Ben Syer’s first coaching staff at Princeton has been finalized as he welcomes Connor Jones as an assistant coach while retaining Tommy Davis and Shane Talarico on staff heading into the 2024-25 season.
Jones, a former NHL player with four years of professional hockey playing experience, joins the Tigers after spending the past two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights as a scout focused on college free agents. In his first season with the Golden Knights, he was part of an executive group that guided Vegas to a Stanley Cup.
In addition to his experience identifying and recruiting potential free agents for the Golden Knights, Jones has years of experience as an on-ice clinician as owner/operator of Champions Hockey School in British Columbia and also as a lead instructor with the Kurt Nichols Powerskating School in New York.
Syer and Jones have an extensive history dating back to Jones’ days playing for Quinnipiac where he was a four-year letter winner and helped the Bobcats to the 2013 national title game. A two-time alternate captain while at Quinnipiac, Jones was recruited to Hamden by Syer while he was on staff at Quinnipiac and was coached by him during the 2010-11 season before Syer joined the coaching staff at Cornell.
All total for his time as a Bobcat, Jones played in 153 college hockey games and tallied 129 points on 49 goals and 83 assists. He was named Quinnipiac’s male student-athlete of the year in 2011 and was also a Dean’s List student. He graduated with a degree in public relations and went on to earn his master’s from Quinnipiac in sports journalism.
After graduating, he signed an ATO with the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons. In 2015, he signed with the New York Islanders organization and spent the next four seasons there that included four NHL games during the 2016-17 season. In addition to his time with the Islanders’ organization, he went on to play pro seasons with Thurgau (Swiss League) and Vasterviks IK in the Swedish Elite League as well as his final pro season with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets in 2021-22.
For his professional career, he played 446 games and registered 177 points on 60 goals and 117 assists.
Jones will work primarily with the forwards, while Davis will handle defense and Talarico will coach goaltenders.
Davis enters his fifth season behind the bench with his alma mater and his seventh season overall as part of the team staff after serving as director of hockey operations from 2018 to 2020. Few in college hockey coaching bring the balance of coaching experience and Princeton Hockey knowledge that Davis does and he has been instrumental in coaching Princeton’s power play which has been among the nation’s best during his tenure including the 2023-24 unit which ranked No. 1 in ECAC Hockey and No. 4 in the country at 27.8%.
Talarico is beginning his third season with the Tigers and has worked with a young Tigers goalie group that includes rising sophomore Arthur Smith.
