There's No Denying Mount St. Charles

’06 squad proved why it was one of — if not — the best teams in America

You know it was a special team and a special season when it holds the No. 1 spot on the year-end MyHockeyRankings board despite not winning it all at nationals.

The Mount St. Charles 2006 team surely wanted a different outcome in Plymouth, Mich., at the 2022 USA Hockey National Championships, but that doesn’t take away from a season in which they only lost four games all year.

The Mounties finished with a 51-4-1 record in the 2021-22 campaign, which gave them a 97.08 rating on MyHockeyRankings. That number is matched only by the team that ended up beating Mount in the national quarterfinals: Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

Mount out-scored its competition 319-115 over the course of the season. They started things off with a bang, winning the 2021 USHL Fall Classic and not losing a single game between Sept. 12 and Nov. 13.

They won the Northeast Pack playoffs in the first week of March, and followed that up with a New England Regional Championship two weeks later to secure their spot in the national dance. Standing in their way for those were top competition like the No. 7-ranked Pittsburgh Penguins Elite and No. 3 Bishop Kearney Selects.

Things went well in the preliminary round of the national playoffs at USA Hockey Arena; Mount posted a 12-4 win over the Sioux Falls Power, a 7-2 win over the Windy City Storm and a 6-3 win over Team Alaska. It was Shattuck’s loss to eventual national champion Chicago Mission in their preliminary round play that set up an epic quarterfinal battle between Mount St. Charles and SSM.

The national outcome didn’t hurt the draft stock of the Mounties’ roster, of course. Team members will be scattered across the United States next fall, as the USHL certainly took notice of the talent collected by the Rhode Island-based program.

Three players from the roster were invited to the 2022 USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Evaluation Camp for selecting next year’s National Under-17 Team, and two of them were chosen for Team USA.

James Hagens, who led the team in scoring with a remarkable 115 points in 54 games, will wear the Red, White and Blue for the NTDP next season. Goaltender Jack Parsons, who finished the year with a 29-2-1 record, a 2.13 goals-against average and .923 save percentage, will be joining Hagens in Plymouth, Mich.

Parsons was also a fourth-round pick (No. 70 overall) by Ottawa in the OHL Draft; Hagens was a sixth-round pick (No. 117) of London. They were the lone players selected in the OHL draft process.

Many of the Mounties appear to be going the American route, set to play in the USHL or otherwise. Two didn’t even wait for the USHL Draft to begin – defenseman Will Felicio signed a tender with the Madison Capitols and forward Sacha Boisvert signed a tender with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Those signings mean that the two are basically first-round picks of the USHL franchises – Felicio at No. 7 and Boisvert at No. 10 – and they are guaranteed to play in 55 percent of their new team’s games next season.

From there, forwards Theo Kiss and Callum Hughes were selected in the second round of the USHL Phase-I Draft, at No. 16 overall by Des Moines and No. 21 overall by Waterloo, respectively.

Forward J.J. Monteiro was selected in the fifth round by Waterloo, and then two players were selected in the seventh round – defenseman Jack Montaldo by Cedar Rapids and forward Chase Stefanek by Sioux City.

Forward Luke Gallo was selected by Omaha in the ninth round, and forward Jesse Venturo was selected on Day 2 in the Phase-II Draft.

Only time will tell, of course, but this ’06 Mount St. Charles roster could be one to be remembered for many years to come.

It’s been a wildly impressive 2021-22 season for many youth hockey teams around the globe. WHH will continue to profile some of those standout programs and performances throughout the summer. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for more!