In Play(er) of the Week, we seek to highlight Wesleyan athletes or parts of games that deserve extra attention. Ethan Davidson ’26 is a forward on the Wesleyan men’s ice hockey team. In the Cardinals’ season-opening weekend on the road, Davidson posted two impressive performances. On Friday, Nov. 17, he had two assists in the Cards’ 2–1 victory over Conn. College. The following day, he added two more assists to his tally, including one to Patrick Morrissey ’25 for the final goal of the game to seal a 5–4 overtime comeback victory over Tufts. For his outstanding weekend, Davidson earned the first men’s hockey NESCAC Player of the Week award of the season. The Argus recently sat down with Davidson to discuss his recent accolade, reflect on his first year with the team, and share his hopes for the season going forward.  

The Argus: Can you introduce yourself?

Ethan Davidson: I’m a prospective econ major with a minor in data analysis. I play left wing on the hockey team and I’m from Arlington, Virginia.

A: What’s your teammates’ nickname for you?

ED: Davie.

A: I’ve been told repeatedly that your team is really into pregame superstitions. What are yours?

ED: Okay, I have a couple. I cannot step foot in the rink until we go out for the game. So I have to go all the way around to get to the locker room instead of going through the hallway that most people go through. I have to drink three bottles of water from between when I get to the rink and [when] we go out on the ice. Me and my friend Danny [Judge ’26], every game I have to bring two Rice Krispie treats and we each eat one in between the second and third periods.

A: When did you first start playing ice hockey?

ED: I started playing when I was probably four or five. My mom took me to my home rink and had me and my brother start skating, and I just loved it and started playing from there.

A: Do you come from an ice hockey family?

ED: No, no one. I think it was more my mom just took me to see if I’d have fun and find something for me to do to not bother her. And I just ended up loving it.

A: Is ice hockey popular in Virginia?

ED: No, not at all. Well, it’s actually getting more popular now. But as I grew up, it was not. There weren’t even enough kids to make a full team for high school. My high school had 4,000 kids, and we struggled to get a whole team.

A: How did you end up coming to Wesleyan?

ED: I always knew that I wanted to go to a NESCAC because going to a boarding school in Boston, I liked how small it was. And I knew that the NESCAC had a similar vibe. And then honestly, Wesleyan just seemed like the best mix of being fun and being a good school. 

A: What do you think makes Wesleyan’s ice hockey program special? 

ED: Every other team I’ve been on or heard of, there’s little cliques within a team. And I think that here, I would not feel uncomfortable hanging out with anyone one-on-one on the team. We’re all legitimately best friends.

A: Last season, the team was really successful during the regular season. But then the postseason was [not great]. So what was that experience like for you as a first-year?

ED: I think all the freshmen felt extremely lucky to have the senior class that we did, because they cultivated an insanely good team dynamic where everyone felt equal. Even though the seniors were all so insanely good at hockey. But they made everyone feel at home in the locker room. And from a hockey perspective, it just made it so much easier for the freshmen to feel confident and comfortable playing on the ice and allowed us to have a much steeper learning curve when it comes to transitioning to college hockey.

A: Coming into this season, what had been your hopes for the team?

ED: I think that we’re still a pretty young team. We have a lot of freshmen. And it’s obviously a big change losing all the seniors we had last year, and it’s gonna take some time to adjust. But I would say my hope is that we are a top four team in the NESCAC so we can get a home playoff game. And that we’re able to compete with every team we play against, which I think we’re moving towards.

A: On Nov. 17, you guys had your season opener vs. Conn. [College], and you beat them 2–1 and had assists on both of the goals that were scored. What was that game like for you?

ED: It was definitely interesting to see the other perspective of it being the first game of the year and not being like your first ever college game. I remember last year being like “Oh my god, I’m freaking out.” And we were definitely all super nervous/excited, but it was kind of interesting and funny to see before the game, like, how nervous a lot of [the freshmen] looked. And then for myself, it was huge to get the win, and we knew that it wasn’t the best we could have played, but it was a team we knew we should have beaten. I think it set a good foot forward for the rest of the year, because we knew that we hadn’t played as [well] as we could have and [we didn’t reach] our potential, but we still battled. We were up 2–1 for like the whole second half of the game, basically. We had some tough spots in the third period, but I remember one of our freshmen, Connor Sutherland, literally dove out in front of like three pucks in the third period and everyone firing up. It was awesome.

A: The next day, you guys beat Tufts 5–4 in overtime. What do you attribute the success in that game to?

ED: Number one, goalie [Marc Smith ’24]. It was a 5–4 game, and they could have scored a lot more than that. Especially down the stretch, which is just huge for us. And similar to the Conn. game, but in a different situation, we didn’t play as [well] as we could have. But we just found a way to get it done and scored two goals within three minutes in the last ten minutes of the game. And I remember in between the second and third period, one of our seniors just ripping into all of us like, “Come on, we need to be so much better.” It was just a wake up call for all of us. And we went out there in the third knowing we should be winning the game. And we just got back in the locker room after winning that in OT and were like, “Oh my god, that was so massive for us.” It was exciting.

A: In those two games, you had four assists and you won NESCAC Player of the Week for the first time. What was it like to get that?

ED: I was a little surprised when I got it. But it was awesome to get recognized for it. I thought I had a good weekend and made some pretty important plays to get the job done. I would have to attribute a lot of it to [co-captains] Owen [Sweet ’25] and DJ [Dixon ’24], who I play with, because they just make it so much easier to play games. 

A: After that weekend, you guys had three non-conference games in a row and lost all of them. What do you make of those results?

ED: I think I could have felt better coming off a few losses because they weren’t conference games, and we learned a lot about our team and how we need to play in order to win. Also because they were against very good teams. I wouldn’t say that we played [badly] in the games. We definitely had the potential to win those games if more had gone our way. It was definitely a big learning [experience]. We needed to lose a few games for our freshmen to know what it felt like and for, honestly, our current sophomores. We didn’t lose two games in a row in regulation last year. So it was kind of a wake up call. It’s up to all of us now. We can’t just ride along with the seniors.

A: This weekend, you guys are back to conference games with Amherst and Hamilton. How are you feeling about those next two matchups?

ED: Really good. But definitely nervous coming off the three game losing streak. It’s definitely more pressure for our team to get it done. But I think we feel confident that if we play well, we can win those games. And if we win those games, then we’re 4–0 in conference, so we know how important they are, but we definitely feel comfortable.

A: Does it feel weird that after that you have almost a full month off?

ED: Yeah, I don’t like it. At that point we’re six games, and we’re all ready to keep playing, and it’s like oh, nope. Reading period, exams, break. And we have two games right when we get back. So I would rather not [have] that long of a break. It’s gonna be nice to get away from school for two weeks. But it’s definitely interesting. I’ve never experienced a break that [long] in the middle of the year.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.