Eight midget teams from New England will compete for a USA Hockey National Championship over the course of the next week.
Mount Saint Charles is the only team from the region with a spot in three midget divisions, 15 Only, 16-U and 18-U. The Boston Junior Eagles and Yale Junior Bulldogs have teams at 16-U and 18-U while the Minuteman Flames have an entrant in the 15 Only division.
Will a team from New England skate away from Michigan with a midget national championship next Monday? No team from New England has won a national championship since South Kent Selects Academy's back-to-back 18-U national championships in 2018 and 2019.
The region’s best bet for a trophy lies with the Mount Saint Charles 15 Only team, coached by Scott Gainey and Jim Creamer. Led by star forwards James Hagens and Sacha Boisvert, top defenseman Will Felicio (Holden, Mass.), and goaltender Jack Parsons, the horses are there to make a run. The depth is impressive, both up front and on the blue line, although a key injury to the defense will be felt.
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While Mount is the top-ranked team in the country, the 15 Only division has plenty of competition and a ton of high-end talent. Among the chief contenders outside of the boys from Woonsocket are Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Little Caesars, Chicago Mission and Bishop Kearney Selects.
At 16-U, the Junior Eagles won the Massachusetts State Championship back in November, earning a bid to nationals. Despite losing star forwards Will Smith and Will Vote from their team in 2020-21, the team kept it together and pushed forward. Word is that Junior Eagles coach Kent Hughes, former NHL agent and now the GM of the Montreal Canadiens, will be on hand to coach the team along with Milton Academy head coach Paul Cannata in Rochester Wednesday. It will be a challenge to get past some of the heavyweights from the Midwest, including Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Chicago Mission and Compuware. However, if there’s a goaltender out there to do it, it’s Sam Scopa, the Lexington, Mass., native and prep star out of Belmont Hill.
At 18-U, the clear favorite is Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a team that features underager Cole Eiserman, an '06 from Newburyport, Mass., who recently made the NTDP U-17 team for 2022-23.Â
There are important storylines for all three New England teams. The Junior Bulldogs recently won the New England District Championship, beating Mount Saint Charles in the semifinals.
A heavy, 2003-laden forward group is reason for optimism. Headlined by a trio of Kent forwards, Jacob Kraft, Geno McEnery and Dante Palombo, the Junior Bulldogs should be able to score against anyone.
Mount Saint Charles will play hard and has some big guns, led by 2022 NHL draft prospect and UMass commit Cameron O’Neill, the team’s first-line right wing. While the top line is the most productive by far, Plante’s team has two other lines that play hard and can compete. When on top of their game, the goaltending duo of Jack Spicer and Peter Sterling can be formidable.Â
While the Junior Eagles are probably the least likely of the three to win it all, right wing Michael Callow will have plenty of eyeballs on him. The South Boston, Mass., native and St. Sebastian’s star is committed to Harvard and a virtual lock to hear his name called at the 2022 NHL draft. While not on as many draft radars, the team’s most consistent player has been Callow’s teammate, Arlington, Mass., native and Princeton commit Brendan Gorman.
