Over the last couple of days, the commitments of rising juniors have continued with a pair of local players choosing Ivy League schools.
Sioux Falls Stampede right wing Will McDonough (Duxbury, Mass.) and Loomis Chaffe and River Rats center Ryan Staples committed to Harvard and Yale, respectively.
McDonough was assumed to be destined to play for the Crimson for a while. The longtime Boston Advantage star is entering his first year of eligibility for the 2023 NHL draft.
He started off the 2021-22 season with Boston Advantage, but outclassed the competition in 18-U, scoring 25 goals and 18 assists in 25 games at that level. In 17 NCDC games with the Advantage, he potted seven goals and had three assists. From there, he moved on to the USHL. In 26 games with Sioux Falls, he scored three goals and six assists.
McDonough played for USA Hockey at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, scoring a goal in three games. The big power forward has had his share of adversity on the injury and illness front over the last 15 months, but he’s persevered. When he’s playing at the top of his game, he’s coming off the wall with power and hanging around the net where he has a knack for loose pucks. He is certainly one of the top five draft-eligible players from New England heading into the 2022-23 regular season.
The '05 became the third junior to commit to the Crimson since August 1, joining Shattuck-St. Mary’s defenseman Drake Murray and Seminaire St-Francois Blizzard defenseman Xavier Veilleux.
In Staples, Yale landed one of the most improved '06s in New England. Staples was the best player for Bishop Hendricken in 2021-22 as the Hawks won the RIIL State Championship. He scored over a point per game at the high school and split-season level this past winter. In 15 games for Hendricken, he had six goals and 12 assists. With the River Rats, he scored 15 goals and had 26 assists. He had a strong showing at USA Hockey Select 16 Player Development Camp, potting four goals and two assists.
Staples is a 200-foot player who can play center or wing. He has a hard shot and compares favorably to former BC captain and current Boston Bruin Marc McLaughlin. He’s the first forward to commit to Yale since August 1, but joins Avon Old Farms defenseman Hudson Miller and Dexter Southfield blue liner Jonathan Lanza (Winthrop, Mass.) in pledging to the Bulldogs this month.
Mount Saint Charles saw the school’s fourth player commit this month to a Division 1 program when Theo Kiss announced he would be playing college hockey for UMass. He was sometimes overshadowed by the likes of James Hagens, Sacha Boisvert and Will Felicio, but Kiss had a tremendous season with the school’s 15 Only team. In 54 games, the Kosice, Slovakia, native scored 29 goals and had 53 assists for 82 points. He’s coming off a solid effort for his native Slovakia at the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo. The '06 became the first rising junior to commit to the Minutemen, a program with two new assistant coaches, Nolan Gluchowski and Tommy Upton.
While not a rising junior, New Jersey Titans '02 defenseman Eric Charpentier committed to Dartmouth. The former Frederick Gunn blue liner from Silver Spring, Md., is coming off his first full season of junior hockey. In 71 games, he scored two goals and 21 assists. A big rig on the backend, he skates well and should be a good get for the Big Green. Charpentier and his teammates from the Titans are the defending NAHL Robertson Cup champions.
