Monday, January 30, 2023

Rolling 11

At the top of the coverage of the AFC Championship Game yesterday, CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson mentioned that Kansas City quarterback Pat Mahomes had a high ankle sprain that was usually a three- to six-week injury but that Mahomes had spent four or five hours a day getting treatment.

TigerBlog had to wonder why all professional athletes wouldn't do that. If Mahomes could come back and play quarterback eight days after that injury, why would any professional athlete sit out for three to six weeks? 

Wolson, if you didn't know, got her start in television at WZBN, which was a cable station in Hamilton. She spent a great deal of time on the Princeton campus, doing stories on Tiger athletes and covering games. 

The Super Bowl is set now, with the Philadelphia Eagles to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 12 in Glendale. For those keeping track, it'll be Super Bowl LVII.

TigerBlog will now take this opportunity to go with a cute baby Twitter celebration, courtesy of his colleague Warren Croxton, one of the biggest Philadelphia sports fans you'll ever meet.

As for the win by the favorite team of Warren (and presumably his daughter Theresa), it was nice to see the Birds win, but hey, it wasn't quite a fair fight, not once San Francisco lost Brock Purdy in the first quarter. When Purdy came back after Josh Johnson went out with an apparent concussion, it was clear that 1) he couldn't throw and 2) that San Francisco needed to throw.

Why leave Purdy in there to hand off down three touchdowns? Yes, there was no other QB, but either Christian McCaffery or Kyle Jusczcyk could at least try to throw the ball. It couldn't have been any worse. If Bob Surace had been the 49ers coach, he would have done it.

Johnson, by the way, has played for 13 NFL teams in his career. He played college football at the University of San Diego, back when Jim Harbaugh was his coach. In fact, they played at Princeton in 2005, in a game the Tigers won 20-17. Johnson for the day was 24 for 46 for 301 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in the game.

TigerBlog watched the games yesterday in Ohio, where he spent the weekend visiting Miss TigerBlog, who is in her first post-Princeton job. They were watching on YouTubeTV, using TB's account, and they logged in about an hour before kickoff.

And what did they get to see as they scrolled through the channels? Princeton-Quinnipiac women's hockey.

There are some events that are historic because they directly impact championships. There are others that lack those stakes on the game but nevertheless make their own kind of history. 

The women's hockey game yesterday was the second one of those.

Princeton was shut out by Quinnipiac 4-0 Saturday afternoon in Connecticut. That's fourth-ranked Quinnipiac, by the way, a team that improved to 24-4-0 with the win Saturday.

In that game, Princeton took only 21 shots, all of which were turned away by Bobcat goalie Logan Anders. Fast-forwarding 25 hours, and Princeton took only 23 shots — and turned them into 11 goals. 

That's one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in that short of a time that TB can remember, especially considering the caliber of the opponent. 

Even more amazingly, Princeton had three different players with a hat trick. Three? Yes, three — Maggie Connors, Sarah Fillier and Jane Kuehl, who had not only her first hat trick by also her first career goals.

The 11 goals Princeton scored were the most since the Tigers also scored 11, back in 1997 against St. Lawrence. If you're wondering what the highest goal total by a Division I women's hockey team this year has been, it's 13, by both Mercyhurst and Wisconsin. Princeton is the fifth team to score at least 11 in a game this year. 

The win was big for Princeton, who is in eighth place in the ECAC, where eight teams make the playoffs. Regardless of its significance, though, what Princeton did yesterday at Baker Rink was simply amazing.

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