By Bill Alden

Facing rival Notre Dame last Wednesday evening at the Mercer County Skating Center, the Princeton High boys’ hockey team generated a number of scoring chances.

Although PHS outshot the Irish 22-8 through the first two periods, the Little Tigers were trailing 2-1 heading onto the third period.

PHS sophomore forward Stephen Avis acknowledged that the Little Tigers squandered that advantage.

“We were a little flat,” said Avis. “Even through we were outshooting them, we weren’t putting our opportunities into the goal.”

In the third period, Avis put two pucks into the goal, scoring with 13:54 left in regulation to make it 2-2 and then finding the back of the net with 5:43 remaining as PHS forged ahead 3-2.

“The puck bounced out, it was about 10 feet in front of the goal, I just shot it and it went in,” said Avis, recalling his first tally.

“The third goal for us was a great play by Ryan McCormick. He went around the net and made a perfect pass to me. The net was wide open and I just had to shoot it in.”

It didn’t turn to be a great finish for the Little Tigers as Notre Dame responded with two goals in the last two minutes of the contest to pull out a 4-3 win.

“I feel it was a little bit of the bounces went their way and we took some penalties at the end,” said Avis, reflecting on what made the difference for the Irish.

Having worked hard over the offseason, the bounces have been going Avis’ way around the net as he has tallied 12 points on five goals and seven assists this season.

“I worked on some skating and got more ice time this year,” said Avis, who plays club hockey with the Mercer Chiefs. “I feel like I have a little more experience. I am more confident with the puck.”

PHS head coach Tim Chase is seeing some confident play from Avis.

“Stephen is a big body, he has been moving his feet a lot more and that has been giving him the chances as of late,” said Chase. “He has a good, quick hard release on his shot.”

While the defeat to Notre Dame was hard to take, Chase was proud of his team’s overall effort.

“We skated well today, we battled pretty well in the offensive zone,” said Chase.

“Offensively our guys have been generating chances. We need that same intensity in our end when the puck is not there. We dominate the play and then we lose focus on our end and the next thing you know, it is a simple goal.”

In Chase’s view, the loss to Notre Dame could ultimately prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“Let’s get these out of the way now and learn from them; it is early in the season and we are not together on the ice every day,” said Chase, whose team lost 4-1 to Westfield last Saturday to move to 8-4-2 and has a busy week ahead as it faces Robbinsville on January 17, plays at Middletown South on January 19, plays WW/-P on January 20 at Baker Rink, and Hopewell Valley on January 22.

“It takes a little while to jell. I am new and they are getting used to me. I figured there would be some bumps in the road.”

Avis, for his part, is confident that PHS will keep jelling. “This year we are rolling more lines, we are including more people,” said Avis. “Going forward, we just need to get more ready for the games and come out stronger. We still have a long season to play.”