Hockey Stuff

TigerBlog likes a good headline. 

He's certainly written enough of them in his life. He appreciates when they're done well.

They take creativity and a clever use of words to really be good. The best ones are either tremendous plays on words or headlines that derive from the picture that is used with the story as much as the story itself.

Then there are the others, the ones that completely write themselves. Just straightforward. No need to be creative, because the headline itself is just too wild to have to embellish.

This would be the case in a headline TB saw the other day. He will simply mention it word-for-word:

"FM Radio Signal Found Coming From Jupiter Moon."

What the heck? 

The story goes on to talk about how it's no cause for concern about the pending invasion force from Jupiter and that it's simply caused by electrons that oscillate at a lower rate than they spin. It would be so much cooler if it really was caused by aliens on Jupiter's moon who were listening to 1970s Classic Rock, no? 

Or maybe some Easy Listening? Lite hits from the ’70s? The Carpenters? Barry Manilow? 

Or even better, maybe they were all bickering, the young aliens and the old aliens. The young ones wanted to keep it on Top 40 pop. Justin Bieber. Ariana Grande. 

Or possibly there's a station there that plays an endless loop of Train's "Drops of Jupiter" and "The Age Of Aquarius" from Hair: "When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars."

Rockin' aliens living in the suburbs of Jupiter has nothing to do with Princeton men's hockey, so TB won't even try to come up with a good segue. He'll just jump right into it.

There were three new men's hockey stories in the last few days.

First, there was the news that former Tiger Tommy Davis has been named an assistant coach. He previously had been the volunteer assistant and the operations director.

From the release (read it in full HERE):

"I am thrilled to have Tommy join our coaching staff full-time," said Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty. "He is a bright hockey mind who knows first-hand what it takes to succeed and grow as a student-athlete at Princeton. His passion for Princeton and Princeton Hockey is strong, and he will be a tremendous resource for our team."

The second story wasn't really a story but a podcast. This one was with Fogarty and Chas Dorman, the OAC men's hockey contact. 

Among the subjects were the hiring of Davis and preparations for the upcoming return to campus. You can listen to it HERE.

The most recent story was a recap of the Princeton men's hockey players in the professional ranks. You can read that one HERE.

There were three Princeton alums who were vying for NHL opening night roster spots. Eric Robinson is back with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Taylor Fedun is back with the Dallas Stars. Both of them played in the playoffs a year ago, and Fedun's team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.

Actually, it wasn't a year ago. It was just a few months ago, after the COVID-interrupted season resulted in a stoppage, a resumption in August and the Stanley Cup finals in late September.

The third Princeton alum in an NHL camp was Josh Teves, the defenseman from the Class of 2019. Teves, who was with Vancouver, was sent to the AHL team in Utica.

Beyond those three, there are a bunch of others who are on teams around the country and the world, including Jordan Fogarty, the head coach's son, who led his Swedish team in goals and points before that league suspended games because of COVID.

The 2018 run by the Princeton men's hockey team to the ECAC championship was one of the most exciting moments any Princeton team has put together in the last 10 years or so. It continued the "crazy eights" of Princeton hockey, which has seen the Tigers win the ECAC title in 1998, 2008 and 2018.

Two of Princeton's all-time best players have gone from that team to the NHL and now to Europe, with hopefully a return to the NHL in the offing. 

Max Veronneau is playing in the Swedish Hockey League, and Ryan Kuffner is playing in Germany.