Ben Syer has been named the 18th head coach of males’s hockey at Princeton.
Syer takes over for Ron Fogarty, who was not retained after the 2023-24 season.
A 25-year veteran behind the bench of Division I faculty hockey packages, Syer takes the reins of the Tigers after lately concluding his thirteenth season general at Cornell and his twelfth as affiliate head coach of the Massive Pink. His earlier 12 seasons as a school coach got here whereas serving as affiliate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Quinnipiac from 1999 to 2011.
In 2018, Syer was the recipient of the Terry Flanagan Award, offered yearly by the American Hockey Coaches Affiliation (AHCA) to an assistant coach in recognition of his superior physique of labor over a profession.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Ben and his household to Princeton and the lads’s hockey program,” mentioned Princeton director of athletics John Mack in an announcement. “He has a confirmed observe report of recruiting and creating student-athletes and positioning them for fulfillment on the ice and within the classroom. He has been a part of championship groups all through his total teaching profession, navigating one of many hardest conferences in faculty hockey year-in, year-out. All through this course of, it was evident that Ben possesses the qualities we’re on the lookout for in a head males’s ice hockey coach at Princeton. He’s a passionate recruiter, an modern tactician and a commanding chief contained in the locker room. Below his steering, I’m assured that Princeton’s greatest days on the ice are forward of us.”
Syer’s 13 seasons at Cornell included seven Ivy League championships, three ECAC regular-season titles and one ECAC postseason title which got here this previous March. General, he was a part of a Massive Pink program that certified for seven NCAA tournaments and reached 4 regional finals.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Massive Pink, he was on employees throughout Quinnipiac’s rise into Division I hockey the place the Bobcats gained the 2002 MAAC championship and reached the NCAA match for the primary time. As well as, he coached a pair of convention regular-season championship groups at Quinnipiac – one within the MAAC (1998-99) and one in Atlantic Hockey (2004-05). He was on employees with the Bobcats throughout their transfer to the ECAC that included a run to the ECAC remaining of their second season of convention membership in 2006-07.
“It’s a privilege to signify Princeton College and Princeton athletics whereas we collectively construct upon the robust tradition of help and success the establishment and its passionate employees and alumni base present to student-athletes,” Syer mentioned. “I wish to thank John Mack and the search committee for permitting me the chance to steer the following chapter of the lads’s ice hockey program at Princeton. I additionally should lengthen my honest gratitude to my household for his or her unconditional help, and still have the best appreciation and because of Mike Schafer and Rand Pecknold for his or her mentorship and steering all through my profession. I look ahead to getting began at my new residence whereas constructing robust relationships with the gamers, employees and alumni to organize for this new period of Tiger hockey.”
Along with his plethora of group success over his teaching profession, Syer has coached seven All-Individuals and three Hobey Baker Award finalists whereas additionally serving to information his gamers to 42 all-conference honors and 43 all-Ivy picks.
By way of skilled hockey aspirations, Syer has helped coach 23 NHL draft picks and at present has 9 former gamers who’ve appeared in NHL video games. General throughout his time in Ithaca, two-thirds of his Cornell gamers have graduated and signed skilled hockey contracts.
The hallmark of Syer’s groups at Cornell has been protection. Over his 13 years behind the bench with the Massive Pink, his groups have averaged 2.21 targets allowed-per-game which ranks No. 3 amongst all Division I packages over the previous 13 seasons. This previous season, the Massive Pink led the nation in scoring protection, permitting 1.86 goals-per-game because the lone group to common fewer than two targets allowed every evening. In his 13 years with the Massive Pink, Syer has mentored groups to a top-10 rating in scoring protection 9 occasions and twice has led the nation in that statistic (2017-18, 2023-24).
The Massive Pink have gained 20-plus video games in six of their final seven seasons on the ice, together with back-to-back seasons with 20 or extra wins by this previous marketing campaign.
Syer has expertise main behind the bench as nicely, posting a 13-6-4 report as appearing head coach with the Massive Pink over the previous three seasons at numerous occasions.
Along with his collegiate teaching expertise, Syer served as head coach at USA Hockey Choose Festivals since 2016 the place he has labored with the highest age-group gamers in the USA. The previous two years, he has served as head coach of Crew New York at USA Hockey occasions.
He additionally has been a visitor coach at USA Hockey’s World Junior coaching camp in 2022 and was a visitor coach at growth camp with the Washington Capitals in 2018.
Syer has intensive ability growth expertise at camps and clinics across the nation, together with S&B Hockey Camps which he co-founded in Ithaca and has run since 2019. He has served as visitor lecturer at teaching symposiums run by the AHCA Conference, NCAA Frozen 4, USA Hockey and Washington Capitals.
Off the ice, he’s actively concerned in his communities the place he has volunteered with Salvation Military and Ithaca Youth Hockey. Since 2013, he has participated within the “Racker Rivals” recreation which yearly raises over $100,000 in help of the Racker Heart in Ithaca which gives strength-based help for people with disabilities and their households in Tompkins, Cortland and Tioga counties.
A local of Kitchener, Ont., Syer graduated from the College of Western Ontario in 1998 with an honors diploma in City Improvement. In 2000, he earned a Grasp’s in Bodily Schooling from Ohio College whereas additionally serving as an assistant coach with the membership males’s hockey group.