Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Thanksgiving Week

This past Wednesday Princeton had two alums score a goal in an NHL game on the same day.

In case you forgot, that would be Taylor Fedun with Dallas and Eric Robinson with Columbus.

If that wasn't impressive enough, you can add what happened Sunday to the mix. On Sunday, two more Princeton alums - Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson - both had a reception in an NFL game.

That's remarkable stuff, no?


TigerBlog wonders how many other schools can say they had two alums with NHL goals on the same day and two alums with NFL receptions on the same day, all within the same week. It can't be many, right?


If TB had to guess, he'd say it would have to be a Big Ten school. Or Notre Dame. Maybe he'll try to research that.

If you want to open it up to the calendar year, how many colleges had the trifecta of NHL goals, NFL receptions and Major League Baseball home runs? Princeton has had that, when you include Mike Ford, who had 12 home runs this season for the Yankees.

Carlson made his second reception in his second game, both of which have been wins by the Cleveland Browns.

Anyway, that's something impressive to start out your Tuesday.

This Tuesday isn't like most, since it's Thanksgiving week. Any time the fall sports season extends beyond this point, it's a sign of good things.

The Princeton women's volleyball team is the lone fall team that is still competing. The Tigers are set for a fun Thanksgiving after defeating Yale 3-1 Friday night in the Ivy League one-match playoff for the NCAA tournament bid.

The selections will be this Sunday, Dec. 1, at 8:30. Princeton has reached the NCAA tournament for the eighth time.

Princeton and Yale continued their dominance of Ivy women's volleyball by tying for the league championship. The 2019 tournament will mark the eighth time in nine years that the Ivy League has been represented by either Princeton or Yale, and the Tigers are going for the third time in four years.

The match Friday night saw the Bulldogs win the first set and then Princeton come back to win the next three. The Tigers pulled away in Game 4, winning 25-15.

The NCAA volleyball tournament will be the final fall event for Princeton. If you're keeping score of such things, Princeton has eight teams that have their championship decided in the fall, and seven of those eight have won a league title within the last two falls.

Again, impressive.

The end of crossover season will see things calm down a bit around here. This week, because of the holiday, is a bit slow.

There are two men's basketball games, including a home game tonight against Arizona State. Princeton defeated the Sun Devils, who were ranked 16th at the time, 67-66 last year in Tempe a year ago.

Arizona State, 3-2 on the season, has gone to back-to-back NCAA tournaments. The Tigers are coming off a 79-54 loss at Indiana in their most recent game.

Next up for Princeton will be a game at Bucknell Saturday. The men's hockey team is also away this weekend, and when TB says away, he means it.

Princeton is in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the Friendship Four tournament. The Tigers will play Colgate, a team they haven't seen since, well, Friday, when they tied 2-2. This game will not count in the ECAC standings, and the teams will meet for a third time on Jan. 31 at Hobey Baker Rink.

The other two teams in Northern Ireland are Northeastern and New Hampshire. The games are Friday and Saturday.

It makes TB wonder what an American Thanksgiving in Northern Ireland would be like. 


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