JACKED UP: Princeton University men’s hockey player Jackson Cressey controls the puck in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday, junior forward Cressey scored two goals, but it wasn’t enough as Princeton fell 6-3 to Quinnipiac to suffer its fifth straight defeat. The Tigers, now 3-6-1 overall and 3-3-1 ECAC Hockey, will look to get back on the winning track when they host Arizona State for a two-game set on December 7 and 8. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Having been on the road for the last two weeks and losing all four games, Jackson Cressey and his teammates on the Princeton University men’s hockey team were happy to be back at the friendly confines of Hobey Baker Rink.

Hosting Quinnipiac last Saturday evening, Princeton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period as junior forward Cressey took A feed from senior defenseman Josh Teves and found the back of the net.

“Teves just made a great play; he broke through the zone all by himself and beat a guy to the wall,” said Cressey.

“He angled the guy on the blue line and made a great feed across the crease. I was just there to tap it in.”

In the second period, Quinnipiac made some great plays, outscoring Princeton 4-2 on the way to a 6-3 win over the Tigers, who suffered their fifth straight loss and dropped to 3-6-1 overall and 3-3-1 ECAC Hockey.

While Cressey was disappointed with the result, he drew positives from Princeton’s performance.

“We have been in a little bit of a skid lately so coming back home we were looking for a better result than that,”said Cressey.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the two points tonight but I think we showed signs of the team we can be and we are still striving to get there.”

When Cressey scored a goal late in the second period to cut the Bobcat lead to 4-3, he thought the Tigers might be on track for a positive result.

“I felt like we were rolling there, there were a couple of bad bounces and they were able to get one back quick and that killed the momentum,” said Cressey. “With that, we have to find a way to fight and push through.”

Entering the night with just one goal on the season, Cressey is hoping that his two goal effort can get him on a roll.

“I haven’t been playing the way I want to play so far this year,” said Cressey, a 6’0, 180-pound native of West Vancouver, British Columbia who now has 80 points in his Princeton career on 23 goals and 57 assists. “Hopefully this is a step forward and I can keep going from here.”

In Cressey’s view, Princeton took a step forward against Quinnipiac. “We are in a bit of a skid right now; you are not getting the bounces you want,” said Cressey. “I thought our effort was pretty good tonight. If we can keep that going, the bounces will start going our way.”

Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty concurred, seeing an offensive spark that has been missing in the last few games for the Tigers.

“We got some goal scoring, which we have been struggling to,” said Fogarty, whose team fell 3-0 at Quinnipiac in the opener of a two-game set between the rivals.

“It was a couple of one-hitters that Quinnipiac had that found the back of our net but we played collectively better than we have been in the past couple of games.”

Fogarty credited Cressey with playing well against the Bobcats. “It was very good,” said Fogarty. “We challenged Jackson after last night’s game and he responded by playing one of the better games in his career. Unfortunately we got the loss because we really wanted him to enjoy the game because he did a lot of things well.”

The Tigers are not enjoying things, mired in a five-game losing streak.

“They are very down because they are a very proud group and they want to win,” said Fogarty. “They believe they can win so we just have to get right back at it.”

With three months left in the regular season, Fogarty believes his team will get on the right track, drawing confidence from its playoff run last winter which saw it win the ECACH tournament.

“Our guys work really hard, they are very resilient and winning is difficult,” said Fogarty, whose team hosts Arizona State for a two-game set on December 7 and 8.

“We were 7th place last year; 12th place going into the last weekend and we got on a run. We know that is going to occur. We will get a run going here into January and February. We are better we where are now than we were last year, with seven points in the ECACH. We have some non-conference games here now where we can fine-tune to get geared for January when league play starts up again.”

In Cressey’s view, Princeton has what it takes for another big stretch run. “I think it is just having all 27 guys on the same page, putting in a full effort every night,” said Cressey.

“If we keep doing that and listening to our coaches, the wins will start coming. A big part of college hockey, because the season is so short, is getting hot at the right time. Our record isn’t what we want it to be right now but there is still a ways to go. Everyone makes the playoffs so March is the big month for us.”