Princeton Falls to Brown in ECAC First Round

Princeton University's 2024-25 men's hockey season has come to a close. The Tigers fell, 3-2, at Ivy League rival Brown University tonight in the first round of the 2025 ECAC Hockey championship to finish their first campaign under new head coach Ben Syer.

Princeton took a 1-0 lead in the first period at Meehan Auditorium on a goal by Jayden Sisson, before Ryan St. Louis tied it in the second stanza for the Bears. Two goals by Brown's Tyler Kopff in the third period, the second one an empty-netter, spelled the difference, while Princeton's Kevin Anderson closed out the scoring in the final seconds of regulation with an extra-attacker tally. 

Ethan Pearson made 22 saves in his final appearance for the Tigers, while Lawton Zachler finished with 20 stops for the Bears. Brown outshot Princeton, 25-22, and also won 28 of 54 total faceoffs on the night. Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play. 

Brown (14-13-3 overall, 9-11-2 ECACH) moves on to face third-seeded Colgate in the best-of-three second round of the ECACs next weekend, while Princeton (12-15-3, 7-12-3) will return to NCAA action at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink in the fall for the 2025-26 season.

Princeton Knots Yale in Home Finale

Princeton closed out its 2024-25 regular-season home slate with a 2-2 tie against ECAC Hockey/Ivy League rival Yale last night. The Tigers claimed the ensuing shootout, 3-2, to earn an extra point in the conference standings, although it is officially a tie game according to the NCAA.

Nick Marciano and Miles Gunty staked the Tigers to a 2-0 lead just past the midway point of regulation, but Micah Berger and Kalen Szeto scored under five minutes apart for the Bulldogs to tie the game by the end of the second period. After a scoreless third frame and five-minute overtime, Princeton won the shootout as Alex Konavalov, Noah de la Durantaye and David Jacobs tallied in the extra session, while Berger and Zach Wagnon connected for Yale. Ethan Pearson finished with 17 saves in net for Princeton, and stopped 3-of-5 attempts in the shootout, while Luke Pearson made 33 stops for Yale. Both teams combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play.

Konavalov, de la Durantaye, Pearson and Jack Cronin were honored pre-game on Senior Night at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. The Tigers (10-14-3 overall, 5-12-3 ECACH) remain two points ahead of last-place Yale (6-18-3, 5-12-3) in the ECAC Hockey standings, with both schools to wrap up their respective regular seasons next weekend.

Princeton Wins Fourth Straight

After six straight losses, Princeton University men's hockey has now won four straight NCAA contests. 

Following a home sweep of Bentley in non-conference action on Jan. 25-26, the Tigers closed out the first month of the new calendar year with a 4-3 overtime victory at ECAC Hockey/Ivy League rival Harvard on Jan. 31. Kai Daniells notched the game-winner in the extra session, while David Ma recorded a goal and two assists in regulation. Princeton then opened February with a 3-1 win at Dartmouth the next night, also in ECAC Hockey/Ivy League play. Brendan Gorman led the Tigers with a goal and an assist, while Ethan Pearson stopped 19 shots following a 32-save effort at Harvard.

Princeton (10-10-1 overall, 5-8-1 ECAC Hockey) returns to ECAC Hockey action this weekend at home at Hobey Baker Rink, when it faces Clarkson on Friday and St. Lawrence on Saturday.

SLU Claims Last Home ECAC Playoff Spot

The final home playoff spot in this season's ECAC Hockey championship's first round went to St. Lawrence University. 

Despite falling to Quinnipiac in the regular-season finale last Saturday, the Saints locked up eighth place in the league standings with a 4-4 tie at Princeton the night before. The extra point earned from winning the subsequent shootout solidified SLU's place in the conference standings, and also earned it the final home playoff spot in the first round this upcoming weekend. 

Ben Kraws stopped a season-high 46 shots through regulation and overtime at Princeton, then turned aside all five shots he faced in the shootout. Felikss Gavars scored twice for the Saints (10-18-6 overall, 8-10-4 ECAC Hockey), including a second-period penalty shot goal, while Jan Lasak tallied the only goal in the shootout, scoring in the fifth round. 

David Jacobs scored twice for Princeton (10-15-4, 8-11-3), and also set up the game-tying goal late in the third period by Kai Daniels. Ethan Pearson finished with 18 saves for the Tigers in relief of starter Arthur Smith (10 saves). Princeton also outshot SLU, 50-32. 

The Saints will now host Yale in a single-elimination contest on Friday, while the Tigers will visit Harvard that same night. The ultimate winner of the ECAC Hockey championship wins the Whitelaw Cup, and also garners the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

LIU Tops Princeton, 6-4, for First Time Ever

Riley Wallack tipped home the winning goal midway through the third period, and Brandon Perrone made 28 saves as Long Island University recorded its first-ever win against Princeton University, 6-4, before 1,817 on-lookers on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink.

Cade Mason and Patriks Marcinkevics posted three points apiece for the victorious Sharks (9-15-1), who rebounded from a 2-0 deficit after 20 minutes of play by scoring four of the five goals netted in the second stanza to take a one-goal lead. After Wallack's go-ahead marker, Valtteri Piironen notched his first-ever goal in NCAA play by scoring into an empty net with 37 seconds remaining in regulation to ice the win. The LIU power play went 2-for-4 overall, while its penalty kill finished 5-for-6. The Sharks also won 37 of 64 face-offs.

Nick Seitz, Spencer Kersten (shorthanded), Ian Murphy and David Jacobs (power play) scored for the host Tigers (10-12-0), who got 18 stops in all from Ethan Pearson. It was the third defeat in a row for Princeton overall since fashioning a three-game win streak earlier this month, including a 5-2 triumph over visiting LIU on Jan. 13. The Sharks, meanwhile, have now won three consecutive contests, although the Tigers still lead the all-time head-to-head series, 2-1-1, that began last season.

Princeton's Hobey Baker Rink Celebrates 100 Years

Princeton University certainly made famed alumnus Hobey Baker proud⁠—and Patty Kazmaier, also.

On the weekend where Princeton's venerable Hobey Baker Rink was celebrated for the passage of a century since the facility first opened its doors on Jan. 5, 1923, the Tigers men's and women's hockey teams combined for three wins in four games against ECAC Hockey/Ivy League opponents Dartmouth and Harvard. 

On Saturday, the Stanley Cup was on display at a fan fest held outside the arena. Also in attendance were the Hobey Baker Award and the Patty Kazmaier Award, both named for Princeton hockey alumni, and annually awarded to the top NCAA Division I men's and women's player in the nation, respectively. 

The Princeton women blanked Harvard, 3-0, Saturday afternoon behind Taylor Hyland's 32 saves and Issy Wunder's two goals, in front of 1,544 spectators. The men's team topped Dartmouth, 4-2, that night before 2,300 on-lookers as Ian Murphy scored twice, Nick Seitz notched the game-winning goal shorthanded, and Ethan Pearson made 22 stops. The ceremonial opening faceoff for the men's game against Dartmouth was conducted with Princeton athletic director/alumnus John Mack and U.S. Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Princeton hockey alumnus. Fellow Tiger hockey alumni 

George Parros and Kevin Westgarth appeared Saturday night with the Stanley Cup, with Parros having won it in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks and Westgarth in 2012 with the Los Angeles Kings. Many other Princeton hockey men's and women's alumni were in attendance over the weekend, with the men's program dating back to 1900 and the women's program having begun in 1979.

Friday afternoon saw head coach Cara Morey's Tiger women topple Dartmouth, 5-2, as Annie Kuehl tallied two goals and Jennifer Olnowich made 15 saves in net. Ron Fogarty's The Tiger men saw a three-goal lead evaporate later that night in a 4-3 overtime setback to 10th-ranked Harvard, despite 37 saves by Pearson. Princeton's Adam Robbins made ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 highlights list with his penalty-shot goal.

The Princeton women (8-7-1 overall, 5-5-0 ECAC) return to action this weekend at Cornell and Colgate, while the Princeton men (8-9-0, 6-7-0) will host independent LIU on Friday and No. 11 Providence on Jan. 17.

Princeton Outlasts RPI, 6-5

After starting off the 2022-23 campaign with six losses in its first eight outings, Princeton University seems to have righted the ship heading into the holiday break.

The Tigers claimed their fourth victory in their last five games by holding on for a 6-5 win over Rensselaer in an ECAC hockey matchup on Dec. 10 at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers never trailed that night, but saw several multiple-goal leads ultimately evaporate by the final minute of regulation as the Engineers pulled out all the stops to try and force a tie.

Nick Marciano opened the scoring for the home side with his first career collegiate goal early on, followed by a Brendan Gorman goal that made it 2-0 for Princeton before Auston Heidemann got RPI on the board with 0.4 seconds left before intermission. Ryan Mashie then pulled the Engineers within one just 24 seconds into the second period, but Princeton made it 4-2 at the end of 40 minutes on goals by Adam Robbins and Spencer Kersten, the latter a shorthanded marker.

The Tigers made it 5-2 early in the final stanza on David Jacobs' tally, before Mashie got RPI back within two goals just under 10 minutes later. Ian Murphy then scored into an empty-net, shorthanded, with under two minutes remaining, with that goal ultimately standing up as the game-winner after Jake Gagnon notched two extra-attacker goals for the Engineers only 24 seconds apart, the latter with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock. 

Nathan Pearson (30 saves) helped keep Princeton ahead for good with a point-blank glove save on TJ Walsh's one-timer from the right circle in the last minute of regulation. Jack Watson had 29 saves for RPI, which finished 4-for-8 on the power play. Princeton defenseman Pito Walton collected three assists, which helped him earn ECAC Defender of the Week accolades.

Princeton (6-7-0 overall, 5-6-0 ECAC Hockey) is now off until a two-game NCAA non-conference set at Colorado College on Sec. 30-31, while RPI (7-9-1, 2-6-0) returns to action that same weekend at Bowling Green.

Mel Pearson Out as Head Coach at Michigan

The axe has finally fallen in Ann Arbor. Mel Pearson has been relieved of his duties as the head coach of the University of Michigan men's ice hockey program.

Pearson, 63, a former Michigan assistant coach who has helmed the Wolverines since 2017, had been working without a contract since his original five-year deal expired earlier this year. He led Michigan to a 31-10-1 overall record last season, including a Big Ten postseason tournament title, plus a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four in Boston where the Wolverines fell in overtime to eventual national champion Denver in the semifinals. That led to an exodus of underclassmen with NCAA eligibility remaining, led by 2021 first overall NHL draft choice Owen Power.

U-M athletic director Warde Manuel announced Pearson's dismissal on Friday, although he had said prior to the expiration of Pearson's contract in early May that the latter was still the head coach, and according to the Detroit Free Press that, as of June, he expected Pearson to remain in that role. U-M's Board of Regents thought otherwise, though, as it voted 8-0 for Pearson's expulsion as head coach, according to Michigan insider John Bacon. Interim university president Mary Sue Coleman apparently agreed with the board, and perhaps those two entities put Manuel in a situation where he had to show Pearson the proverbial door, or else follow him out it.

Also from Bacon: “The investigators make clear their belief that Pearson lied to them repeatedly on serious issues – in one case denying an important conversation took place, until confronted with the tape recording of that conversation.”

According to a 68-page third-party report conducted by the Washington, D.C. legal firm of WilmerHale that had apparently been completed months ago, but not released until recently following various media leaks, there was toxicity in the culture of the Michigan hockey program.

Former Michigan staffer Rick Bancroft, who suddenly retired in June, had been accused of harassing numerous female employees at Michigan, and Pearson apparently took no action to remedy the situation. Pearson himself was also reported to have verbally berated at least one female member of Michigan's athletic staff during his tenure as head coach.

Pearson was also found to have instructed his players to lie on COVID-19 forms prior to the 2021 NCAA tournament, which Michigan ultimately pulled out of playing in.

Pearson may have also played a role in the ouster of former Michigan goaltender Steve Shields, who had been serving as volunteer goaltending coach/director of player development with the Wolverines, before he was fired last year. It is believed that Shields was the one who originally filed a complaint against Pearson regarding how the hockey program was being conducted.

Starting goaltender/team captain Strauss Mann left Michigan before his senior year in 2021-22 due to friction with Pearson over the team’s culture, coupled with a fear of possible retaliation by Pearson that could have impacted Mann’s professional playing prospects. Mann, who played for the U.S. in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, is now under contract to the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, after playing the majority of last season in Sweden.

Pearson, from Vancouver, B.C., played collegiately at Michigan Tech before becoming an assistant there from 1982 to 1988. He then spent the next 23 years at U-M with the legendary Gordon "Red" Berenson, and helped Michigan to NCAA titles in 1996 and 1998 as an assistant before serving as associate head coach with the Wolverines from 1999 to 2011. He finished 99-65-16 in five years in charge of U-M, following six seasons as the head coach at Michigan Tech. His career record as a college head coach stands at 217-157-45 to date over 11 NCAA campaigns, and includes six NCAA tournament berths.

ADDENDUM: Michigan has named former Wolverines player Brandon Naurato as interim head coach. He rejoined his alma mater last season as an assistant coach, after working for the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.

Pearson Returns to Michigan as Head Coach

Former University of Michigan assistant Mel Pearson is the new bench boss of the Wolverines, as announced Monday. Pearson succeeds former head coach Red Berenson, who retired last month after 33 years at the helm in Ann Arbor.

Pearson, 58, spent the last six years coaching at his alma mater, Michigan Tech. The Huskies went 118-92-6 under his tutelage, won the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's playoff tournament this past season, and qualified twice for the NCAA Tournament (2015, 2017). MTU also recorded three consecutive 20-plus win campaigns in the last three years, and went 15-7-6-3 in WCHA play last year, finishing second in the conference.

Pearson played for MTU from 1977 to 1981, scoring 21 goals and adding 35 assists for 56 points in 107 career outings, according to hockeydb.com. He also served three seasons as an assistant coach with the Huskies (1985-1988).

A native of Edina, Minn., Pearson served as an assistant coach at Michigan from 1988 to 1999, and then as associate coach from 1999 to 2011. In that span, the Wolverines won 10 Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season titles and nine CCHA playoff championships, while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament every year from 1991 to 2011. Michigan also made 11 NCAA Frozen Four appearances and won national titles in 1996 and 1998, while also finishing as NCAA runner-up in 2011. U-M also finished first in the annual Great Lakes Invitational no less than 13 times during Pearson’s tenure, including his first nine seasons.

This past season U-M went 13-19-3 overall, finished fifth in the Big Ten Conference, and did not qualify for the NCAAs for the fourth time in the last five seasons.