It’s important to know that this profile is about the draft-eligible goaltender John “Jack” Parsons who attends Providence and not the John Parsons who played center for San Diego State’s club team last year. Nor is he the Jack Parsons who was born in 2010 and plays for the Okotoks Oilers U18 team. He is also not the other goaltending Jack Parsons who played at Holy Cross until 2018.
No, this is the John “Jack” Parsons who goes to Providence and was born in Ithaca, New York, in 2006. He’s a double re-entry into this year’s draft having first been eligible in 2024, but after a strong year with the Friars, there is some hope that this might finally be his year.
Parsons began his career with Mount St. Charles Academy before spending two years with the USNTDP, one year with the Chicago Steel and then joining Providence last season. For most of the year, he played second fiddle to Philip Svedebäck, the Friars’ star goalie.
But in January, Svedebäck was injured, opening an opportunity for Parsons to prove the net should be his. And, as Offside News writer Cier Kang put it via text, “Parsons was so goated” for the remainder of the year. It’s true: Parsons went an astonishing 13-5 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.05 goals against average, recording two shutouts. Providence was an extremely inconsistent team before Parsons entered the net. With him, they went on a nine-game win streak spanning nearly a month across January and February. Parson’s performance earned him a spot as a Walter Brown Semifinalist and multiple Hockey East recognitions, including being Hockey East Rookie for the month of January and twice being named HE Goaltender of the Week.
The performance almost certainly secured Parsons’ position as the Friars’ starter next season, though he’ll have some competition from freshman Ben Hrebik from the Brantford Bulldogs. It might also have finally earned him a draft selection. Elite Prospects has Parsons ranked 155th overall. He’s got extremely good hands, easily snatching pucks out of the air, and he’s highly athletic. With his big six-foot-four, 193-pound frame, he doesn’t always need to move a ton, but he’s got good puck tracking vision and strong edgework. Some critics say that he struggles with traffic, but he’s overall an extremely strong goaltender with projectable AHL upside. He’s well worth a team taking a flyer on him in the mid-rounds.
