The NY Islanders are about to receive an influx of talent within their prospect pool, holding the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, and possibly trading back into the top 10 according to recent rumors.

The acquisition of Calum Ritchie, along with drafting Cole Eiserman, was the first step out of the league’s prospect pool basement, and in a few weeks, it could be considered among the best in the league.

Quinn Finley is sometimes forgotten among the Islanders prospects

While there are those big-name, first-round picks, expected to be the future of the organization, 2022 third-round pick Quinn Finley has made an argument to be there among the Ritchie’s and the Eiserman’s.

Finley, who finished his sophomore season at the University of Wisconsin this year, took the next step in his development towards becoming one of the NCAA’s top forwards. 

In 2022, when the Isles selected Finley 78th overall, it was considered a reach, as he was an undersized forward who needed to mature much more physically in order to take the next step in his development. Now, measuring in at 6’0” and 187 lbs, Finley is built to withstand the physicality of college hockey, as shown last season when he finished with 40 points (20 G, 20 A) in 37 games.

Set to return to Wisconsin for his third year, Finley will likely enter the 2025-26 season as one of the favorites for the Hobey Baker Award, as the nation’s top player.

We will likely see Finley in Islanders colors for the first time since 2022, after this year’s draft, as Mathieu Darche will hold a prospects development camp.

Hamilton College Interim Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator Deidre Pierson announced the hiring of Brendan Ujvary as the Continentals’ next head men’s soccer coach on Thursday, June 19.
 
Ujvary, who has been an assistant coach at Hamilton since 2015, is just the third person to lead the men’s soccer team since 1959. Perry Nizzi is retiring at the end of the month after winning 211 matches over 26 seasons, and Manfred von Schiller won 227 times from 1959 to 1997.
 
“I’m incredibly honored and grateful to be named the next head coach of this program,” Ujvary said. “I want to extend my deepest thanks to Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Ngonidzashe Munemo, Deidre Pierson and the search committee for this incredible opportunity.”
 
Ujvary inherits a team that finished 8-6-4 overall and advanced to the second round of the 2024 NCAA Division III championship after a 3-2 win over Calvin University in the first round. The Continentals tied 2-2 with Kenyon College in the next round, but Kenyon advanced on penalty kicks. Hamilton posted a 4-4-2 record in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) – a conference that received seven at-large bids to the NCAA championship.
 
“It’s hard to put into words what this place means to me — it’s been home for nearly a decade — and to now have the chance to lead it is something I’ll never take for granted. I have to especially thank Coach Nizzi. He’s been a mentor, a leader, and more than anything, a great friend. His guidance and trust meant so much to me, and I’ll carry that with me in all that’s ahead.”
 
Ujvary has helped lead the Continentals to 68 wins and seven NESCAC championship appearances. The Hamilton men advanced to the conference final in 2016 and the semifinals in 2017 and 2018. He has coached the conference’s 2016 rookie of the year, eight all-region selections and 14 all-NESCAC team honorees. 
 
“Coach Ujvary’s ascension to the head position of our men’s soccer program is a testament to his hard work and commitment to the development of our Hamilton scholar-athletes,” Pierson said. “His energy and relatability will continue to propel the success of the program. He brings a healthy outlook towards the future and a respect for the program’s successes of the past.”
 
Ujvary was an assistant with the Utica University men’s team in 2013 and 2014. He helped guide the Pioneers to a pair of Empire 8 Conference playoff appearances, including the team’s first trip to the championship game in 2013. Utica players received eight all-conference team honors and one Empire 8 rookie of the year award during his time at the school. 
 
Ujvary played college soccer at SUNY New Paltz. The defender appeared in 53 matches with 41 starts over the course of three seasons. As a senior, he helped lead the Hawks to the SUNYAC quarterfinals in 2011. Ujvary was a member of the Dean’s List all four years, made the United Soccer Coaches all-academic team and represented the soccer program on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
 
Ujvary has earned his United Soccer Coaches National Diploma. He earned a bachelor’s degree in adolescent education with a specialization in social studies and a geography minor, and he has a master’s degree in special education from Utica. Ujvary is from Kings Park, N.Y., and played soccer at Kings Park High School.
 

As college athletics adjusts to the new status quo in the aftermath of the House Settlement, Penn State head coach James Franklin believes there is a new “entity” that will run college football.

The Nittany Lions are coming off a record-breaking season under Franklin, who is entering his 12th season at the helm.

Penn State had never won as many as 13 games in a single-season, something that was accomplished in 2024, along with the school’s first College Football Playoff appearance.

Competitiveness within the NIL space has been a key part in Penn State’s rise to national contention.

Behind Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Michigan, the Nittany Lions are projected to spend $13.7 million in NIL funds to field its roster in 2025, the third-most in the conference and 11th nationally, per NCAA estimates.

The House Settlement brings a new process to NIL workings beginning July 1, as the new revenue sharing model will allow participating schools to allocate up to $20.5 million to athletes this year.

Additionally, the College Sports Commission’s NIL Go clearinghouse – ran by Deloitte – will be responsible for processing all NIL deals worth over $600.

Franklin believes that the new entity will extend to more than the NIL space and ultimately run college football.

“The way I kind of understand it is this is revenue sharing rules and NIL rules kind of are all under this umbrella,” Franklin said Wednesday on “The Triple Option.” “But I would also say that I really think it’s pretty much going to be everything. I think football is going to be run by this entity. I don’t want to use the term that we’re breaking away. But I think football is going to be run by this entity.”

“I think at the end of the day, everything is going to fall under this umbrella,” Franklin continued. “Because the reality is, right now, it’s going to be the Big Ten commissioner, the SEC commissioner, and this entity. People are going to get upset when I say that, but they’re going to be the ones running it and, obviously, other commissioners from other conferences are going to have a voice as well.”

Only time will tell if the new NIL parameters will be effective as planned. There are potential hurdles, such as state laws – like a bill recently introduced in Michigan – being passed to limit the commission’s authority.

SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov hoisted the Stanley Cup, skated with it for a few moments and then handed it to a grinning Nate Schmidt, in his first year with the Florida Panthers and raising hockey’s hallowed trophy for the first time. Before any repeat winner touched it, every Panther who never had before got the chance.

“There’s a lot of guys they play a ton of minutes that are huge contributors to this group, and they bypassed them and said: ‘We had it last year. We’ll never not cherish this moment,’” Schmidt said. “It was amazing.”

It also personified the Panthers, who did not have the best player in the final, not facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers again. They may not have even had the second-best with Leon Draisaitl there, too, but Florida repeating as champions showed exactly why hockey is the ultimate team sport.

“We just have so much heart, so much talent: Heart meets talent,” said winger Matthew Tkachuk, who played through a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle. “Our team was a team. When things were getting hard for them, they looked to one guy. But our team, we do it collectively.”

The Panthers had 19 non-goalies on the ice over six games against the Oilers; 15 registered a point and 11 scored at least once. Coach Paul Maurice said the team is “just really deep — unusually so,” making the point that he essentially had three first lines to roll out at any given time.

“A very talented group of guys, so when you bring somebody in, we’re going to play you with a really good player,” Maurice said.

General manager Bill Zito, who inherited Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, built the rest of the roster to win in the playoffs. With Maurice and his staff in charge, players who were adrift or simply mediocre elsewhere thrived in Florida.

“For the most part, every guy who’s come here has had the best season of their careers,” Zito said. “From that perspective, it’s gratifying to think that we can create an environment where the guys can do that, but it’s the team. It’s that room. It truly is.”

Fourth-liner A.J. Greer is one of those players after nearly giving up on his NHL dream a few years ago. He, Zito, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett and so many others use the word “culture” to explain the Panthers’ greatness, and it translates into results on the ice. The forecheck is never-ending, the harassment in the neutral zone relentless — and the offense burgeoning with talent.

“Everyone levels their game up here — every one of us,” Greer said. “There’s a sentiment of greatness but of just like wanting to be as good as you were yesterday.”

Tkachuk, acquired by Zito in a trade from Calgary in the same summer of 2022 when Maurice was hired as coach, shook his head when asked about scoring the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. He wanted to make a point that it doesn’t matter who scores.

“I don’t care about personal stats,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t care. Our team doesn’t (care) about that. That’s what makes us a team, and that’s why we’re lifting the Stanley Cup right now because we’re a team and not a bunch of individuals.”

McDavid, who had seven points in six games in the final, had nothing but praise after a second straight loss to the Panthers on the NHL’s biggest stage.

“They’re a really good team,” McDavid said. “Very deserving. They were really good.”

Florida was in the final for a third consecutive year, and the only loss during this stretch came to Vegas in 2023 when injuries ravaged Tkachuk, Ekblad and others. That was the start of the winning blueprint that has made the Panthers so successful for so long.

“There’s a way that we do things here, and it’s not easy,” said Bennett, who led all players in the playoffs with 15 goals. “We don’t play an easy style of hockey. It demands a lot of you. Every single guy’s bought into it. When some new guys came in, they instantly bought into what we do here and the commitment to being great, to winning. Every single guy just really bought into that.”

Schmidt found that out quickly. He played for Maurice in Winnipeg, got bought out last summer and just wanted to get his game back. That happened quickly, and the Stanley Cup was the reward after going through another long grind as a team.

“It’s the system. It’s the group. It’s just completely selfless,” Schmidt said. “Guys just play one way, and they say, ‘Hey, this is how we do things’ and you’ve got to jump on board. Guys, once they mold themselves into the game, you just become another cog in the wheel here. That’s just the way it runs. It’s just a well-oiled machine.”