A big signing ceremony at La Salle Academy Wednesday.

29 Rams student-athletes signing their National Letter of Intent to make their college commitments official.

The following were recognized in front of family, friends & coaches:

Brighton, MA – The University of Maine baseball team took down Boston College on Wednesday afternoon.

Black Bear Scoring Breakdown:

Maine got on the board first in the second inning as Caleb Vacchiano singled home Quinn Murphy (1B).

Dean O’Neill hit his sixth home run of the season in the top of the third inning, a two-run shot to left center. Evan Menzel (1B) scored on the play.

Payton Whitehead took the team-lead in home runs on the season as he hit his eighth of the year in the top of the fourth inning, a solo shot to center field.

Aidan Bardi came through in the 10th inning as he singled home Vacchiano (HBP).

Black Bear Pitchers:

Vaun Larisa got the start on the mound as he went 4 and 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.

Jack Donlin went 1 inning of relief as he allowed on unearned run on no hits and no walks.

Jason Libby pitched 1 and 1/3 inning, allowing just 1 hit.

Pierce Friedman pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing a walk and striking out 1.

Sebastian Holt (2-1) pushed the game to extra innings as he allowed 1 hit in a scoreless ninth, striking out 1.

Brennan Rumpf (1) locked down his first collegiate save as he pitched a perfect 10^th inning, striking out 1.

Boston College Recap:

Scored two runs in the second, one in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Joey Ryan (2-4) took the loss on the mound.

Final Score (10 Inn.): Maine – 5 | Boston College – 4

Next Time Out:

Maine (18-22, 12-6 AE) heads to Bryant for a weekend series beginning on Friday, May 2. First pitch is scheduled for 3 PM.

-UMaine-

 

Developing Champions with Integrity

Integrity | Accountability | Toughness | Excellence

Welcome to the Morning Commute

Today we’re talking about Mizzou Gymnastics Awards

After their third-place finish in the National Championships — the awards for the Mizzou Gymnastics program keep coming.

On Monday, the whole coaching staff was named to the Coaching Staff of the Year award by College Gymnatics News.

How about Helen Hu? The program’s first individual National Champion was named Comeback Gymnast of the Year.

More on MUTigers.com, and to stay up to date on all of the awards Mizzou Gymnastics has received, read up on Karen’s article.

To celebrate the program’s historic season, fans can attend the Mizzou Gymnastics banquet at the Columns Club on Saturday from 11:30-1. Karen will be there, of course.

“But we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that there were a few other Tigers headed to NFL camps on undrafted free agent deals, as well as one with an invite to a mini camp.”

Three Mizzou Tigers were selected in this year’s NFL Draft, but plenty have signed deals as an undrafted free agent and invites to mini camps.

“The Missouri Tigers just landed three players in the NFL draft, including a top ten selection. How do each of these picks fit on their new teams?”

Analysis from Keegan on Armand Membou to the Jets, Luther Burden III to the Bears, and Marcus Bryant to the Patriots.

“If this team hopes to turn around in the SEC, Slaughter is going to have to be the ringleader.”

Dylan had his Mizzou WBB press conference takeaways as Kellie Harper and Grace Slaughter met with the media on Monday.

Rock M Radio’s Majority Rules: Bieser vs Jackson, Gym makes history, portal/eligibility insanity, softball takes down #1, and more

Subscribe to Rock M Radio on Apple Podcasts. Or stream episodes through Megaphone or Spotify. Have a question for us? Leave a 5-star review with your question and that show just might answer it in an upcoming episode!

If you like Rock M Radio drop us a Review and be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform. Follow @RockMRadio on Twitter and if you heaven’t already head over to our YouTube channel and click that subscribe button!

(** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)

GRAND FORKS — Canadian Hockey League players will be eligible to play college hockey for the first time in decades beginning this fall.

NCAA teams have gone into the three CHL leagues — the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League — to recruit talented players.

But coaches are finding out that a lot of them will not be academically eligible to play college hockey.

It’s not that the CHL players are bad students.

The primary issue is that many have not taken the required 16 NCAA-approved core classes, including 10 in the first seven semesters of high school.

When these players signed in the CHL, they thought they were giving up their college eligibility and didn’t bother working toward NCAA academic requirements anymore.

“The current group of CHL players haven’t thought about the NCAA,” said Sean Hogan, the executive director of College Hockey Inc. “They made the decision to go to the CHL. They weren’t trying to meet the requirements of the NCAA.

“We knew there would be a gap in this education, because they’ve never thought about it before. They’ve never had to think about it.”

Hogan said the NCAA announced CHL players would become eligible for the 2025-26 season on Nov. 7, and College Hockey Inc., began conversations about how to keep players academically eligible on Nov. 8.

College Hockey Inc., has discussed the issue with all three Canadian major junior leagues, their academic advisors and individual teams.

Hogan said the major junior leagues have been cooperative and dispelled the notion that CHL teams might try to keep players ineligible for the NCAA so they stay in the CHL longer.

“We’ve had conversations with the commissioners,” Hogan said. “They’ve said, ‘We don’t want to be known as a league that can’t keep our players eligible.’ They want to get it right. We’ve done education sessions for each league and each team’s (academic advisor). With the new group coming in, we’re less likely to have issues. They’ll go in knowing they have two roads in front of them.”

UND will bring in at least one CHL player in winger Josh Zakreski, who plays for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.

The Fighting Hawks received a silent commitment from a player in the OHL a couple months ago, but they’re running into issues with his core classes. It’s looking less likely that player ends up on campus this fall.

For the second-straight year, a UND recruit is the United States Hockey League’s Player of the Year.

Will Zellers, who plays for the Green Bay Gamblers, earned the honor Wednesday.

Zellers led the USHL with 44 goals in 52 games. He also tallied 71 points, leading the USHL with 1.37 points per game.

Last year, UND’s Mac Swanson won it as a member of the Fargo Force.

It has been 21 years since an NCAA team had a recruit win USHL Player of the Year in back-to-back years.

In 2003 and 2004, Minnesota commits Ryan Potulny of Grand Forks and Mike Howe did it.

It has happened two other times.

In 1996 and 1997, UND’s Jeff Panzer and Karl Goehring won it. In 1983 and 1984, Minnesota’s Steve MacSwain and Jay Cates did it.

UND’s other USHL Player of the Year winners are Riese Gaber, Jason Gregoire, Chris Fournier and Jason Blake, who started at Ferris State and transferred to UND.

Zellers also won USHL Forward of the Year.

Zellers and his fellow incoming UND freshman Sam Laurila, a defenseman from Moorhead, were named first-team all-USHL. Incoming freshman goaltender Jan Špunar was named third-team all-USHL.

Laurila was a finalist for USHL Defenseman of the Year. Wisconsin commit Luke Osburn won it. Špunar was a finalist for USHL Goaltender of the Year. St. Cloud State commit Yan Shostak won that.

UND’s new coaching staff spent the early part of the offseason trying to navigate the goalie situation and pipeline.

The picture has now cleared.

UND’s 2025-26 goalies will be Arizona State transfer Gibson Homer, Špunar and Minnesota Duluth transfer Zach Sandy of Fargo.

Committed recruit Caleb Heil will return to Madison in the USHL for one more season, then come to campus in the fall of 2026.

Homer has two years of eligibility left, but UND has to be prepared for the possibility of him signing after one. At 6-foot-6, he’s an NHL-style goaltender and his career save percentage of .924 is attention-grabbing. Homer also is expected to have a degree by then.

Either way, Heil will be in Grand Forks in 2026.

Three former UND players have scored their first Stanley Cup Playoff goals in the last week.

Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson did it in the same game for the Ottawa Senators. Sanderson’s was an overtime winner. Ottawa trails Toronto 3-2 in a first-round series.

Jackson Blake did it for the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday in a series-clinching win over the New Jersey Devils.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks have reached the USHL’s Clark Cup Final.

Muskegon is 8-1 in the playoffs and swept Dubuque in the Eastern Conference Final.

Muskegon associate head coach Colten St. Clair, a former UND alternate captain, is looking for his second Clark Cup in four years. He was the associate head coach of Sioux City’s championship team in 2022.

It has been a wild ride for St. Clair this season.

He was named Omaha Lancers head coach in October. The Lancers fired St. Clair after going 6-10-2 through 18 games. Omaha proceeded to win one time in 40 games after firing St. Clair.

St. Clair, meanwhile, was picked up by Muskegon and is now in the Clark Cup Final again.

There are several other UND and local connections with Muskegon. Former UND standout forward Evan Trupp is an assistant coach with the Lumberjacks.

Their team captain is UND incoming freshman David Klee. UND recruit Carter Sanderson and Grand Forks native Bauer Berry, a St. Thomas commit, also are on the Lumberjacks.

• Former UND star Michelle Karvinen has declared for the PWHL Draft, which will be held June 24 in Ottawa. Karvinen has played nine professional seasons in Sweden. She also played two years in Russia’s top league under her old UND coach Brian Idalski.
• Grand Forks native Tony Gasparini is a finalist for USHL General Manager of the Year. Gasparini is the GM of the Sioux Falls Stampede.
• Warroad’s Hampton Slukynsky, a freshman at Western Michigan, is headed to the IIHF Men’s World Championship with Team USA. Slukynsky backstopped the Broncos to the NCAA national championship this season. He also helped Team USA win gold at the World Junior Championship.

Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19, No. 12 William and Mary men’s gymnastics competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Gymnastics Championships at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. Although the Tribe has sent individual athletes to the event in each of the last three seasons, this season marked William and Mary’s first team appearance at the NCAA Championships since 2021.

The Green and Gold began competition Friday, when it participated in a qualifying session alongside No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State, No. 8 Air Force and No. 9 California. William and Mary failed to make it to the finals as a team, scoring a session-low 307.691 points, but the Tribe sent a school-record five individual athletes into the finals, an accomplishment William and Mary director of gymnastics Mike Powell attributed to the mindset the team has cultivated in recent weeks.

“I think the team went out there and followed the theme that we’d been pushing and talking about,” Powell said. “Really just being proud of what they had accomplished, owning the fact that they belong on the biggest stage and being proud to show off what they can do on the biggest stage. Once they got comfortable and then settled into doing that, they showed it off and got rewarded with the spots in the finals.” 

At the time of the team’s last NCAA Championships berth, William and Mary had recently reversed its decision to eliminate the men’s gymnastics program. The brief period of uncertainty surrounding the program’s future, along with the departure of an eight-man class of seniors in 2021, contributed to the Green and Gold’s four-year postseason drought. 

Powell said, for the most part, the Tribe has not spent much time reflecting on the program’s near-death, but the completion of William and Mary’s rebuild is significant to graduate student Sam Lee, the only member of the team who was around for the 2021 season.

“I think it has [come up] a little bit in terms of reflecting,” Powell said. “The captains get a chance to reflect at the banquet and things like that. So it’s come up, but not as much as you would think. For Sam Lee, I think that the experience is particularly meaningful because he was a freshman that year. So this is sort of bookending his career. The last time that we made championships as a team was his freshman year, and now in his fifth year, it’s sort of come full circle, and he’s been with us on that whole journey.”

Friday, Lee advanced to the individual event finals on vault and parallel bars after adding a risky new dismount to his parallel bars routine. Lee had been pulling off the maneuver in practice for months, but he was not able to replicate the feat in meets throughout February and March. With Powell’s advice, he decided to bring the move to the NCAA Championships less than two weeks before the competition. The choice ultimately paid off.

“We tried using it starting in the middle of the competition season,” Powell said. “He had some trouble landing it, especially in competition. It had been going well in practice, but he struggled with it in the meets. So to just hit a solid routine and get through conference championships, we decided to back down to an easier dismount, hoping that that would help build some confidence, and then he could come into the championships and put it down, which he did.”

Lee was the only William and Mary gymnast to significantly modify his routine for the event. Powell said most of the Tribe’s athletes found success through the effective execution of their existing routines.

“For the most part, we really just executed really well,” Powell said. “[Junior] Ricky Pizem added a half twist on his vaults, and then any other upgrades that we made were in finals. Once the team had done really well, and we’d gotten the guys through the finals, [freshman] Luke Tully added a release move to his high bar routine to try to increase that difficulty in and move him up in the standings.”

Lee and Tully were joined in the finals by freshman Connor Barrow on vault, sophomore Niko Greenly on parallel bars and sophomore Evan Wilkins on floor and parallel bars. Powell said the four William and Mary underclassmen in the finals served as evidence of the program’s strong developmental record and bright future.

“That was a part of building this team over time,” Powell said. “We’ve had to work through the initial steps and help the guys realize just how good they are and how good the team is. And that was a part of being proud and owning the fact that they’ve earned their way to this level, and that they’re able to execute on the biggest stage with the best guys. So they deserve a lot of credit for owning that opportunity and owning their abilities and being able to go out and show off on the big stage.”

“Props to them, because this is what we consider the first step and not the last,” Powell said. “So we’re looking to continue building this team, and they’ll obviously play a big role in that, as they’re early in their careers, leaning on the upper classroom for guidance. We’re excited to see what we can do in the future.”

Powell specifically praised the progression of freshmen Barrow and Tully, who discovered the extent of their talents as the season went on. Powell said Tully’s growth process was steady and drawn-out, while Barrow could point to a single moment in which he realized he was NCAA Championship-caliber.

“When he stuck his vault, that was at Springfield [Feb. 16],” Powell said. “One of the long-time judges came up to us and said he thought that might be the best vault he’s ever seen. It was a huge moment for him and very concrete, and he put up a score that put him in our all-time record books. It was one of the top five scores in the country at that time in the season. So that was just a very concrete moment of, ‘OK, we are top-tier.’”

Barrow turned in a similarly impressive performance in the NCAA finals, scoring a 14.0 on vault to finish 20th in the nation. Tully finished 20th after putting up a score of 13.133 on high bar, Greenly tied for 25th with a score of 13.133 on parallel bars and Lee recorded scores of 13.433 and 13.966 to finish 20th and 22nd on parallel bars and vault, respectively. Wilkins was the Tribe’s highest finisher, coming in 19th on floor with a 13.466 and 27th on parallel bars with a 13.033.

With the season complete, Powell said the Tribe will take a brief break from training before implementing more difficult maneuvers into its routines in preparation for the 2025-26 campaign.

“Obviously, the guys who need it [will be] getting that rest and recovery from a long season and a lot of great work,” Powell said. “Then, it’ll be straight into thinking and planning for the future. Any changes that are coming to the rules, adapting to them and getting right back into training more and more difficult skills.”