By MICHAEL PARENTE

Sports writer

PROVIDENCE – Since they beat Bishop Hendricken for the first time in December, the Mounties have emphasized the importance of getting back to the top of high school hockey, not just for a week or two, but the entire season.

They’re one step closer to reaching their goal after beating La Salle Academy on Thursday night.
Senior forward John Guay scored three goals as undefeated Mount Saint Charles blanked the Rams, 6-0, at The Dunkin’ Donuts Center to clinch its first regular-season Division I championship in three years. The Mounties will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed looking to win their first state title since 2003.
“This is very exciting,” Guay said. “I mean, we haven’t won a division title since freshman year. I know all the guys are committed to that goal and it’s exciting because I think we play as a team and it’s fun to watch us play.”
Most players who’ve passed through Mount in the last three decades have left the school with four titles to their name, yet Guay is part of a senior class looking for its state championship – a goal each of those players has kept in sight since the start of the season.
“You have no idea,” Guay said. “You come to Mount to win a state championship and we’ve come so close for so many years, but it’s just not good enough. The seniors this year are all dedicated. It’s not just individuals. We’re going to do it as a team and we’re going to (leave) our mark at Mount.”
Thursday’s victory pushed the Mounties’ record to 12-0-1 in league play while the Rams fell to 5-7-0. The Hawks won the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader, 10-1, against Moses Brown, but were officially eliminated in the race for the division title when Mount beat La Salle.
“We’ve taken the first step,” Mount assistant coach Dave Belisle said. “It’s a tougher task to turn things around and this senior class is very determined and focused on one game at a time and it’s showed all year long.
“Sometimes, in the last three years after we lost it, I just think we felt, ‘It’s going to come back.’ They worked hard, but it takes game by game – ‘What’s the next game ahead of us?’ Tonight, it was a tough La Salle team. (Last week) it was Hendricken, then before that it was Toll Gate. They deserve what they’ve gotten so far. There’s a long way to go, but they’re focused.”
Skating on a much bigger ice surface than the one at Adelard Arena, Mount got off to a quick start thanks to its defense, which helped create two breakaway goals in the opening period. Three minutes into the game, Jim Fuoroli stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated untouched into the corner before firing a perfect pass to Guay in front of the net. The senior ripped a one-timer past Rams’ goalie Chris Cooney to give Mount a 1-0 lead.
With 4:21 remaining, Fuoroli came up with another steal in the neutral zone and this team beat Cooney himself for a short-handed goal to make it 2-0. The Mounties focused on their forechecking right from the opening face-off after a slow start last weekend against Hendricken.
“We’ve been very conscious of coming out strong in the first period,” Belisle said. “We fell behind against Hendricken, but we came out tonight conscious of creating turnovers and playing solid, neutral-ice defense and we did – we created two breakaways. It was a very good first period.”
La Salle slowed down the pace early in the second, but the Mounties eventually broke through, scoring three times in a span of 3 minutes, 8 seconds to open up a 5-0 lead. Guay scored twice during that stretch, the latter coming off a rebound in front of the net after Tim Doyle’s shot ricocheted between both posts. 
The Mounties entered the game without Peter DeAngelo and Even Hoffman, who are sick with the flu, but Guay stepped up with a hat trick while Doyle and Paul Archambault filled in at the forward position.
“We had a lot of guys dressed that usually don’t get the time they want and I think as a team we all stepped up,” Guay said. “The fourth-liners did a great job filling holes in the second and the third. We helped each other out. We filled the voids that we were missing.”
Fuoroli added his second goal of the night at the 5:34 mark of the third period and Jason San Antonio finished with 10 saves to earn the shutout. Mount will play at Catholic Memorial on Friday night before finishing its regular-season league schedule next weekend.
“The kids played really conscious of our defense tonight,” Belisle said. “Our transition game was very good. This is a bigger ice surface and we practice on a smaller one, but we did a nice job of eliminating the chances and capitalizing on our 2-on-1s and breakaways. We did a nice job.”
***
First period – M, John Guay (Jim Fuoroli) 2:34; M, Fuoroli SH 10:39. Penalties – Mount, 1-2:00; La Salle, 1-2:00.
Second period – M, Tim Coffey 7:31; M, Guay (Josh Fattore, Fuoroli) 8:54; M, Guay (Tim Doyle, Fattore) 10:39. Penalties – Mount, 1-2:00; La Salle, 1-2:00.
Third period – M, Fuoroli (Doyle) 5:34. Penalties – Mount, 2-4:00; La Salle, 1-2:00.
Saves – M, Jason San Antonio 10; L, Christopher Cooney 12.

Mount then added a 5-4 win over Catholic Memorial to its ledger of accomplishments on Friday night. Kyle Beauchamp’s goal at 11:27 of the third period, his second goal of the game, proved the margin of victory as the Mounties overcame an early 2-0 deficit.

Mount took a 4-2 lead with four second-period goals, then held off a third-period Catholic Memorial comeback effort.

Catholic Memorial cut its deficit to 4-3 just over two minutes after the start of the third period, but Beauchamp’s goal put the Mounties back on top by two. Catholic Memorial cut the deficit to one again with two minutes to play, but SanAntonio came up with a couple of big saves down the stretch.

John Guay’s goal, only 34 seconds after the start of the second period, put Mount on the comeback trail and the Mounties added three more goals in the next 12 minutes. Beauchamp, Tim Coffey and Jim Fuoroli tallied the other Mount second-period goals.