Princeton coach Chase enjoying life at the rink

If it wasn’t hockey sending Tim Chase around the world, it was his time working as a hedge fund trader keeping him on the road.

After playing at Brown and then being drafted by the Montreal Canadians, Chase played in the minors and in Europe for several seasons before taking the Wall Street-type work.

Last year, he returned to his first passion, hockey.

“I made hockey my full-time job again,” said Chase, who is the first-year coach of Princeton High.

Besides guiding the Little Tigers fortunes, Chase is the Director of Hockey at ProSkate and the General Manager of the NJ Stars travel hockey organization.

Princeton is off to a 2-0-1 start and faces off with Lawrence at 4 p.m. on Monday at Mercer County Park.

“It’s really exciting to take over the PHS boys team,” said Chase, who is a Princeton resident with his wife and two children. “Terence Miller handed off a strong group of players and I hope I can pick up where he left off. I’m still trying to catch up on all my duties and learning the players’ tendencies.”

Chase is no doubt a fast learner as the Tigers, who reached the state semifinals last season, have some new faces, but seem to be ready to challenge again for some state recognition.

“We need to work a bit, offensively and defensively, on how I want our team to play,” said Chase. “But the skill set is there to have a very strong season.”

Busy Schedule at WW-P

Andrew Ferencevych, the West Windsor-Plainsboro coach and Ken Mason, the Athletic Director, deserve credit for putting together a 23-game schedule for the WW-P Co-op team.

The players are certainly getting a lot of ice time.

It is a competitive, yet not overbearing, schedule and the WW-P team will be able to compete in every game.

Now, if we could just come up with a nickname for the South and North merged team. How about the “Pirates of the North” or the “Knighted Pirates?”

Fly Eagles Fly

There seems to be a new vibe surrounding the Paul VI hockey team. The Eagles are off to a 2-0 start and seem to be playing with a new attitude.

“We wanted to make wholesale changes,” said first-year coach Nick Miller, who played at Paul VI in 2010. “There is a big attitude change. These kids want to win and they are determined.”

Despite not being a Mercer County team, the Eagles are glad to be in the CVC and are looking to have a say in the Valley Division race.

“It doesn’t matter who or where, these kids just want to play hockey,” said Miller. “It helps that we play at the Flyers Skate Zone. We like having that home ice advantage.”

Rankings CVC

1. Princeton — Tigers looking impressive early.

2. Hopewell Valley — ‘Dawgs have a lot of weapons

3. Notre Dame — Team that is going to get better each game.

4. Robbinsville — Once they develop their own identity they’ll be right there

5. Paul VI — A vastly improved team.

6. West Windsor-Plainsboro — Have some talent to cause everyone trouble

7. Lawrence — Still looking for the right chemistry

8. Steinert — Has the talent to pull it all together.

9. Nottingham — Improve a little each game

Prep

1. Princeton Day — This week will be a good measuring stick

2. Hun — A team that knows how to win

3. Lawrenceville — Still working on right balance