Charbonneau earns Canada U-17 camp invite after Muskegon tender

Zaac Charbonneau’s rise reached another checkpoint when Canada invited the Muskegon Lumberjacks forward to its National Under-17 Development Camp, a selection that arrives before the Quebec native has played a single USHL game. For Muskegon, it is more than a prospect note. It is a public stamp on a player the club already treated as a long-term priority when it signed him to a tender agreement for the 2026-27 season on Dec. 30, 2025.

The tender itself tells the story of how strongly Muskegon views Charbonneau’s ceiling. The Lumberjacks listed the 2010 birth-year skater at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, said he led the nation in 14U AAA scoring last season with 168 points in 58 games, and noted that he became the 17th tender signing in franchise history. That is rare company for a program that has been selective about those early commitments, and it raises the bar for what Muskegon expects when Charbonneau arrives in its lineup.

Charbonneau’s path has already included sacrifice away from home. He attended Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and left home at 14 to keep pushing his development. That route fits the profile of a player viewed internally as more than a numbers producer. Jim McGroarty described Charbonneau as an elite-level player with passion, compete, hockey IQ and scoring ability, while head coach Colten St. Clair emphasized Muskegon’s commitment to developing him within the team’s culture. Team president Steve Lowe added that Charbonneau had plenty of options and chose Muskegon because of development.

That matters because the invite does more than reward one player. It strengthens the Lumberjacks’ pitch to future recruits by showing that Muskegon can identify and secure talent early, then place it on a track that leads into national-team evaluation. Charbonneau’s camp call becomes part of the sales job for the entire program: Muskegon is not just projecting upside, it is already helping create it.

The U.S. side of the same development pipeline is busy with its own elite sorting process. USA Hockey invited Muskegon forwards Rylan Hanson and Drew Fox to the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup Selection Camp, one of 36 players selected overall, including 20 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goaltenders. The camp is set for July 23-27 at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the roster will be cut to a 23-man U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton, Alberta, from Aug. 3-8.

The Americans will enter that tournament as defending champions after winning it in 2025 for the first time since 2003 and only the second time in program history. USA Hockey also said several invitees recently took part in the USA Hockey Boys National 17 Festival, underscoring how quickly Muskegon-linked players are moving through the top tier of junior-hockey evaluation.