Finding an identity
Led by Rhode Islanders Gaudreau, Berard, Mount U15 team in national title picture
WOONSOCKET — Sometimes it takes a brand new hockey team months to find its identity. Some teams never find it.
For the Mount St. Charles Hockey Academy U15 team, it took less than a month for the Mounties to realize that their best form of attack started with owning their responsibilities in the defensive zone. In just its second home game at Adelard Arena last month, Mount allowed four goals in a tie to the New Jersey Rockets. They allowed four more goals in a loss to coach Scott Gainey’s former squad, South Kent Prep, and then five more goals in the next two games.
“With the competition level that we’re at, we have to play with urgency and everyone is going to give us their best,” Gainey said Tuesday. “I think that’s something that these guys need to learn. We’re never going to see anyone on a bad night. I don’t know if it will be the whole game, but we’re going to get everyone’s best. It comes back to finding our identity and finding what makes us successful individually and as a team.”
And then something changed when the team returned from the North Jersey Avalanche Classic in Hackensack, N.J.. The Mounties came home and swept two games with the Mercer Chiefs, shut out the Springfield Rifles and then didn’t allow a goal in three games at the Yale Jamboree in Connecticut. The Mounties beat the No. 1 team in the country, the Minnesota Blades 3-0, last Friday and then shut out the Avalanche and the Cape Cod Whalers.
For Cranston’s Perry Gaudreau, last weekend’s performances were a big reason he opted not to go to Bishop Hendricken this year and come to Mount to take a big step toward his dream of playing Division I hockey.
“The big thing for us is we’re working as a team and keeping things simple,” Gaudreau said. “We’re getting pucks deep and we’re working really hard. Beating [the Blades] was just awesome. There was a ton of forechecking and a ton of playing defense and getting the puck and keeping it simple like always.”
While there are plenty of good reasons to come to Adelard to watch the U18 and U16 teams loaded with Division I college commits, the U15 squad combines good hockey with names hockey and sports fans in the Blackstone Valley would recognize. Gaudreau was a star on the Cranston Western Little League team that lost in the 2017 state championship game to Cumberland American.
Gainey saw Gaudreau playing for the Cape Cod Whalers U14 squad last year and thought he’d be an asset at Mount, he just didn’t expect the 6-foot-1 forward to be among the squad’s leading scorers this soon.
“I won’t say Perry’s been a surprise, but he can put the puck in the net,” Gainey said. “Looking at him throughout last season, I thought he’d be a good player, but I thought it’d be more down the road, but he’s come in and been coachable. He makes adjustments on the fly, which can be challenging for kids. He’s got a great personality and he’s embracing the player he is. He’s one of our points leaders and I didn’t expect that.”
Gaudreau said the key to his early-season success has been quite simple – go to the net and work hard. He already has nine goals for a team that is 13-3-2.
“I’m just staying in front of the net and trying to bury as many pucks as I can,” Gaudreau said. “I’m loving this right now because it’s so much fun. For me, I want to eventually be a Division I player, but first I want to win nationals here.”
Another familiar face is Providence College commit and East Greenwich resident Brady Berard. Berard, who helped Bishop Hendricken win the MSC Holiday Face-Off and state titles last season, already has four goals this season, including an empty-net effort to seal the win over the Blades.
“I think coming here was the right choice for me for my development,” Berard said. “I know everyone knows who my brother is [U.S. National Team
“We’re going to have to weather some storms playing 60-plus games, but at the end of the day, if we stay together and keep pushing, we should be right up there.”
— MSC Hockey Academy U15 coach Scott Gainey
Development Program U18 forward Brett Berard] and there’s going to be talk about it, but I don’t care about any of that. I just go out there and do my job. I keep growing as a player and playing with all these better players is going to make me better.”
Gainey, who also happens to be a scout for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers, knows Berard has all the physical traits to succeed at the next level, but the key for all the players on the U15 team is learning to use those skills to make the team better. So far, Berard has done that as the Mounties have won seven straight games headed into Saturday’s game against the Boston Advantage in Hingham, Mass.
“Brady has some good pedigree to him, but the thing for Brady and all of our guys is they can play the game, but they need to know the game,” Gainey said. “It’s knowing the details and knowing the situations you’re in. What we try to explain to the kids is we’re coaching you here for there, so when you get to the USHL or college, you already have the experience of managing your game. I love the way Brady plays. He gives you an honest day’s work every time on the ice. He’s figuring it out.”
One of the big reasons Berard made the switch from Hendricken’s green and gold to Mount’s red, white and blue was Jim Creamer. Creamer was the architect of a Hawk program that won six state titles in the 14 seasons, including three of the last four. After winning last season’s title, Creamer stepped down and become a part-time coach for the U15 squad.
Just how much did Gainey and the program’s co-directors Matt Plante and Devin Rask want Creamer on their staff? Unlike the other three teams that practice during the school day, the U15 team practices after school so Creamer can be there after leaving his day job as a guidance counselor at Cranston East.
“It’s a huge asset to have someone with Jim’s experience on the bench,” Gainey said. “Jim and I have known each other since he was coaching in high school and I was coaching at Xavier High School [in Middletown, Conn.]. I coached his son Matt [at South Kent], so the transition to working together wasn’t awkward. We have similar personalities. One thing that’s really comes out – and you don’t know this until you’re in the fire – we like the same type of player, the same type of work ethic and the same type of gritty, sandpaper type of guys.”
The local connections don’t stop there because North Kingstown’s Aidan Darlington transferred from Moses Brown and is a valuable utility forward who has played significant time due to injuries. Defenseman Ben Robertson is from Virginia, but he is cousins with North Smithfield boys soccer coach Eric Korytkowski. Robertson’s family grew in Westerly before moving because of the defenseman’s father’s military service.
There are three other forwards from New England, but Gainey said he didn’t build a squad with local connections in mind. He just wanted to build a diverse team that could compete on the national level.
“It means a lot community-wise and I understand that because I’m a local guy from Connecticut,” Gainey said. “Yes, we want to have some local kids, but is it planned that way? Not really. We’re just fortunate this year that we have that New England flavor. You get different types of players from different regions and we’re fortunate to have kids from all over. We’re thrilled with the group we have and we’re just scratching the surface with our potential.”
The Mounties, who are ranked 10th in the country by MYHockey after last weekend’s shutout wins, also feature some talented kids from outside of New England. Goalie Jack Spicer, from Rockville, Maryland, was his team’s best player in Connecticut last weekend, while Canadian Jake Furlong is one of the top defensemen in his age group.
Florida’s Jackson Graber and New York’s Frank D’Ancona have supplemented the scoring of Gaudreau and Berard to put the first-year program in the national championship picture. The Mounties’ three victories last weekend all came against top-25 teams, which gives Gainey confidence that he’s just scratching the surface with the talent in his locker room.
“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever had depth-wise, grit-wise and personality-wise,” Gainey said. “We’re going to have to weather some storms playing 60-plus games, but at the end of the day, if we stay together and keep pushing, we should be right up there.”