CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Georges Laraque surveyed the lobby of the Pittsburgh Penguins practice facility on Tuesday afternoon and smiled.

“I’m looking at this now, I can’t believe how many young Black kids, diverse kids, girls, are here playing hockey,” Laraque, who was a forward for the Penguins for two seasons (2006-08) in his 12-year NHL career, said at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “This shows you how much hockey has evolved.”

Laraque returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since 2008 to be a guest coach at the Willie O’Ree Academy, a five-year-old training and enrichment program established by the Penguins and presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods. It is for local youth hockey players ages 10-17 to help them advance their skills while developing a strong social support network.

Nearly 40 boys and girls were put through their paces on the ice by Laraque, who was joined by Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph and retired forward Colby Armstrong, who played three of his eight NHL seasons with Pittsburgh (2005-08).

“It’s really my honor to be with these guys,” Joseph said. “It’s gratifying to see that hockey is going in the right direction and taking the steps towards having a more different culture in hockey, and [becoming] more accessible for everyone to be able to play a game.”

NCAA gymnastics completed its season two months ago, but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on in that world. June 15th marked the opening of recruiting contact for the class of 2027. There was other good news for the Arizona GymCats, both on the coaching and recruiting trails.

On Kylie Kratchwell’s promotion

A season of firsts warrants another first. Arizona gymnastics now has two associate head coaches after the promotion of assistant coach Kylie Kratchwell. GymCats head coach John Court announced that the third-year assistant would join Taylor Spears with the title on Tuesday.

“She is a person of high character, has increased our program’s national competitiveness, and has a positive approach in developing our student-athletes,” Court stated about Kratchwell in the program’s press release.

The trio of Kratchwell, Spears, and first-year assistant Shelby Martinez earned WCGA Regional Staff of the Year honors after a huge showing for the GymCats in their first year in the Big 12.

The GymCats finished second in the Big 12 during the regular season and at the conference championship meet, helping Court earn Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. They defeated every other team twice except Utah, which won both the regular season and conference championship titles. They then went on to defeat Arizona State a third time in the NCAA postseason.

Once they got to regionals, the team had another first. They advanced to regional finals for the first time since the NCAA postseason format changed in 2019. They finished second in their session, defeating Georgia and ASU, to earn the honor as one of the final 16 teams standing.

Kratchwell is primarily responsible for training the uneven bars. She also helps choreograph floor exercise. In her three years with the program, Arizona has finished in the top 25 on bars every season. It finished 23rd in 2025. The GymCats have also tied their top score (49.475 in 2024) and their third-best score (49.425 in 2025) in program history under Kratchwell’s watch.

Kratchwell and Spears combined forces to help fifth-year gymnast Elena Deets earn Big 12 co-Specialist of the Year honors. Deets performed bars and beam for the GymCats.

Kratchwell arrived at the University of New Hampshire in the fall of 2017 rehabbing from tears to her ACL, MCL, and meniscus that kept her from competing in her final year of Level 10. She went on to become a bars specialist, performing during the 2020, 2021, and 2022 college seasons. She was a two-time WCGA Scholastic All-American with a career high of 9.925 on bars. She joined the coaching ranks at Arizona immediately after completing her college career.

On Abygail Mackinney’s improvements

Kratchwell isn’t the only GymCat to get good news this week. College Gym News did its periodic re-evaluation of college recruits on Wednesday. Class of 2026 commit Abygail Mackinney was one of eleven athletes who saw their scores and ratings dramatically improve after their latest Level 10 season.

Mackinney was a three-star recruit with a score of 48 when she committed to Arizona last August. The outlet now has her as a four-star recruit with a score of 66.

“After missing the 2023 season due to injury, Mackinney returned to competition in 2024 but didn’t compete floor until midseason,” Tara Graeve of CGN writes. “Her biggest improvements came on vault and floor, as she consistently competed a Yurchenko full for the entire season for the first time and returned to her pre-injury self on floor.”

Graeve noted that beam is Mackinney’s weakest event and she could still add difficulty in floor and vault. For Arizona, the addition of difficulty on vault and floor are probably the more important matters; beam workers have been a strong suit for the program in recent years under Spears.

Mackinney’s new evaluation gives Arizona its first four-star recruit in the class that will sign in November. She joins Avery Tarico and Avery McKay, two three-star athletes with scores of 55, in the class of 2026.

Lead photo by Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Athletics

DENVER – University of Denver hockey has four student-athletes named to the 2025 College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District Men’s At-Large Teams, with seniors Matt Davis and Jack Devine, junior Kent Anderson and sophomore Boston Buckberger earning honors for their performance on the ice and in the classroom.
 
CSC Academic All-District Teams recognize the top student-athletes in the nation based on their combined athletic and academic performances. Anderson and Davis were also named to the All-District list last season, with Anderson earning Academic All-America Second Team honors.
 
To be eligible for CSC Academic All-District honors, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominated student-athletes must have participated in at least 90 percent of their team’s games this season or started 66 percent of the games.
 
Each school was limited to six nominees for the Men’s At-Large Academic All-District Team, which includes athletes from the NCAA sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
 
The Pioneers’ trio were among 23 players from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to earn nods, and DU was one of three programs in the league with at least four players on the list along with Omaha (four) and Western Michigan (six).
 
Davis led the NCAA with 29 wins, the second-most in a single season in school history (George Kirkwood, 30, 1960-61), while also starting in 40 games—tied for the most by a Denver goalie in a single campaign. The Calgary, Alberta, native finished his senior campaign by registering a 29-10-1 overall record, .924 save percentage, 2.07 goals-against average and one shutout, helping the Pioneers return to the NCAA Frozen Four for the second straight season. The senior won each of his first 11 starts in 2024-25 (Oct. 5-Nov. 16), tying for the longest in-season win streak in the last 10 years by a Denver netminder. A member of the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and an NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete, Davis was also recognized with the conference’s Senior Scholar-Athlete Award for 2024-25.
 
Devine posted career highs and led the NCAA with 57 points and 44 assists. A top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the second-straight season, the forward was just the third Pioneer to finish first in the country in scoring, joining Bobby Brink in 2021-22 (57) and Ed Beers in 1981-82 (84) He was also first DU player to record back-to-back 50-point seasons since Daryn McBride in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51). Devine finished his career as the highest-scoring player in the modern era of Denver hockey with 163 points (57g/106a) and is one of 10 players all-time at the school to record at least 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career. The Glencoe, Illinois, native was also named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and an NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete.
 
Anderson matched his career high of eight points (1g/7a) and recorded a personal-best seven assists while playing in all 44 contests. The junior defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, finished with a plus-13 rating and 14 penalty minutes. The 2024 NCAA Elite 90 winner in men’s hockey also recorded a career high of 32 shots on goal and placed second on the team with 55 blocked shots, including stopping a personal-best four shots twice. Anderson was also named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and an NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete.
 
Buckberger was the 2025 NCAA Elite 90 winner at the men’s hockey Frozen Four and recorded career bests with nine goals and 30 points while also adding 21 assists. The defenseman had played in each of the first 85 games of his career before suffering a season-ending injury in in the postseason and missed the final three games of the year. He finished fifth in the nation with a plus-30 rating and was ranked second in the country at the time of his injury. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native also produced 71 shots on goal, 36 blocked shots 22 penalty minutes in his sophomore campaign, and he was also named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and an NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete.
 
In addition, Davis and Devine were also selected as finalists for the CSC Academic All-America awards and will now advance to the national ballot this month. This year’s At-Large First, Second and Third Teams are set to be announced on July 9.
 

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. – A pair of Dartmouth men’s rowing head coaches have been named finalists for their respective IRCA National Coach of the Year awards. Wyatt Allen, the Betsy and Mark Gates 1959 Head Coach of Men’s Heavyweight Rowing, is one of four heavyweight finalists while men’s lightweight head coach Trevor Michelson is one of two finalists on the lightweight side. Dartmouth is the only school to have finalists for both men’s heavyweight and lightweight rowing.
 
Allen joins the head coaches of Washington (Michael Callahan), Cal (Scott Frandsen) and Syracuse (Dave Reischman) as finalists. He led the Big Green to a historic season, highlighted by the varsity eight finishing third at the IRA National Championship. It was the boat’s best finish since 1992. The crew also earned silver at the Eastern Sprints. The Big Green earned three total medals at sprints, which also included bronze from the second and fourth varsity eights, while advancing all its boats to the grand finals at nationals.
 
Michelson and MIT head coach Will Oliver are the two coach of the year finalists on the lightweight side. Under Michelson’s guidance, the Big Green finished second in the varsity eight and in total team points at IRAs, marking the program’s top team points standing in program history. It was also Dartmouth’s first medal at nationals since 2012. The varsity eight finished with a time of 5:32.250 in the grand final, less than three seconds behind first-place Harvard and ahead of MIT, Penn, Princeton and Navy.
 

By Alexis Demopoulos

Boston Jr. Rangers forward Kade Smigaj is thrilled to announce his NCAA Division III commitment to the Milwaukee School of Engineering for the 2025-26 season after a great year in the NCDC.

Smigaj, a native of Stevens Point, Wis., joined the Boston Jr. Rangers in November and had nothing but positive things to say about his experience. He played in 42 regular season games and tallied 21 points (six goals, 15 assists).

“I think coach Rich DeCaprio is really good at communicating with his players on what they need to do to get better, and be successful on and off the ice,” said Smigaj. “I joined the Boston Jr. Rangers in November and it was a really good fit for me in this organization.”

Early in 2025, Smigaj began communicating with MSOE head coach Brandon Richards and things took off from there.

“Coach Richards liked my speed and skating and said that it would fit into his style of play,” said Smigaj.

Being from Wisconsin, Smigaj was intrigued by MSOE as it is close to home. He also knew he could get a top notch education and play hockey.

“What first interested me most with MSOE was not only the hockey program but how good of an education you get,” said Smigaj. “It is a spot close to home where my family will be able to watch a lot of the games.”

The campus itself sparked a lot of joy for Smigaj and he loved everything the school had to offer.

“When I visited the campus, I really liked the layout and the location of everything,” said Smigaj. “The campus is all within walking distance, very easy to get from class to class. I also really liked the method of teaching MSOE applied, with more project-based learning, which is a really good fit for me. The rink is on campus with awesome amenities that come with it. After my visit there, I was really impressed and excited with everything they have to offer as a student-athlete.”

Knowing that the college level will be more challenging, Smigaj is spending his summer getting stronger.

“I’m really working on getting bigger and stronger to help create more scoring opportunities by moving into the college level,” said Smigaj.

The NCDC congratulates Kade Smigaj, his family, the Boston Jr. Rangers and the Milwaukee School of Engineering for his commitment.