness Game
Hobey Baker Rink
Tickets | Live Stats | ESPN+ | International Stream

LOOSE ENDS
The 2025-26 season opens with an unfamiliar foe in Alaska-Fairbanks. The Tigers and Nanooks have met just twice before and have not shared the same ice since the 1985-86 season. Those previous two meetings came in Alaska, with the Tigers coming out on the short end of 3-2 and 2-1 games on December 13-14, 1985.

The Tigers are 1-3-1 in their last five season openers and have not won the first game of a season since a 5-3 win at St. Cloud State on 11/1/19.

Princeton's last game on Halloween came during the 2015-16 season, a 3-1 win over Maine at the Capital City Classic in Trenton. The Tigers are 3-2-1 all-time on Halloween.

ONE STEP UP
Ben Syer put together one of the best debut seasons behind the bench in Princeton program history during the 2024-25 season, recording 12 wins which is tied for 2nd-most by a coach in his first season among Princeton's 18 all-time head coaches.
13: Richard Vaughan (1935-36); Bill Quackenbush (1967-68)
12: Ben Syer (2024-25); Don "Toot" Cahoon (1991-92); R. Norman Wood (1959-60); G.J. Gaw (1922-23)
10: Len Quesnelle (2000-01); Frank Frederickson (1933-34)
9: Jack Semler (1973-74); Jim Higgins (1977-78); Bob Prier (2011-12)
8: Guy Gadowsky (2004-05)
7: John Wilson (1965-66); W. Beattie Ramsey (1924-25)
5: Lloyd Neidlinger (1927-28)
4: Ron Fogarty (2014-15); Russell Ellis (1920-21)
3: M.J. MacDonald (1921-22)

PRINCETON VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Princeton played 16 games in 2024-25 against a team ranked or receiving votes in the current USCHO Poll. The Tigers were 5-11 against teams ranked or receiving votes, including a pair of wins over No. 12 Ohio State. Based off the preseason USCHO Poll, the Tigers will again have many cracks at knocking off ranked opponents with 21 of their 30 games set to come against teams ranked or receiving votes at the start of the season.

All-time, the Tigers have 60 wins over ranked opponents all-time dating back to its first – a 3-2 win over No. 1 Boston University on December 30, 1997. Princeton had three wins over ranked opponents last season -- each a 3-1 victory. The first two were part of a sweep of No. 12 Ohio State at Baker Rink over Thanksgiving Weekend, the most recent was a win at No. 19 Dartmouth on February 1.

TIGERS RETURN CORE FROM 24-25
Last year, Princeton's senior class included just four players which was the second-smallest group of seniors in all of Division I men's hockey. The Tigers return 23 players from last year's team, including a group of nine seniors which comprises the third-largest senior class in all of Division I men's hockey behind only Ferris State (12) and Canisius (11).

Consistency is key for the Tigers as they return 163 of 184 points from last year to lead the country with 89% of their total points from last year returning. Princeton also brings back 64 of its 71 goals from last year, which accounts for 90% of goals scored during 2024-25 to rank No. 2 in the nation behind only Harvard (93%).

GO-GO GORMAN
Brendan Gorman had 13 total points (6g, 7a) over his last 13 games of the 2024-25 season and posted eight total multi-point games last year. He led Princeton in goals (12), assists (14), points (26), and faceoff wins (285). His 0.4 goals-per-game was No. 11 among all ECAC players and his two short-handed goals last year were No. 2 in the ECAC and No. 8 in the country.

Growth has been consistent for Gorman over his three previous seasons his point totals have increased from 19 as a freshmen to 24 as a sophomore before reaching the 26-point mark last year as a junior.

All-time, Gorman now ranks No. 45 in scoring by a Princeton men's hockey player with 69 points (24g, 45a) in 90 games. He is one point away from tying for the No. 44 spot and five away from moving inside the Top-40.

Last season, Gorman was named third-team All-ECAC and he was a first-team All-Ivy selection.

MAN AT THE TOP
Jake Manfre was the man at the top of the Princeton rookie scoring race in 2024-25 with 8-9-17 totals through 30 games. A four-point weekend against Ohio State last November earned him ECAC Rookie of the Week honors and ECAC Rookie of the Month honors for November. Manfre's three PPGs last season led the Tigers and were No. 16 overall in the ECAC and No. 5 among ECAC rookies. His two game-winning goals last campaign were No. 4 among ECAC rookies, and No. 11 by a freshman in all of Division I hockey.

JACOB'S LADDER
David Jacobs was limited to 24 games last season, his lowest total over his first three seasons with the Tigers. That resulted in his lowest point total in his three seasons (3g, 11a) for 14 points after posting 24 points (7g, 17a) in 30 games the year before. Now in his second year as a captain, Jacobs enters the season tied for No. 82 in Princeton's all-time scoring list with 53 points on 15 goals and 38 assists.

E-Z MONEY
Jaxson Ezman set a new career high in points last year with 15 -- including 10 points (5g, 5a) in his last 14 games to close the season. Fully healthy for the first time as a Tiger, he set career highs in games played (30), goals (7), assists (8) and points (15) while netting the game-winning goals against Bentley (1/25) and Dartmouth (2/1).

THE ARTY PARTY
Arthur Smith was named honorable mention All-Ivy as a freshman in 2023-24 bolstered by a 5-1-0 record against Ivy opponents with a 2.26 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Over his career, Smith has earned two ECAC Goaltender of the Month awards, doing so in December of both 2023 and 2024. He is Princeton's most experienced netminder entering the season, with 33 career games played with a 12-14-3 record, two shutouts, a 2.99 GAA and a .896 save percentage.

GLORY DAYS
The Tigers have won the ECAC Championship three times, doing so in 1998, 2008 and 2018. Princeton's four Ivy League championships came in 1941, 1953, 1999 and 2008. The Tigers have played in four NCAA Tournaments, reaching the national tournament in 1998, 2008, 2009, 2018.

CAREER YEARS
Last season, Nick Marciano (+12), Jaxson Ezman (+8), Alex Konovalov (+7), David Ma (+6), Kevin Anderson (+6), Ian Devlin (+3), Brendan Gorman (+2), Carson Buydens (+1) and Brendan Wang (+1) all set a new career high in points. Eight of those nine players return this season for the Tigers.

GONE CAMPIN'
Two Tigers have experience attending NHL Development Camps over previous summers.
Brendan Gorman – Vegas (2023), San Jose (2024), Florida (2025)
Arthur Smith - Tampa Bay (2022, 2025), Philadelphia (2024)

A total of 24 Tigers have been drafted in the NHL since the draft began in 1963.

MY FATHER'S HOUSE
Junior Brendan Gorman has taken to Baker Rink and had more success on-ice in the former home of his father (Sean, Class of 1991) as well as older brother Liam (Class of 2023). Here's the family scoring race entering the season.
1. Brendan Gorman --
69 pts. (24g, 45a) in 90 games
2. Liam Gorman -- 36 pts. (16g, 20a) in 91 games
3. Sean Gorman -- 23 pts (5g, 18a) in 99 games

MA MAN
David Ma was fully healthy for the first time last season, playing in all 30 games and tallying 13 points (6g, 7a) with a pair of power-play goals to earn honorable mention All-Ivy honors. This came after missing all of 2023-24 with injury and parts of the previous two seasons as well. His 13 points in 30 games last year surpassed the 11 points he had in 35 games over parts of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. A puck-moving defenseman, Ma won a Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel in 2021 and played for Team USA at the 2019 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.

MARCIANO MAGIC
After tallying four total points (3g, 1a) in 48 games over his first two seasons, Nick Marciano set a career high in points last year with 14 (4g, 10a) in 30 games.

SMILES FOR MILES
Miles Gunty played three seasons with the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL, winning a championship in 2023 and serving as alternate captain during the 2023-24 season. He reached double digits in points as a rookie last season, registering 10 points (3g, 7a) in 29 games. Three of those points were assists in wins over Union and RPI in December earn ECAC Rookie of the Week honors. He closed his rookie season with three points (2g, 1a) in his final four games.

GET TO KNOW GREAVO
Sophomore Kai Greaves is the younger brother of Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves who has played in 25 career games in goal with the Blue Jackets and another 158 with Cleveland of the AHL. Greaves played in all but one game last year, and had two goals and an assist.

NORWAY'S FINEST
Freshman Hans Martin Ulvbene is one of six players in Division I men's college hockey who hail from Norway. He spent time on the U16 and U18 Norwegian national teams before skating with Cedar Rapids in the USHL the last two seasons. Ulvbene is likely looking forward to Princeton's two games at Bentley in January as the Falcons have two of the other five Norwegians in college hockey in Oskar Bakkevig and Tobias Larsen.

FROM GRIZZLIES TO TIGERS
Newcomers Malcolm Green and Seamus Latta were teammates last year with the Victoria Grizzlies in the BCHL, where they reached the conference finals. Two years ago, Green was a member of the Grizzlies alongside sophomore Luc Pelletier.

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