No. 3, No. 6 and A Three-Game Weekend

Has TigerBlog mentioned that Princeton Athletics had a great fall season?

Not in the last five minutes at least? Well, as a way of reminding you, the Learfield Directors' Cup standings were updated yesterday, and Princeton currently ranks third in Division I.

That's all of Division I.

Stanford, who wins every year, is first. Wake Forest is second. Princeton is third. Then it's Michigan in fourth, followed by four ACC schools (North Carolina State, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia), Penn State and then Notre Dame, another ACC school.

That's what kind of fall season Princeton had.

Meanwhile, TigerBlog talked yesterday about this week's issue of "Hard Cuts," the one that covers Princeton's men's basketball trip to Ground Zero and Madison Square Garden. If you didn't see it on goprincetontigers.com and didn't link to it yesterday in this space, then you can see it HERE.

Also, if you missed these week's "Beyond The Stripes," you can see that one HERE.

The subject is the Fillier sisters, twins who are freshmen on the women's hockey team. Or should TB say "the sixth-ranked Princeton women's hockey team?"

Princeton had an interesting situation last weekend. The Tigers were looking to stretch their unbeaten streak to school-record-tying 12 straight games, and they would be the favorite in both, at RPI and at Union.

On the other hand, Princeton was swept a year ago by RPI, so nothing is ever certain. And being a road favorite is especially difficult.

Beyond that, Princeton played knowing it wouldn't have another league game for four weeks, or game of any kind for three weeks, so whatever happened last weekend would stay with that team for awhile. And what happened?

A sweep. Princeton 5, RPI 2. Princeton 4, Union 0.

As a result, Princeton is 9-0-3 in its last 12, tying for the longest mark in program history. The Tigers are also in first place in the ECAC with 18 points (at 8-0-2), five points ahead of second-place Cornell (though the second, third and fourth place teams in the league have all played two fewer games than Princeton).

What has clearly started out as an exciting season hits the brakes for those three weeks, before Princeton hosts Merrimack Dec. 30 and 31 on the ice at Hobey Baker Rink.

This weekend features just three Princeton Athletic events, all tomorrow. It's possible to see at least some of all three, though that would require considerable time behind the wheel.

The men's basketball team is in Atlantic City to take on Iona, with tip off at 11:30. You can listen to that game with Derek Jones and Noah Savage on WPRB, but the game is not being streamed on ESPN+. Instead, it's only available on flohoops, with its own subscription fee.

TB apologizes, but this is unavoidable.

Or you can drive to Atlantic City and watch the game in Boardwalk Hall. It's the first of four games on the day in the building, one in which Princeton has never played.

Princeton and Iona don't have much of a series history, with the Tigers having won all six previous meetings. The teams played four times between 1988 and 1992 and then again in 2006 and 2007, so none of this really matters for tomorrow's game.

TigerBlog did cover the 1989 game at Iona and the 1990 games, plural, at Iona, in which Princeton defeated St. Mary's and Iona to win the Manufacturers Hanover Classic. Until he looked at the year-by-year results on the webpage yesterday, TB did not remember going there twice and thought that the 1989 game was actually the tournament. Hmmm.

Meanwhile back in the present, Iona is 2-6, but the Gaels have played their usual tough schedule and are always good.

Iona is also doing the opposite of what Princeton's women's team is doing. The Gaels' men are in the middle of three straight games against Ivy teams, having lost to Columbia in the first game of the doubleheader at Madison Square Garden Sunday in which Princeton played St. John's in the nightcap and then following up the Princeton game with a game at Yale.

For good measure, the game after that for Iona is against Holy Cross, coached by Bill Carmody.

While Iona, a MAAC team, is playing three straight Ivies, the Princeton women, an Ivy team, are playing the third of three straight MAAC opponents. Tip for Princeton-Marist women will be at 5 in Jadwin Gym, so you can leave AC after the men's game, grab a nosh and get to Princeton in plenty of time for the women's game.

Princeton is 3-7 overall, 2-0 in the MAAC (after wins over Quinnipiac and Monmouth) and 2-0 since Bella Alalrie returned from injury. Marist, who has been off all week, is 7-2 overall and always good.

The women's game should end around 6:45, which means that if you hop in the car, you'll get to the Wells Fargo sometime in the first period of the men's hockey game between Princeton and No. 9 Penn State. The puck drops on that game at 7:30.

TigerBlog? He'll be attempting the listen-to-Derek-and-Noah-women's-basketball-men's-hockey trifecta.