A tough loss to Prep Hockey Conference rival Culver Academies in round-robin play could have derailed Mount Saint Charles Academy’s 18-U national championship hopes. But the veteran squad ran the table the rest of the way and emerged from USA Hockey Nationals in Michigan with its first Tier 1 national championship.
Mount Saint Charles, which knocked off the No. 1-ranked Shattuck-St. Mary’s in the semifinals, beat the St. Louis AAA Blues 6-2 in the final on Monday.
The team returns to Woonsocket victorious after coming up short a year ago in the championship game against the Rochester Coalition. Coaches Matt Plante, Peter Cronin and Devin Rask assembled and led a special group of players that found ways to win the big games while not relying on the same contributors. Whether it was leading scorers Cam O’Neill or Micah Berger generating consistent offense, a big goal from Pembroke, Mass., native Matt Lewis to secure the True Cup against Northwood School in January, or a bend-but-don’t-break defensive group that neutralized some of the best scorers in the country, the Rhode Island Saint M’s saved their best for last.
Keyed by the stellar goaltending of Jack Spicer, the national champs fell behind a talented BK Selects team 2-0 in the quarterfinal round before Rhode Island roared back with four unanswered goals (two each by Zach Aben and Jason Stefanek) and held on for a 4-3 victory. After that, they were able to take big leads in the final two rounds, not allowing the opposition to generate momentum. Against favored Shattuck, the Saint M’s took a 3-0 lead and never looked back. A Berger hat trick cemented a 7-2 victory to propel them to the championship game. Even though the Blues were riding high after a big 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Regals on Sunday, they fell behind 5-0 by the middle of the second period and couldn’t break through against Spicer and the Saints defense.
Culver’s win was a wakeup call
Dropping a 7-5 game to Culver might have been the best possible adversity for Mount Saint Charles to go through. Starter Peter Sterling struggled in the second period after the first ended in a 1-1 tie, as he appeared to have trouble tracking pucks and looked like he was guessing on where Culver’s shots were coming from. After the teams exchanged goals to make it 3-3 in the second, Culver tallied two in less than two minutes, and Plante made a switch in net to bring Spicer into a 5-3 game. He held the fort as Mount cut the lead to 5-4, but allowed a late Hayden Stavroff goal to make it 6-4.
The team didn’t play poorly in the loss, but needed better goaltending to inspire confidence. That set the stage for Spicer to take the net, and he went 3-0 the rest of the way. Goaltending is a critical ingredient for any championship formula in hockey, and while the Saints provided ample offensive support, especially in the final two games with 13 goals, Spicer came through in the clutch with some big saves. The Maryland product has good size at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds and played big in the net. Shattuck and St. Louis weren’t able to counter with goals against him when they fell behind, and the Saints seemed to rally around him to keep the pressure on two teams capable of generating quick strikes.
It all came back to the Culver game, though. Had the team not gone through such a test, things might have been different. This was clearly a resilient group. The goaltending change helped, but key offensive performances from Berger, O’Neill, Aben and Stefanek carried the day in all three playoff games.
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Saints defense hung tough
It was a solid group on the back end, but they didn't have anyone with the flashy offensive upside of Minnesota Wild prospect Nate Benoit (Bow, N.H.) from the 2021 18-U team.
Late '04 Seth Constance continues to trend in the right direction with his blend of size (6-foot-2, 175), mobility and defensive acumen. He logged a lot of minutes and will be one to track in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Rhett Kodsi was banged up, but soldiered through it to provide the team with minutes when there wasn't a lot of depth. The Floridian is the younger brother of Bentley Falcons forward Cole Kodsi.
The defensive group, which included Lincoln, R.I., native Tommy DelFarno and Joe Peters, wasn't fancy, but they defended well and sacrificed individual accolades to move pucks to the right areas and keep things simple.
They all came together to boost yet another championship run to add to the legacy of high school titles Mount Saint Charles won in the state of Rhode Island, especially significant after the death of longtime coach and architect Bill Belisle in January at age 92.
Yale's run ended by Shattuck, Eiserman
After winning the New England District playoffs, the Yale Jr. Bulldogs advanced to the quarterfinal round, but ran into the Shattuck buzzsaw and lost 11-5 to close out their season.
Top '06 prospects Macklin Celebrini and Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.) had big days offensively. Celebrini tallied two goals and sevent points in the victory, while Eiserman chipped in with two goals.
Yale got strong performances up front during the week from Dante Palombo and Geno McEnery. They played well enough in round-robin action to make it into the playoffs, but had the tough draw with Shattuck right off the bat.
