The Unlikely Star

So here's something that's less than ideal for your good night's sleep in a hotel room.

For context, this was Saturday night, or, technically, early Sunday morning, at a hotel near Hartford, where TigerBlog was staying for the NCAA men's lacrosse championships this past weekend.

His room was on the first floor, all the way at the end of a long hallway, right next to the exit. He was peacefully sleeping when the alarm went off. It was at 2:44 a.m.

Was there a time in his life when he might have not stopped to get video evidence of the situation? Probably. Of course, he was never really all that concerned about the fire situation, since he was actually sleeping closer to his car in the parking lot than he was to almost any other spot actually inside the hotel. 

At first, of course, it was really startling. Who wouldn't be startled with that? It was actually the light more than anything else at first. 

Once he realized he should get outside, it was about 20 seconds before he was in the parking lot. He was not, of course, the only one out there. Not at all. There were a lot of people. He felt especially badly for the people with little kids who had been awakened in the middle of the night.

Everyone had the same question: Is this a real fire? Eventually the fire department showed up and assured everyone it was not. In all, he was outside for about 30 minutes. He has no idea what time he actually got back to sleep, but he was pretty tired the next day.

While he was standing outside, he was looking for his colleagues Justin Lafleur from Lehigh and Mark Bedics from the NCAA, neither of whom he could see. He texted them at 2:53, prior to when the fire trucks came by, to see if they were okay. Neither responded. He asked a guy standing there if he thought anyone could sleep through that alarm, and he said that maybe he could have, but his dog, who by that time was lying on the ground wiped out, definitely didn't. 

The next day, Justin (fourth floor) and Mark (eighth floor) told TB they never heard the alarm. Neither did anyone else not on the first floor.  Hmmm. Interesting.

That unfortunate episode notwithstanding, it was fun to be back at the Final Four. TigerBlog's first was back in 1992, which, not coincidentally, was Princeton's first of 10, which has also included six championships. 

This past week, Cody Chrusciel put together a video series for social media to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1996 championship and the 20th anniversary of the 2001 championship.

Princeton's six NCAA championship men's lacrosse teams were stocked with All-Americans and even Hall-of-Famers, as well as some who should be in the Hall of Fame. They all rose to the occasion, with huge moments from so many familiar names from those teams.

Jesse Hubbard? Game-winning OT goal in 1996. Ryan Boyle? Game-winning assist in 2001, also in OT. That was B.J. Prager's goal. Prager, like Jon Hess, was a Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Scott Bacigalupo was twice. Chris Massey. Sean Hartofilis. Kevin Lowe. The list goes on and on.

Of all the major contributions that Princeton got in those May runs, the most unlikely came from a young man named Pancho Gutstein. He was a backup goalie for his entire career, and he loved being a part of Princeton men's lacrosse. He was such a great teammate that he was voted a captain as a senior, in 1996.

And that would have been enough for him, until he was put into a 9-9 game in the semifinals against Syracuse with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. As TB watched the championship game Monday between Virginia and Maryland, he wondered if either coach would have had the nerve to do that.

Gutstein responded with four saves and no goals against, as Princeton defeated Syracuse 11-9. He then came off the bench in the third quarter in the final against Virginia after the Cavs took a 7-6 lead, and he allowed five goals while making eight saves in what became a 13-12 overtime win.

The goalie he replaced, by the way, was Patrick Cairns, who in 1997 became an All-American and an NCAA all-tournament team selection on a team that went 15-0 and won the second of what became three straight titles.

As for Gutstein, he made the 1996 all-tournament team. TB caught up with him a few days ago. It turns out he lives in Australia, where he oversees the Oceana operation for Puma. 

HERE is the resulting story TB wrote. 

The story is more than just a recap of the games. TB hopes that Pancho's personality comes through, and he has a very large personality. You don't need to take TB's word for it. You can take the word of his twin sister, Abigail, who was a two-time first-team All-American in lacrosse at Princeton, as well as an NCAA champion herself and a two-sport athlete who was also an All-Ivy field hockey player:

"My brother is one of the greatest people on this Earth," she says.

He remains all these years later one of TB's favorite Tigers. 

And one of Princeton's most unlikely heroes of any NCAA tournament.