Last year ended in mixed emotions for the Cardinals. The men’s ice hockey team earned their first ever NESCAC regular season title and the #1 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. But their season came to an abrupt close with a shocking 3–4 defeat to Williams in the first round.

Coming into this year, the Cardinals looked to keep up the strong momentum from the previous regular season. They also aimed to take advantage of the team’s younger talent after several key pieces of the 2022–23 team graduated, including First Team All-American honoree and NESCAC Player of the Year Jake Lachance ’23 and Third Team All-American honoree Wiggle Kerbrat ’23.

“We knew coming in that our team dynamic hockey-wise would be super different, and we’d all have to change a lot to compete well,” forward Ethan Davidson ’26 said. “We had new guys coming in, and we also knew some younger returning guys had to step up.”

The season got off to a hot start, opening with a 2–1 victory over Conn. College on Friday, Nov. 17, with goals by captain and forward DJ Dixon ’24 and captain and forward Owen Sweet ’25.

The next day, the Cardinals continued their success and earned a hard-fought 5–4 overtime victory against Tufts, with goals by forward Zach Stimeling ’27, Sweet, and forward Jack Marottolo ’26, as well as two by defenseman Patrick Morrissey ’25, including the game-winner. Another standout contributor was Davidson, who tallied two assists versus the Jumbos in addition to two versus the Camels, which earned him the NESCAC Player of the Week award for the first time in his career.

Following this strong opening, the Cardinals then began to face some tougher matchups and suffered a string of non-conference losses to No. 12 nationally ranked Endicott College, Curry College, and UMass Boston.

The Cards then returned to NESCAC play on Dec. 1, suffering their first conference loss of the season to Amherst 1–5, with forward Parker Sondag ’26 scoring the Cardinals’ sole goal late in the first period. The following day, the team suffered a narrower 0–2 defeat to Hamilton.

After almost a full month off from competition, the Red and Black returned for the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament, in which they suffered a close 1–2 loss to No. 13 nationally ranked University of New England. The next day, though, the Cardinals managed to snap their losing streak with a decisive 5–2 victory over Aurora University, featuring goals by Stimeling, Sweet, forward Henry Carlson ’25, forward Joe Calo ’26, and Sondag.

Dixon highlighted that the victory was particularly meaningful after over a month of frustrating results.

“That was definitely a fun game,” Dixon said. “We had a lot of first-time goalscorers and a lot of guys getting a hot stick at the right time. That was just an all-around win. We scored short-handed goals, power-play goals, so just all around the block, that was a good win.”

The Red and Black then returned to NESCAC play, beginning with their matchup against Middlebury on Friday, Jan. 5. The Cardinals struck first with a goal by forward Connor Sutherland ’27 midway through the first period. But the Panthers came back with a goal of their own in the last second of the second period. Neither team managed to find the back of the net during the rest of regulation, and after a scoreless overtime, the game ended in a 1–1 draw.

The next day, the Cardinals faced off against Williams for the first time since losing to them in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. The game got off to a slow start, with the first goal by the Ephs at the end of the first period. In the second, Marottolo capitalized on a power play to score the Cardinals’ first goal of the day and tie it up 1–1 going into the third. Dixon then tacked on another goal to put the Red and Black ahead, but the Ephs responded a minute later to tie the score up once again. Forward Danny Judge ’26 added another point to regain the Cardinals’ lead. But the Ephs remained undeterred and scored three unanswered goals to put the game away 3–5.

The Cardinals then went on the road to Maine, starting with Bowdoin on Friday, Jan. 12. Sweet scored the first goal of the game late in the first to give the Cards an early lead. But with fewer than three minutes remaining in the final period, the Polar Bears managed to find the back of the net, sending the game into OT. Two minutes in, Bowdoin closed out the game on a power play to bring the final score to 1–2. The next night was not much better for the Red and Black, as they suffered a tough 0–5 loss to Colby.

Davidson noted that despite the disheartening results, he saw the team’s potential.

“As the season went on, we definitely played better, even though it wasn’t really reflected in our record,” Davidson said. “We played these teams closely, and we knew that we were good enough to beat them. We just missed out on some bounces, and our ability to compete in the third period. So it was more just the end of the games. We knew that when we played well, we were good enough to compete with any of the teams we played.”

The next week, on Friday, Jan. 19, the Cardinals proved Davidson right with a decisive 4–1 victory over Conn. College, featuring a goal each from Judge and Sweet, as well as two by forward Kyle Anderson ’24. In a hard-fought battle the following day, the Cards lost 1–3 to the Jumbos, with their sole goal by Sutherland.

In their final non-conference matchup of the year, the Red and Black faced off against Albertus Magnus College on Tuesday, Jan. 23. After two scoreless periods, Dixon took advantage of a power play to get the Cardinals the lead. But the Falcons responded two minutes later to tie the score up 1–1 and send the game into overtime. Once again, Dixon proved to be an offensive force and scored the game winner just one minute into overtime, making the final score 2–1.

The following weekend on Friday, Jan. 26, the Cardinals were dealt another close loss to the Mammoths. After a scoreless first period, the Mammoths netted the first goal of the game early in the second. The Cardinals responded with a goal by Sutherland early in the third, but the Mammoths managed two more, and despite an unassisted goal by Dixon at the end of the period, the Red and Black could not close the gap and suffered a 2–3 loss.

The Cards then faced a stretch of frustrating conference defeats to Hamilton (2–5), Middlebury (2–5), Williams (3–5), Bowdoin (1–4), and Colby (1–4) before facing off against in-state rivals No. 6 nationally ranked Trinity for their final series of the season.

In game one on Friday, Feb. 16, both teams were scoreless going into the third period, as goalie Erik Voloshin ’24 tallied an impressive 40 saves on the night, but the Bantams managed to put one in with fewer than six minutes remaining and defeat the Cardinals 0–1. The next day, the Cardinals defense continued to be stellar as goalie Marc Smith ’24 set a program record of 59 regulation saves, though the game ultimately ended in a 0–2 loss.

Though disappointed with the results, Sweet noted that the Trinity game was demonstrative of the team’s improvement as the season progressed.

“They’re a top team in the country, and we lost by a combined three goals,” Sweet said. “So there’s definitely growth.”

Ultimately, though the Cardinals were underwhelmed by the results of this season, they reflect positively on how they have continued to cultivate a strong team culture and remain bonded through adversity.

“You can just tell [that] everyone loves everyone,” Dixon said. “It’s more than hockey, and they become your best friends for life. I haven’t been around a culture like Wesleyan in my life, and I’ve played for a lot of teams. So that’s something I’ll take with me more than the wins and losses. It’s a special group, and each year it keeps getting better, so I’m proud to have been a part of it.”

With this season behind them, the Cardinals are looking forward to improving their game as they continue to hold on to their genuinely special sense of team camaraderie.

“An issue with our team this year is not being able to finish games,” Sweet said. “We had a lot of leads in the first period that we could have turned into at least ties, if not wins. So that’s a pretty tangible goal. And that may come with conditioning, better game management. And I think that comes with experience. Another positive takeaway would be a lot of the kids on the team that were younger got to experience what it’s like to lose one-goal games. So hopefully we can learn from that, and that’ll turn into more wins and points.”

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.