For the first time in program history, men’s hockey is the champion of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
The Big Green defeated Princeton on March 21 in overtime at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. with an overtime goal scored by Tim Busconi ’28. Hayden Stavroff ’28 — the top collegiate hockey goal scorer in the nation this year — was named ECAC Player of the Year, goalie Emmett Croteau ’27 was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, and head coach Reid Cashman was named the ECAC Tim Taylor Coach of the Year.
For winning-goal scorer Busconi, playing at Lake Placid was extra special — as a child, he competed in a tournament in Lake Placid that took place during the ECAC Championship. He shared the ECAC win with family members in the stands, including one of his sisters and his mother, while his father watched the game from Italy.
Croteau was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, earning praise from his coach.
“Croteau was clearly the best player on the ice,” Cashman said. “I thought special teams and goaltending ultimately won us the game.”
“It was a tough playoff,” Cashman said. “I think we probably got the three most physical teams in the league with Colgate, Clarkson … and Princeton.”
Dartmouth entered the tournament finals after losing twice to Princeton in the regular season. Croteau said in an interview after the game that those losses helped the team prepare and motivated them to beat Princeton.
“We knew what to expect with them. …[Losing in the regular season] gave us a cheat sheet on what we knew we had to do to beat them,” Croteau said. “They’d beat us twice in the regular season, so we came in with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and wanted to make sure we played our game to get the result we wanted.”
The team knew going into the game, for example, that Princeton’s skilled forwards would make the game challenging due to their physicality and ability to make quick plays in the offensive zone. Cashman agreed with those concerns, highlighting Princeton’s ability to transition and force turnovers quickly in the neutral zone.
The first period went in Dartmouth’s favor. Both teams struggled to capitalize, with only 11 total shots on goal made during the first period. Nearly 13 minutes in, Stavroff — assisted by CJ Foley ’27 and Hank Cleaves ’28 — netted a power-play goal, his 29th of the season.
Neither team scored for the rest of the first, second and early part of the third period. The score remained 1-0 in the Big Green’s favor until Princeton’s Joshua Karnish tied the game eight minutes and 46 seconds into the third period. According to Cashman, the goal was not unexpected.
“[Princeton] was making a hard push and they made a great play, created a turnover and they made a nice play off the rush,” Cashman said.
With the score tied 1-1 at the end of the third period, the game went to overtime. After the Big Green won the overtime period’s opening faceoff, the two teams took turns taking shots at the net.
“The first five minutes, I thought [Princeton] had three good chances,” Busconi said.
Ultimately, though, Busconi was the one who capitalized on the opportunities, scoring the Big Green’s game-winning goal at 11 minutes and 48 seconds into overtime.
“It was just a load of high, and then we had two really good net anchors, maybe Brock Cummings and Nikita Nikora up front, and they took away the goalie’s eyes,” Busconi said of his goal. “I put it in an area where it might go in and then after I blacked out. I was just celebrating with my teammates up to the crowd seeing all the support we get from the families, the Upper Valley and alumni. It was pretty special.”
Cashman acknowledged that thought the game was not as ideal as the team had hoped, but said was still proud of their performance.
“Both teams gave up more chances than they probably would like,” Cashman said, adding that he was proud of the team’s ability to quickly move on and focus on the next play.
The team’s ECAC title automatically qualified them for the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament for the first time since 1980, where they were ultimately defeated 5-1 by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the first round. The Big Green put up a fight, going into the third period tied 1-1. However, strong advances by Wisconsin put them in the lead 3-1, with five minutes on the clock. Cashman pulled the goalie from the net, which allowed Wisconsin to score twice more.
Looking forward, Cashman said he is excited for the next season. He said the team will be spending time in the weight room this term, while the coaching staff will focus on recruiting. Cashman anticipates having one of the strongest rosters in program history next season.
