The Friendship Classic

Welp, TigerBlog is back in the United States.

It's possible that his plane passed the women's hockey team's flight going in the opposite direction. It's one of those old math problems, where one plane was going in one direction and another was going the other and where did they pass? 

TB thinks you need the speed of the wind in addition to the planes, but hey,

The women's hockey flight was headed to Belfast for this weekend's Friendship Classic, where the Tigers will take on Providence in games tomorrow and Saturday. Face-off will be at noon tomorrow local time, which means 7 am in Princeton, and 2 pm Saturday, which makes it a 9 am start in Princeton.

Princeton is ranked 12th while Providence is unranked. Both teams are playing for the first time since Dec. 9.

And what a way to come out of a long break. 

This is from the Friendship Classic's website:

“We are so excited to travel to Belfast and showcase our game to international fans,” Princeton women’s coach Cara Morey said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that most college hockey players never get to experience. At Princeton, we believe in Education Through Athletics, and we are excited to learn the unique history and customs from the people of Belfast. We are also excited to play top-level college hockey as we take on Providence. This is going to be a highlight for many of our players as they create memories that last a lifetime. We’re grateful for the ECAC and Princeton University for helping facilitate this amazing experience.”

A key focus of the Friendship Series is education, including education of youth through sports to create a spirit of mutual understanding and the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play; an exploration of the opportunities that education can provide, both in Northern Ireland and the USA through scholarships and placements; and education linked to future job opportunities and economic success.

In parallel, the Friendship Series initiative aims to focus on social inclusion – ensuring that young people and communities from rural and urban deprived areas are engaged with education and provided with opportunities to identify relevant areas of study and future potential career paths.

The games will be played at the SSE Arena, which seats 11,000 for hockey and is located in the Titanic Quarter of the city. There is a museum close to the arena called "Titanic Belfast;" if you didn't know, the doomed luxury liner was built in Belfast before sailing from Southampton. 

Princeton is in seventh place in the ECAC standings. The Tigers come back from Northern Ireland and then hit the road again, traveling to Dartmouth and Harvard Dec. 12 and 13 as they get back into the league schedule. Dartmouth and Harvard are currently 10-11 in the standings. 

Oddly, it will take longer to drive to Dartmouth than it will to fly to Belfast. That's up there with the record for most miles traveled by a Princeton team in a 10-day stretch though. 

The idea of playing games in another country is not new in college sports. Princeton has played regular season men's basketball in Nova Scotia and London. The men's hockey team has played games in British Columbia and in Belfast as well.

This is the third Friendship Classic for American women's hockey teams and the first since 2020. It's an offshoot of the Friendship Four, a tournament for American men's teams in the same arena. The first one was held in 2015, and Princeton played in the 2019 version, along with Northeastern, Colgate and New Hampshire. 

TB was with the men's basketball team in Nova Scotia in 1999. The Tigers played Ohio University in the last game of a full day of games — starting with Canadian high school games and then Canadian en's and women's college games —at a really nice arena in Halifax. Ordinarily it would have been just another November game, but playing it in Canada made it something that TB is pretty sure all of that year's players remember well.

The same will be true for the women's hockey team. Getting a chance to play in Belfast at this event makes it way more than just another weekend of games. 

Couple that with the start of play for the four Princeton alums in the new Professional Women's Hockey League, and this is a big start to 2024 for the Tigers.