Scottie Scheffler just capped off one of the best four-day stretches of his pro career.

On Sunday at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, Scheffler shot a 68 in the final round of The Open Championship, securing his fourth major victory in the process by finishing 17-under. He beat out Harris English (13-under) and Chris Gotterup (12-under) to win by four strokes. Rory McIlroy, the home favorite, made a push throughout the week, but ultimately finished tied for seventh at 10-under.

Scheffler became just the fourth-ever player to shoot 68 or under during every round at The Open. He posted a 68 on Thursday, a jaw-dropping 64 on Friday, a 67 on Saturday, and another 68 to close out the event on Sunday. Only Collin Morikawa (2021), Henrik Stenson (2016), and Jesper Parnevik (1994) have accomplished the same feat.

In terms of hockey memories, Mark Johnson has a lot more to pull from than most.

On top of being one of the most decorated college hockey coaches of all-time — leading the University of Wisconsin women to a record eight national championships — and a key member of the U.S.’s gold-medal winning “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey team in 1980, he’s been coming to Aspen every summer for about six decades to help lead the Bob Johnson Hockey School, named after his father.

“It’s just remarkable we’ve been able to sustain it for so long, just because of the way the atmosphere in youth sports has changed,” Mark Johnson said last week. “One of the greatest memories I personally have is our annual trip out to Aspen. When my dad started it in the middle ’60s, our summer vacations were getting in the station wagon, driving across the country, and hanging out in Aspen for three or four weeks and putting on the hockey school.”

This week marks the 60^th anniversary of the Bob Johnson Hockey School in Aspen. It was started in 1964 by Bob Johnson and Art Berglund at the Aspen Ice Garden, where it used to be a multi-week camp that included boarding options for the players. A lot has changed since those early days, but the legacy of the camp remains alive and well through Bob Johnson’s children.

“When I grew up, we had three, 10-day sessions. Our whole August was in Aspen. We were there full time,” said Pete Johnson, Bob’s other son. “We had a locker room (last week in Breckenridge) before our goalie session with like 2 year olds, 3 year olds, 4 year olds. I looked around the locker room, and I’m like, ‘This might not end anytime soon because a another whole generation is coming.’”

The camp’s namesake, Bob Johnson, was one of the most accomplished coach’s in hockey history, winning three national championships with the University of Wisconsin men’s program in the ’70s and ’80s. He also coached the U.S. Olympic team during the 1976 Games and eventually went to the NHL, where as head coach he led the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Minnesota North Stars in the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals.

Only months after winning the Stanley Cup, Bob Johnson died of brain cancer at age 60. Through his children and extended family, the Aspen camp with his name on it has carried on for another three decades and counting.

Tim McConnell, who was a football player for the Wisconsin Badgers, has helped run the camp for about 50 years now alongside Mark and Pete after marrying Bob’s oldest daughter, Sandi, who was the UW cheerleading captain at the time.

“Her dad, Bob Johnson, was the ultimate salesman. When I started dating Sandi, he said, ‘Boy, I have a great opportunity for you,’ and I said, ‘What’s that?’ ‘Oh, I’m going to give you the chance to be the off-ice director for the Bob Johnson Hockey School,’” McConnell recalled with a laugh. “I got to be the dorm director. I got to do wake-up call in the morning and bed check at night. It was the worst job I ever had in my life, but he made it sound like it was the greatest thing ever.”

Certainly, a lot has changed in 60 years. In the early days of the camp, many of the attendees were older teens hoping to earn a roster spot on Bob Johnson’s squad at Wisconsin. Today, it’s a much younger group of players, with about a third of them being girls. McConnell said about 30% of today’s camp comes from the Roaring Fork Valley, with the rest mostly coming from out of state.

The school is now run out of Lewis Ice Arena and the players are responsible for their own housing for the week, but the camp’s legacy remains alive and well.

To celebrate 60 years, the directors will host a get-together for the community on Monday, July 21, from 4-7 p.m. at Buck bar in Aspen. It will be a casual affair for attendees past and present to reminisce on what the camp has meant to them over the years.

“To have a hockey school and sustain it for so long, it’s actually quite impressive. The people in Aspen have been very supportive,” Mark Johnson said. “The most important part is it’s a game. We call it a hockey game, so on top of working on the things we feel are important for the foundations of becoming a good hockey player, it’s (important) to have fun. We throw that in there and we enjoy ourselves, so we create a positive atmosphere.”

For more on the school, visit bobjohnsonhockeyschool.com.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

The Fox Chapel hockey club will introduce a new program to spark interest in younger age groups. The Foxes will host a free skate with the varsity team July 27 at the Alpha Ice Complex.

The program is available to students in Fox Chapel school district who are entering first through sixth grades. The clinic will focus on teaching young players the basics of shooting, passing and other skills.

Fox Chapel’s hockey team reached the Class 2A Penguins Cup final last season before losing to Erie McDowell in overtime. The Foxes have reached the Pens Cup final in two of the past three seasons.

Van Norman commits

Shady Side Academy’s Ella Van Norman committed to Hamilton (N.Y.) College for track and field. Van Norman was part of a dominant 3,200-meter relay team this past spring along with Rhyley Bendel, Charlotte Barker and Sarah Kushnir.

The Bulldogs relay team won the WPIAL Class 2A title to qualify for states. Van Norman helped Shady Side Academy finish fifth at states. Van Norman, who will be a senior, also qualified individually in the 1,600-meter run.

Choose a Staff Member:
Archetto, Peter Berardelli, Dylan Duell, Thomas Engle, Nathan Flores, Nick Gardner, Eli Hebert, Dan Jones, Kyle Maher, Jerry Rice, Chris Royall, Tyler Walsh, Thomas
Go

Primary Recruiting Areas: Massachusetts (Essex county), Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York (Long Island & Staten Island)

Thomas Walsh returns to his alma mater to begin his first season as Video Coordinator and Tight Ends coach for head coach Eli Gardner and the Stonehill football program ahead of the 2025 season.

Most recently, Walsh spent the 2024 season at Wagner College, where he was the Offensive Line Coach, Run Game Coordinator, and an Offensive Quality Control Coach for the Seahawks football program.

At Wagner, Walsh was responsible for scouting reports, run game installation, recruiting in Connecticut, Ohio, and Texas high schools, as well as transfer offensive line recruiting.

While at Stonehill, Walsh was a five-year starter on the offensive line, a two-time team captain, and was named to the NE10 All-Conference Second Team and the Phil Steele FCS All-NEC Team. Walsh also interned in the Stonehill Equipment room as a student-athlete.

The Waldwick, New Jersey native graduated from Stonehill in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. Walsh will receive his MBA in Business Management from Wagner College.

 

On Wednesday the National Hockey League officially released the 2025-26 schedule, giving fans the opportunity to see exactly what obstacles lay in the way of a playoff berth. When it comes to our Winnipeg Jets, I didn’t really get the chance to dive into the schedule fully until this weekend….but now that I have, I figured I might as well lay out what I discovered is in store for the True North franchise this season.

I am not planning on outlining each game in this article, so if you want to see the entire schedule, following the link below to ESPN:

https://www.espn.com/nhl/team/schedule/_/name/wpg/seasontype/2

By using last year’s results, I will attempt to assess the strength of competition Winnipeg can expect this year. Statistically, of the 16 NHL clubs that qualified for the playoffs last year, only 2 to 4 of them will fail to make the playoffs this year….so it should at least put us in the ballpark of when the Jets will face the top half of the league. However, before I get to that…here are some other highlights for the upcoming campaign:

Back-to-Backs: (8)

• 1 in October (23rd-24th) – vs SEA & CGY
• 1 in November (28th-29th) – @ CAR & @ NSH
• 1 in December (5th-6th) – vs BUF & @ EDM
• 2 in January (8th-9th & 19th-20th) – vs EDM & LA – @ CHI & vs STL
• 2 in March (14th-15th & 21st-22nd) – vs COL & STL – @ PIT & @ NYR
• 1 in April (13th-14th) – @ VEG & @ UTH

Road trips:

• 6 games – Nov 4th to 15th – LA, SJ, ANA, VAN, SEA, CGY
• 5 games – Nov 26th to Dec 3rd – WSH, CAR, NSH, BUF, MTL
• Two 4 game treks – Jan 27th to Feb 2nd (NJ, TB, FLA, DAL) & Mar 28th to Apr 4th (COL, CHI, DAL, CLM)
• Four 3 game trips – Dec 17th to 21th (STL, COL, UTH), Dec 31st to Jan 3rd (DET, TOR, OTT), Feb 25th to March 1st (VAN, ANA, SJ), & March 19th to 22nd (BOS, PIT, NYR).

Home stands:

• 8 games – March 3rd to 17th – CHI, TB, VAN, ANA, NYR, COL, STL, NSH
• 5 games – Jan 6th to 13th – VEG, EDM, LA, NJ, NYI
• 4 games – Dec 9th to 15th – DAL, BOS, WSH, OTT
• Three 3 game sets – Oct 23rd to 26th (SEA, CGY, UTH), Nov 18th to 23rd (CLM, CAR, MIN), & Jan 20th to 24th (STL, FLA, DET).

Because of the break required for NHL players to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics (Feb 5th to 24th), once again the clubs will face a condensed schedule and that resulted in Winnipeg having more back-to-back situations than last year when the Four Nations tournament disrupted things (6 vs 8).

November will be a travel heavy month for the Jets, as they will play 69% of the games on the road (9 of 13), which is just ahead of April’s 62.5% (5 of 8). Yet it is during the limited NHL action in February that Winnipeg will visit the opposition’s arenas most often (75% – 3 of 4). Other than the break even month of December (7 of 14), the True Northers will hit the ice at the Canada Life Centre more often for the remaining periods: October (63.6%), January (56.3%), & March (62.5%).

In the graphic below, I broke down the Winnipeg Jets’ schedule by month, outlining home/road games and the strength of opposition our team will face.

A positive sign that the Jets’ path to the playoffs might be easier than normal is due to it going through clubs that earned an average of 89.6 points last year, which wouldn’t have been enough to qualify for the post-season (96 pts in West, 91 pts in East).

Another good omen for Winnipeg is the lack of top end competition early on in the season. With captain Adam Lowry having hip surgery on May 27th and expected to need 5 or 6 months to recover, it is nice to see that the Jets’ early bouts won’t include many playoff teams (just 4 of the opening 21 contests). When I pull out the calendar, it would seem that we might expect the big center to return sometime between October 13th and November 10th, which could see Lowry only missing 2/3 regular season matches (vs DAL, LA, NYI) up to 15/16 clashes (only incl. playoff teams DAL, LA, CAR). That should help our club put up some “W’s” while they await the big guys’ return.

And that is important in the NHL. I’m sure that we’ve all heard the old stat about American Thanksgiving that says any franchise holding onto a playoff spot at that early point of the regular season has an 80% chance of qualifying for the dance. Well, that holiday falls on November 27th this year and Winnipeg will have only played 22 games at that point. With 68% of those contests against the league’s bottom half, it should give the Jets a great chance to grab a playoff spot early.

And they will need it too. The coldest stretch of the year in Manitoba will also provide this year’s club its most difficult test. Once the calendar flips to December, the road gets much bumpier for the Jets, over the next three months Winnipeg will see last year’s playoff teams facing off against them a whopping 73.5% of the time. The month of January in particular is very scary, with 13 of 16 games against the top half, including a stretch of 6 straight contests to kick off the New Year (TOR, OTT, VEG, EDM, LA, NJ).

Fortunately for our squad’s playoff hopes, the schedule eases up in the final two months (24 gms), allowing Winnipeg the opportunity to feast on 62.5% lower half teams as the regular season draws to a close.

Well, that wraps up my look at the upcoming Winnipeg Jets’ schedule. Without knowing exactly what every NHL team will look like when the action kicks off on October 7th, it at least appears the True Northers have a good shot at a return to the post-season. What do you think??