Winter Weekend

There are 18 Princeton teams who will be competing this weekend alone. 

So where does TigerBlog start? With his longtime friend Ernie Larossa, the Johns Hopkins University Associate Director of Athletics for Communications. 

Like TigerBlog, Ernie is an athletic communications lifer. Like TB, he's raised his children (three of them, all grown) around the home team. 

Ernie and TigerBlog have worked together on quite a few occasions, especially as it relates to updating the stat-keeping rules for men's lacrosse (along with Ryan Eigenbrode of Loyola and Stacie Michaud of Navy). Here are the four of them this past summer, with Ernie in the blue shirt:

TB isn't sure there's anyone who knows Ernie who doesn't like him. He's just one of those people. 

That's why TB wanted to make sure he took some time to congratulate his friend on his selection into the Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame, something that was announced last week. He was a different kind of Blue Jay in college, having graduated from Elizabethtown, and now he'll be enshrined in April among the greats that Hopkins has ever had. 

He belongs there as much as anyone. 

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Okay, seguing from Blue Jays to Tigers, as TB said there are 18 Princeton teams in action this weekend. Where in the world did you start with that? How about with the "winter" teams? 

Specifically, how about at the Armory in Upper Manhattan? 

If you've never been to a meet at the Armory in Washington Heights, it's certainly worth attending. Hey, this weekend would be perfect for that. 

The Armory will host the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday and Sunday. The Princeton men will be chasing an 11th straight title, while the women are the defending champs after winning a year ago for the first time since 2011. 

You can get lost on THIS PAGE, which has top times and rankings and everything else you could ever want to see about NCAA indoor track and field for men and women, Divisions I, II and III. Here's one note TB found: Princeton's Greg Foster has the best long jump by an Ivy athlete so far this season — by more than three feet. 

On the women's side, Georgina Scoot and Alexandra Kelly rank 1-2 in the Ivy League in the triple jump and 2-1 in the long jump. There's all kinds of Princeton on that website. There will be all kinds of Ivy athletics at the Armory site.

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The ECAC women's hockey quarterfinals are this weekend, with four best-of-three series on four different campuses, one of which is Princeton's. It'll be the Tigers and Harvard at Baker Rink, with games tomorrow and Saturday at 3 and then, if necessary, again Sunday at 3.

Princeton is 10th in the NPI ratings, which will decide NCAA sports. Harvard is 19th. During the regular season, it was a split of two games, with each having won on home ice. 

The winner of this series will advance to the Lake Placid for next weekend's semifinals and final. The other quarterfinal series have Colgate at Cornell, Brown at Quinnipiac and Union at Yale. 

Princeton tied Yale for the ECAC regular season championship and is the No. 2 seed in the tournament.  

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And basketball?  

The Princeton men are home this weekend tomorrow night against Harvard (7) and Saturday night against Dartmouth (6). With three games to play (Princeton will be at Yale next weekend), the Tigers are one game back of fourth place; the top four teams will advance to Ithaca for the Ivy tournament. 

On the women's side, Princeton is tied for first place with Columbia at 9-2 with three games to go. This weekend sees Princeton at Dartmouth tomorrow and Harvard Saturday, with a home game against Yale next Saturday. 

The Tigers and Lions have clinched their trips to Cornell for Ivy Madness. Harvard is a game back at 8-3 and is pretty much a lock to be in the field as well. Brown is currently in fourth, two games up on Penn. 

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More hockey?  

The Princeton men are at Harvard tomorrow and Dartmouth Saturday as the ECAC regular season comes to a close. 

The Tigers have already clinched home ice in the ECAC tournament, but the question still to be determined is whether that will be next week or the week after. Princeton hits the road in fourth place in the league, three points up on Harvard and four up on Union and six back of Cornell for third. 

The top four teams on the men's side also get a bye in the first round and home ice in the quarterfinals. A Princeton win, regulation or OT, at Harvard would clinch fourth place. A Harvard regulation win would leave the teams tied heading into the final night of the season. Keep in mind the Crimson will have to play first place Quinnipiac Saturday night.