On The Ice

You know how you can tell if a World Cup soccer player is actually hurt or is flopping? 

Count the number of times he rolls over. If it's more than a half, then he's flopping. Nobody but nobody rolls over multiple times after an actual injury, especially a leg injury. 

Watch any (American) football game. What you'll see: someone get hurt. What you won't see: that player roll over and over and over. 

This phenomenon was on clear display yesterday in the France-Iraq game, when an Iraqi player was actually hurt. He fell, grabbed his ankle and didn't roll. That equals an actual injury. 

TigerBlog has two favorite games so far in the tournament. 

The first was a 0-0 tie between Ecuador and Curacao, a game in which Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room set a World Cup record for most saves in a 90-minute game with 15 of them — many of which should have been goals. The second was another draw, this one a 2-2 game between Uruguay and Cape Verde. 

Why did TB like this one so much? First, it's that he's definitely on the Cape Verde bandwagon, especially after the 0-0 tie against Spain in the first game. Next up is Saudi Arabia Friday, where a win and a Uruguay tie or loss to Spain would vault Cape Verde into the knockout stage (as would any number of other scenarios).

Second, it's because the referee applied the "rolling over and over means no foul needs to be called" and let the game go on. What happened? The player who was agonizingly writhing on the field somehow got up and got right back into the play. Genius. 

Canada, by the way, finishes its three games of the group stage with a game tomorrow against Switzerland. The Canadians, coached by Princeton alum Jesse Marsch, have never reached the knockout stage and have not yet clinched a spot, though they almost certainly will, even with a loss.

The top two teams in each of the 12 groups will advance to the round of 32, as will the eight best third-place finishers. The tiebreakers are 1) points, 2) goal differential and 3) goals scored. Canada cannot finish last in its group and already has a plus-6 goal differential. 

Oh, and did you see Kylian Mbappe's first goal yesterday for France in the 3-0 win over Iraq? It was the most impressive one TB has seen so far in this World Cup. It was also Mbappe's first of two; he also had two in France's opener. He seems pretty good.  

Anyway, moving on to a different sport where the goal is to, well, score goals, Princeton had three women's hockey players chosen in the recent Professional Women's Hockey League draft. It's not shocking, given that Princeton won the ECAC regular season championship and reached the NCAA tournament under first-year head coach Courtney Kessel.

From Princeton to the pros. Congrats to Issy Wunder, Jane Kuehl, and Emerson O'Leary on being selected in the 2026 PWHL Draft! 🐯🏒https://t.co/kNBD4OlOUD

— Princeton Women's Ice Hockey (@PWIH) June 18, 2026

You can read about the three in the story on goprincetontigers.com that is linked in the post. 

In addition to posting about the three draftees, the Princeton women's ice hockey account has also announced its 2026-27 captains and ECAC schedule. As far as the captains go, they'll be Maggie Johnson, Rosie Klein, Gabby Kim and Uma Corniea. 

The opening face-off for the ECAC season is exactly four months from today, when the Tigers will be at RPI. 

In a typical year, the season starts the weekend before that, no? Last year, there were two with UConn a week earlier than the ECAC began; it was the same UConn team that Princeton would play in the NCAA tournament at season's end. There was a nearly five-month gap between the first two games and the NCAA game. 

Also, TB isn't sure if writing "2026-27" seems futuristic or not. He was talking about that very thing with a friend the other day, about what it was like when they were kids and thought the Year 2000 seemed so far away. 

Then again, four months from today seems so far away for right now. It'll be here soon, of course — but not too soon. It's not quite time for ice.