One Of Those Days

Ethan Pearson had to be the easiest choice ever for a league Player of the Week award.

The Princeton men's hockey sophomore goalie had back to back saves last week, leading Princeton past Yale 3-0 and Brown 1-0. He even assisted on one of the goals against Yale.

If you're adding it up, Pearson's weekend was 46 saves, no goals against, one assist. That's pretty astonishing. It's no wonder that Pearson now leads Division I in goals-against average and save percentage.

Those two games were his first career shutouts. They were, for that matter, his first two career wins. 

If you're wondering the last time Princeton had back-to-back shutouts, it was in 2008. They came by scores of 4-0 against Yale on March 16 in Game 3 of the ECAC quarterfinals, and then 3-0 against Colgate in the ECAC semifinals. Princeton would win the championship game that year 4-1 over Harvard.

Who was the Princeton goalie in those two games? TB will tell you in a few paragraphs.

If you're wondering the last time Princeton had back-to-back shutouts in the same weekend, it was against Williams and Amherst — on Jan. 8-9, 1932.

The men's hockey team has two games this weekend against Quinnipiac, it's ECAC travel partner. The game tomorrow is in Baker Rink, and the teams meet again in Hamden, Conn., Saturday. Both games start at 7.

Only twice has Princeton ever had at least three straight shutouts. The first time was when the Tigers blanked Yale on Dec. 31, 1908 and then Jan. 1-2, 1909. For some reason, those games were played in Pittsburgh. Princeton also had four straight shutouts the season before. 

And that's it. 

So yes, that made Pearson an easy choice for ECAC Goalie of the Week. He made quite a bit of history last weekend. 

And the Tiger goalie in 2008? Zane Kalemba.

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What else does TB have for you today? It's one of those days where it turns out he has a bunch of stuff:

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Joe Dubuque, associate head coach for the wrestling team, strolled into TigerBlog's office yesterday morning.

It's always good to spend a few minutes with Joe, or any other member of the wrestling coaching staff, whose offices are next door to where TB's is. The conversation yesterday centered around Bloomington, Ind., where the wrestling team will open its season tomorrow night at 7 against the University of Indiana.

The Princeton-Indiana wrestling match, which will be held in Assembly Hall, will be a homecoming for Dubuque and Tiger assistant coach Nate Jackson, both of whom are Hoosier alums. Dubuque was a two-time NCAA champion at Indiana, while Jackson was a two-time All-American.

The trip to Indiana kicks off a Big Ten-heavy start for the Princeton schedule, as the Tigers will next face Wisconsin and Michigan State at the Prudential Center in Newark Dec. 4 and then host Rutgers in Jadwin Gym Dec. 11. After that is a trip to Northwestern for the Midlands Tournament.

With two returning NCAA finalists and a wrestling room full of talent, Princeton should be pretty excited to get going.

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It's actually a hockey doubleheader tomorrow, as the women will play St. Lawrence at 3. The Tigers are also home Saturday, facing Clarkson, also at 3.

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TigerBlog has been to Assembly Hall once, back in 1996, for Bill Carmody's first game as Princeton's head men's basketball coach. 

That was quite a day. TB was traveling to that game on the day it was played, with then-play-by-play man Tom McCarthy and then-local sportswriter Mark Eckel, and the group missed their plane at Newark due to a truck fire on the New Jersey Turnpike — even though they got to the gate while the plane was still sitting there, only to be told that the doors had been closed. 

TB can still remember watching the plane back away slowly, taunting them through the windows. Anyway, they ended up getting on a flight out of Philly to Indianapolis and then driving a rental car to Bloomington, an hour away, barely arriving in time for the game.

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As a reminder, the Ivy League women's volleyball tournament begins tomorrow in New Haven. Princeton, the Ivy League co-champ, takes on Brown at 4, to be followed by Yale, the other co-champ, and Dartmouth at 6.

The winners play Saturday at 6 for the Ivy League's automatic NCAA tournament bid. For more on the tournament, click HERE.

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TigerBlog was hoping to be headed to Storrs, Conn., this weekend for the NCAA field hockey Final Four. Instead, the Ivy League champion Tigers fell a week ago against Syracuse in the first round. It was still a great year for the Tigers, who went 7-0 in the league to win their 27th Ivy title.

TB did watch the end of the quarterfinal between Syracuse and Maryland and then Northwestern and Iowa. Both games went to penalty shootouts, and TB cannot state enough how much he can't stand that (or PKs in soccer). Keep playing overtime. Someone will score.

As for the Final Four, it's North Carolina-Penn State and Northwestern-Maryland in the semis. TB says UNC-Maryland in the final, with UNC the winner.

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Among the other highlights of the weekend are Saturday's NCAA cross country championships in Stillwater, Okla., the men's water polo league tournament at Brown, a men's basketball game at Marist tomorrow and a women's basketball game at Buffalo, also tomorrow.

Oh, and a football game on Powers Field too. TB will have more on the Princeton-Penn game tomorrow.

The complete weekend schedule is HERE.