Baker blues: Men's hockey struggles to find answers in five losses

The men's hockey team was Sisyphus, rolling the unyielding boulder up the mountain of nationally-ranked opponents. Every time the Tigers fought back to respectability, the stone rolled back to the base of the mountain. Then came Bowling Green.

With Princeton nearing the peak after a close 4-3 loss to defending national champion North Dakota, Bowling Green rolled the ball back down the hill. Then it pushed the Tigers down after it, kicked them in the face and spit on their wounds.

In a series of three straight tough matches, Princeton (5-9-3 overall, 4-4-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) encountered first No. 6 New Hampshire Dec. 16, then No. 10 Wisconsin two weeks later and No. 3 North Dakota the following day, dropping all three matches. But with Bowling Green on the slate this past weekend, the Tigers had a chance to rise back to their feet in time for a return to conference play. The Falcons had other ideas.

On the wrong track

Bowling Green (6-10-4, 3-7-4 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) came into Baker Rink and dropped Princeton further into its six-game losing streak with 8-3 and 5-0 trouncings.

"We're still feeling the effects of playing New Hampshire, Wisconsin and North Dakota and not coming out with a 'W' on one of those games," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "You saw the result in the games against Bowling Green. We're fatigued mentally."

Almost one month ago in the game against UNH (14-4-4, 5-2-3 Hockey East), Princeton fell behind early, spotting the Falcons a 3-0 lead after the first period. A power play goal from senior forward Chris Corrinet and an even-strength goal from sophomore defender Neil McCann one minute later brought the Tigers within striking distance at 3-2, but they would get no closer. The Wildcats responded with one goal before the end of the stanza and would go on to defeat Princeton, 6-3.

The Tigers faced an uphill battle again in their first game of the Badger Hockey Showdown Dec. 29. Wisconsin (13-9-0, 8-6-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) threaded five first-period goals past junior goalkeeper Dave Stathos with no response from the Tiger forwards. Princeton battled back to within two goals behind tallies from Corrinet and freshman defenders Matt Maglione and Steve Slaton. The Tigers would come no closer and a late empty-net goal put the score again at 6-3.

So close and yet . . .

In the consolation game of the tournament against North Dakota one day later, Sisyphus almost reached the top of the mountain. Behind a record-setting performance from sophomore netminder Nate Nomeland, Princeton hung close to the Fighting Sioux in a 5-4 loss. Nomeland turned back 60 North Dakota shots in the game, 27 of those in one period and 79 total for the tournament, all of which were Showdown records.

The Tigers claimed the lead for the first time in more than nine periods when Maglione netted his second goal of the season in the first period. The Fighting Sioux scored two straight goals before sophomore center Scott Prime notched his first goal of the season to tie the game at two. North Dakota then posted two more goals before the end of the stanza to take a 4-2 lead going into the final period. Princeton was unable to overcome the deficit and finally fell, 5-4.

The strong performance against a good Fighting Sioux team looked to be an indicator of better things for Princeton as it came back home for the two games against Bowling Green before the return to ECAC play this coming weekend. But the Falcons chopped the legs out from underneath a Tiger resurrection with a crushing 13-3 goal differential during the weekend.

Now Princeton must regain composure as always-important conference games against Harvard and Brown rapidly approach.

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"We're trying to address it," Quesnelle said. "We're going to work our way through it, but it all starts in practice. We're trying to keep practices short and constructive."