As host to the 2025 OFSAA Boys Hockey Championships in March, the St Charles College Cardinals already know that they will have home ice advantage at the all-Ontario high-school playdowns.
Not that this will stop coaches Rob Zanatta and Darren Michelutti from trying to find any possible leg up that they can gain on the remaining entries from across the province.
While a pre-Christmas Alumni Game certainly was a light-hearted affair Friday night at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the fact that the opponents for the undefeated 2024-2025 version of the Cardinals team were none other than the 1990-1991 SCC crew, the only Cardinal boys hockey team ever to win OFSAA gold, could not be overlooked.
“You look at some of the teams that they’ve had and it’s to believe that we’re the only ones,” noted long-time Sudburian and captain of the top of the podium entry, Tim Chateauvert.
Splitting his childhood years between Lively (initially) and Sudbury (by the age of 7 or 8), Chateauvert was a mainstay on the local AAA hockey circuit, a member of the Sudbury Burgess Power Train midgets before he veered off to join SCC in his grade 12 year.
One of five or six players who returned to the team after finishing fourth at OFSAA in 1989-1990, the hard working forward still recalls an appearance at the St Andrews Tournament in January of 1991 that really kicked the juggernaut that would finish the season with a record of 68-1-1 into particularly high gear.
“That’s when we came together, when we started to believe that we really do have a chance,” he said. “We had so much confidence after that.”
With coaches Mike Fievoli and Bob Palmeiro making the move up with the ascending juniors one year earlier, the Cards enjoyed a buy-in from each and every player on the roster that is rarely seen - but one that was absolutely critical to the end success of this team.
“Tim had told me going into grade 12 that he was thinking of doing this,” recalled defenceman Jack McLaughlin, referencing the move from Great North Midget Hockey that both he and Chateauvert would make in the fall of 1989. “I knew they were a well coached team. It was the St Charles way.”
In this system, the rock solid blueliner was a near perfect fit.
“I was fundamentally sound,” McLaughlin noted. “There were others who were more offensively skilled - but I had played on a lot of really good teams. Philosophically, this team was very attractive because it was team first.”
“If you didn’t buy in, you didn’t play.”
“Their coaching strategy (Fievoli and Palmeiro) was a big reason why everybody bought in,” added Chateauvert.
Coach Mike Fievoli was thrilled to join about a half dozen or so of his old players at the Alumni Game last week, a chance to share memories and serve as role models for a group of teens who would dearly love to recreate that very special OFSAA run.
“The guys were so close, really playing for each other,” said Fievoli, a man who arrived at St Charles College with a background as a hockey coach and quickly offered his services, wherever they were needed. “I remember thinking after the St Andrews’ tournament that this team had a chance to be very special.”
To this day, teammates point to Tim Chateauvert as a captain behind which everyone could align, a very easy leader to follow. “I got along with all of the players - and my game was as a worker, so I got a lot of respect with the work I would put in,” said Chateauvert, a young many who had already worn both a “C” and an “A” with AAA teams prior to donning the scarlet and grey of the Cardinals.
In his mind, it was very easy to lead with a pair of coaches who were not the least bit driven by ego, not the least bit consumed with over-thinking the game of hockey. “I had played for AAA coaches who tried to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Our coaches (at SCC) kept it simple.”
All of that said, there was nothing that was unexpected in their OFSAA run. The Cardinals entered the tournament ranked #1 after finishing fourth the year before. A close win over Upper Canada College in their second pool game was the biggest hurdle they likely would face, capturing the final by an impressive final count of 6-1.
With a talented group of juniors making the jump and some key additions coming over from the “AA” or “AAA” ranks, coaches and returnees alike understood the importance of everyone being in absolute lockstep in pursuit of a common goal.
“We knew that this was they way we were going to play, right from day one,” stated Jack McLaughlin, now 52 years of age. “And we knew that it gets a lot harder once you get out of the city.”
Thankfully, they also knew that high-school sports enjoy an inherent advantage that is very difficult to duplicate in a club team setting.
“You’re in class together every day; you live it every day; it’s a very different experience,” said McLaughlin. That is a reality that the 2024-2025 Cardinals understand every bit as much as their predecessors. And with a little luck and a whole lot of hard work, it just might be enough to allow them to follow in their heralded footsteps.
“We have talked about it over the years, that it’s pretty unreal that we are the only ones,” said McLaughlin. “It’s a source of pride - but it’s time for another team to win it all, to join us.”
“It would be great for the school.”
And if it happened on home ice in Sudbury, well, all the better.
The remainder of the 1990-1991 St Charles College senior boys hockey roster was as follows: Kevin McCann, Jason Will, Pat Morris, Dan Champagne, Jeff Tyres, John Svalina, Chris Peres, Jeff Holmes, Chris Matthews, Dean Blanchard, Jeff Conrad, Dave Stefanuto, Mike Oldenburg, Brad Walker, Ed Baliat, Greg Husk, Cummy Burton, Pat Lemieux and manager Mike Cacciotti.
