Mount Saint Charles has hired Devin Rask, Matt Plante and Scott Gainey to revitalize its hockey program, as first reported by New England Hockey Journal on Wednesday night.
All three were hired away from Selects Academy at South Kent, the Connecticut-based prep school. Mount Saint Charles, the Woonsocket, R.I., school, will implement a similar format to its hockey program as currently constituted at Shattuck St. Mary’s and Selects Academy at South Kent. There will be 18U, 16U and 15U teams that will compete against other midget programs instead of the traditional high school format.
This idea was spearheaded by Mount alum and former NHL goaltender Brian Boucher in an effort to revitalize a program with 43 state titles, but none since 2014. To successfully build a program similar to Selects Academy and Shattuck, Mount will have to build residence halls.
"Bringing in national-level coaches shows that we’re committed to developing an outstanding program that gives our students every opportunity to reach their full potential," said Mount Saint Charles president Alan Tenreiro in a press release. "At Mount, this will also continue to include creating opportunities for students of all ability levels throughout the athletic program to play just for the love of the sport, because that’s an important part of their development. We’re looking forward to telling the Mount community more in September, when more of the details have been finalized.”
What does this all mean?
The obvious initial reaction to this news is that another group of midget programs is the last thing the New England hockey scene needs. It will certainly further water down an already watered-down industry.
Hiring Rask and Plante as co-directors of hockey operations does signify that Mount is serious and has some money backing this effort, which is certainly a good thing. Rask and Plante both college hockey at Providence and Quinnipiac, respectively, and have plenty of connections throughout the hockey world.
They will spend the 2018-19 season recruiting and looking to fill teams for the 2019-20 season.
The trio’s abrupt departure from Selects Academy at South Kent could have disastrous effects on the school, as well as the futures of players already in the program.
It’s also not out of the realm of possibilities that some NCAA committed players who were planning on being at Selects Academy could instead turn to major junior. That would negatively impact college programs and their recruiting efforts.
Several parents of Selects Academy players have already publicly or privately expressed their dissatisfaction with how this whole process was handled. With just three weeks until the start of the 2018-19 midget season, families are left scrambling to find a place to play.
Hopefully the Mount program is a success. It’s a model that has proven to work at Shattuck and Selects, and Rask, Plante and Gainey certainly have experience molding such a format. The right people are in place for it to thrive.
