Here Comes The Snow

TigerBlog saw the way the wind was howling all day Tuesday and figured that his recycling bin had probably blown into the Delaware River by mid-afternoon.

Actually, it hadn't. It had only blown to the house next door and wedged against the side. Had there been nothing blocking it, then it would have been miles away.

Winter has arrived here. It was the coldest it's been all season the last few days, and now apparently snow is heading this way.

Or maybe rain. Or a mix.

In fact, TigerBlog has been studying the weather forecasts and can tell you that it's going to start either tomorrow or Saturday, last until Saturday or Sunday and leave either some, a lot of or an epic amount of snow here.

As women's track and field coach Peter Farrell said, it's going to be between two and 30 inches of snow.

As an aside, TigerBlog had to seek Farrell out on the track the other day to talk to him. This is the one drawback of the move to E level - TB doesn't get his two or three times per day dose of Farrell, who would stop by to talk about everything and anything.

Meanwhile, back at the weather, TigerBlog thinks it's time to change the calendar, at least in this area. Why give all four seasons equal time on the calendar when they don't really have equal time in reality?

Right now, each of the four seasons has exactly three months. Perhaps it should change to reflect what's actually going on and look like this:

Summer - May 20 to October 15
Autumn - October 16 to January 14
Winter - January 15 to April 1
Spring - April 2 to May 19

Yeah. That's about right.

See, the change in the calendar suckers you into thinking that it's going to be mild all winter, and then - blam - it hits you with wind and cold and snow. Oh well.

At least if the snow does show up it'll be the latest this area has had measurable snow fall ever. Or something like that.

Even though winter has just started, TigerBlog has already watched more NHL hockey on TV than he has pretty much any other sport in the last 12 months other than lacrosse. He's pretty sure he's watched more hockey than football, though it's pretty close.

Why has he watched all the hockey? Mike Condon, Princeton alum, Montreal Canadiens goalie. TigerBlog roots hard for Montreal when Condon plays and roots for them to give up 10 goals in the games he doesn't.

Condon, a rookie, has established himself as a legitimate NHL goalie this season, with Carey Price out injured for the most part. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Price gets back.

TB watched the NHL Network after the Canadiens lost the Bruins Tuesday night, and the panelists correctly said that none of Montreal's problems are Condon's fault.

As for Princeton hockey, the Tigers are in the tail end of exam break.

In case you forgot, the men's team tied RPI and Union at home in its last two games before the break. The highlight of the weekend was the incredible plays made by Josh Teves back-to-back as he dove to keep the puck out of the net at one end, got up and went down the other end and scored.

Missed it? HERE it is again.

Princeton finished 12th in the ECAC a year ago. The Tigers are currently tied for eighth with Colgate, with 10 league games left to 11 left for the Raiders.

The key to finishing in eighth is that it gives home ice for the first round of the ECAC playoffs. For Princeton to achieve that in Year 2 under Ron Fogarty would be incredible.

The Tigers don't jump right into the ECAC schedule after exams. First up would be a game Tuesday night at home against AIC (American International, located in Springfield). Then it's off to Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend.

Right now in the ECAC, Princeton and Quinnipiac have each played 12 games, while every other team has played 10 or 11. Right now, four points are all that separates sixth place from 12th, so obviously there is a long way to go.

On the women's side, the top four host the first round of the playoffs.

Princeton is 15-4-1 overall and 9-4-1 in the ECAC. The Tigers, with 19 points, trail only Quinnipiac, with 23, and they are three points ahead of Colgate and Clarkson, though Princeton has played two more games than those two.

Harvard is in 15th right now, five points back of Princeton with one fewer game played.

On the Ivy League side, Princeton is in first place, with 12 points (and seven games played). Every other team in the the league has played five Ivy games, and Cornell, the only team to have beaten Princeton, is in second, with seven points.

In case you don't know, the Ivy League takes the ECAC games played between Ivy teams and counts them separately in its own standings, awarding the champion at the end of the year based solely on those games.

Princeton's women play at UConn Monday and then play at Dartmouth next Friday and Harvard next Saturday. Yes, both Princeton teams are on the road at Harvard and Dartmouth. No, they don't play the same team on the same night.

So that's the hockey update. And the snow update? Now it's saying 5-8 inches for Princeton Saturday.

That probably means either nothing or two feet.