When Is Next Week?

It's a Friday in July. 

Where does the blog content come from on such a day? Well, sometimes you just have to look at the side of the road. 

Last week, it was the shoe at the end of the road, which, by the way, is still there, though the heavy rains of the week actually washed it from one side to the other. This week? It's a street sign about which you could write a philosophy thesis. 

Here is the sign that TigerBlog drives past on a regular basis:

What does this mean? First of all, TB has been driving on this road for more than a week and nothing has changed. It's still open. 

The philosophy part asks the question of whether or not the street will ever be closed. Will it ever be next week? Is it next week now? It can't be. The road is still open. 

And with that:

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Jackson Hicke's start at the World University Games 3x3 event yesterday went perfectly fine, with the emphasis on the "perfectly."

Hicke, playing on the all-Ivy League USA entry, went 2-0 yesterday in Group A, defeating Chile 21-9 and Italy 19-12. As a result, the U.S. team earned a bye into tomorrow's quarterfinal round, bypassing the play-in round. 

A rising junior on the Princeton men's basketball team, Hicke had six points and eight rebounds between the two games.  

Princeton will have three swimmers in the pool today, with Mitchell Schott in the 200 free, Patrick Dinu in the 200 IM and Dakota Tucker in the 400 IM (an event in which she earned second-team All-American honors at the NCAA championships last winter). 

Schott was named the High Point Swimmer of the Meet after winning the 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 freestyle and being on the winning 800 freestyle relay to lead Princeton to the Ivy League title this past season. Dinu was also on that winning relay while also taking the 100 freestyle. 

Tucker was the 200 breaststroke champ as the women also won the 2025 Ivy title. 

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The 2025-26 men's hockey schedule was released earlier this week (much more tangible than the hypothetical "next week"), and opening day for the Tigers will be Halloween. 

If you want to come dressed as the mascot of the opponent for that night (and the next night), you'll have to come as a Nanook. In Intuit mythology, a "nanook" is considered "the master of bears." 

These Nanooks will come all the way from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks to Baker Rink. It'll be the first time the Nanooks play in Princeton and the first time the teams play since 1985, when they met in Alaska. 

Of course, there is a connection between Alaska-Fairbanks and Princeton men's hockey: Guy Gadowsky coached the Nanooks from 1999-2004 before he took over the Tigers.

By the way, it is 4,246 miles from the campus of Alaska-Fairbanks to the campus of Princeton and, according to google maps, a 68-hour drive. Be forewarned though: the directions say the route does have tolls. 

For the full Princeton schedule, click HERE. Season tickets go on sale Monday. 

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Much, much closer to this area is Fairfield, Conn., which is the host this weekend for the Premier Lacrosse League. 

There are four games this weekend, and all four have Princeton alums. Here's your schedule:

* tonight at 6:30 — New York Atlas (Jake Stevens) vs. California Redwoods (Sam English)
* tonight at 9 — Utah Archers (Ryan Ambler, Beau Pederson, Tom Schreiber) vs. Carolina Chaos
* tomorrow at 3 — Boston Cannons (Coulter Mackesy, Alexander Vardaro) vs. Denver Outlaws
* tomorrow at 8 — Maryland Whipsnakes vs. Philadelphia Waterdogs (Zach Currier, Michael Sowers)

Sowers continues to lead the league in points (28) and assists (19). 

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The first athletic event of the 2025-26 athletic year is now only five weeks away, with opening night for the women's soccer team against Rutgers on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium set for August 22 at 5 pm.

In the meantime, have a great weekend. TigerBlog will be back next week — whatever that means.