When NiJaree Canady enters the circle, it is often goodnight for the opposing lineup. Texas Tech’s star pitcher gave up just five hits during Monday’s 3-2 win over four-time defending national champion Oklahoma as the Red Raiders punched their ticket to the championship series of the Women’s College World Series with Texas.

The Stanford transfer who twice anchored Cardinal trips to Oklahoma City is the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year for a reason, and continues to deliver for Texas Tech this season. Canady’s on a record-breaking NIL deal with Texas Tech’s NIL collective, The Matador Club, which she signed last summer for just over $1 million, according to ESPN.

She is college softball’s first member of the million club after the Red Raiders made her a priority in the transfer portal ahead of coach Gerry Glasco’s first season. Oklahoma and Texas, among others, immediately pursued Canady, but Texas Tech pushed out front with the financial help of boosters Tracy and John Sellers, a pair of former Red Raiders athletes.

“We look at it as they deserve it just as much (as male athletes),” Glasco said during an interview with ESPN after Canady’s official visit. “She worked so hard to be the No. 1 pitcher in the country. … I left that meeting and thought, this is who I would love to put a lot of effort into because of who she is.”

Canady and her family met with Stanford’s collective during her standout freshman season to seek a better NIL contract moving forward in her career, but the Cardinal balked at the request, according to The Athletic. And that is what kickstarted the process of looking elsewhere and eventually making herself available in the transfer portal after her sophomore campaign.

According to The Athletic, her NIL deal with the Red Raiders is 10 times more that what many considered the starting price in the negotiation process. 

Canady went 41-10 over her first two seasons at Stanford. This season, she has hit a stratospheric level of dominance. After Monday’s victory over the Sooners, Canady boosted her record to 30-5 with a 0.89 ERA. That includes a perfect record in the postseason for a team on a quest to win its first national championship. 

Texas Tech is the first program in WCWS history to reach the championship series in its debut trip to Oklahoma City since, coincidentally, the Sooners did so in 2000. And ironically, the Red Raiders snapped a 37-game losing streak to Oklahoma to get to this point.

“I feel like people thought I heard the number and just came to Texas Tech, which wasn’t the case at all,” Canady said. “If I didn’t feel like Coach Glasco was an amazing coach and could lead this program to be where we thought it could be, I wouldn’t have come.”

GRAND FORKS — Isaac Gordon won’t be transferring to UND after all.

The forward from Landmark, Man., has informed UND’s coaching staff that he wishes to return to Michigan Tech, where he played his first two collegiate seasons.

The change in heart for Gordon comes soon after Michigan Tech made a coaching change.

Michigan Tech announced on May 22 that it parted ways with head coach Joe Shawhan and hired Bill Muckalt from Lindenwood. Muckalt was previously an assistant at Michigan Tech.

Gordon entered the NCAA transfer portal in late April and committed to UND after an on-campus visit.

“It’s the school that got me introduced to college hockey,” Gordon told the Herald after his commitment. “That’s what everyone talks about when you refer to college hockey in Manitoba — it’s North Dakota.

“I’ve been following the team from when I was 13 or 14 years old on social media. They were the only college team I followed until I got to the U.S. to play juniors. It’s the only one that’s been on my radar for that long. Now that the opportunity has come, it’s pretty special.”

The right winger was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s Rookie of the Year in 2023-24.

His exit means UND has to add two forwards for the upcoming season – and it likely means UND will be younger up front.

The Fighting Hawks now have just four upperclassmen up front – senior Dylan James, senior Ben Strinden, senior Ellis Rickwood and junior Anthony Menghini.

The sophomore forward class is comprised of Mac Swanson, Cody Croal, Cade Littler and Dalton Andrew.

The freshman forward class, so far, is Cole Reschny, Will Zellers, Jack Kernan, Josh Zakreski and David Klee.

The NCAA transfer portal has closed for everyone except players from Lindenwood and Michigan Tech, who have an exemption due to a new head coaching hire.

Schlossman has covered college hockey for the Grand Forks Herald since 2005. He has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top beat writer for the Herald’s circulation division four times and the North Dakota sportswriter of the year twice. He resides in Grand Forks. Reach him at bschlossman@gfherald.com.

Paul Finebaum revealed the biggest problem for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama is being in the shadow of Nick Saban. It’d likely be a problem for any coach who followed, arguably, the greatest college football coach in the history of the game.

DeBoer won nine games last season under the weight of tremendous expectations. But missing the College Football Playoff last year put DeBoer in the crosshairs. It was just one year removed from him leading Washington to the national championship.

So even if DeBoer is successful this season, it will be compared to Saban’s trajectory and the latter’s success. It’s almost a lose-lose situation unless DeBoer wins a title.

“They were not happy with the end of last season and Kalen DeBoer, they believe, right this second is going to get them to the playoffs,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “But the problem is the shadow of Nick Saban. I was at an event two weeks ago in Birmingham that DeBoer and Nick Saban were both playing golf at this Pro-Am, and DeBoer looked like a lilliputian compared to Nick Saban. He sucked all the oxygen out of the room in interviews and everything, and as long as Nick Saban is around, Kalen DeBoer will be compared to him and it won’t be a good look.”

DeBoer led Alabama to the ReliaQuest Bowl, a loss to Michigan, last season after missing out on the CFP. He went 25-3 at Washington, winning the Alamo Bowl in his first year, as well as the Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal) in his second season.

But there’s no doubt there’s a lot of pressure on Alabama this season. Considering DeBoer’s squad is No. 3 in ESPN’s FPI preseason top 25, the expectations are there to make a big leap in 2025.

“I think a lot of it was just the early piece, just understanding what the timing of it was in January,” DeBoer said of Year 1. “I think that was the hardest part. The season and the ups and downs, I’ve been part of that. I think the first year is always extremely hard because there are going to be things that come your way that you just know are going to be hard to handle. And a lot of times, it’s the wins and losses that I’m talking about …

“But we’re in a good spot right now because I think our guys have really found out who wants to be here. They’ve really dug in deep. We’ve got a great mix of upperclassmen that understand what it takes, mixed with some young guys that either got their feet wet last year or are coming in and have been really accepted in a way that they feel appreciated by the guys who have gone through it. So I’m really looking forward to this team, this next 6-8 months.”

For the second time in three years, Colorado College’s hockey television production team won a first-place award from the Sports Video Group (SVG) and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
 
The show open for the Dec. 13, 2024, game at Ed Robson Arena against Denver, 75 Years of Rivalry, won the Outstanding Live Non-Game Production category, selected by a panel of judges and announced at the 17th-annual SVG College Sports Media Awards in association with NACDA, at the SVG College Summit in the Omni Atlanta Hotel on May 28.
 
Other finalists in the category were from Auburn, Baylor, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Princeton, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech.
 
“It’s an honor to work with such an outstanding crew of professionals and student workers who consistently produce CC Hockey for viewers all across the country on TV and Streaming platforms,” said Kelly McCommons, Director of Technical Services & Video Production for Robson Arena. “This award showcases their hard work of storytelling, game production, and professionalism to a new standard.”
 
Colorado College was the only hockey production in the nation and NCHC school to receive a first-place award this year.
 
CC’s hockey game at Ed Robson Arena against Western Michigan on Feb. 1 was one of 12 finalists in the Outstanding Live Game Production/Collegiate Athletics – Championship category.

SEATTLE – After being selected as a WGCA All-American honorable mention last week, Vivian Lu added another accolade to her resume on Wednesday as the sophomore has been named honorable mention of Golfweek’s 2025 Women’s College Golf All-America team.

Lu is one of nine Big Ten women’s golfers named to an All-America team as Washington, USC, Ohio State, Oregon, and Northwestern were represented with honors.

The Auckland, New Zealand native was named to the Annika Award Final Fall Watch List at the beginning of her sophomore campaign.

She also earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team and WGCA All-American Honorable Mention after leading the Husky lineup in seven tournaments this season.

Golfweek’s 2025 Women’s College Golf All-America Teams

First Team

Carla Bernat, Sr., Kansas State

Carolina Chacarra, Sr., Wake Forest

Kary Hollenbaugh, Jr., Ohio State

Jasmine Koo, Fr., USC

Maria Jose Marin, So., Arkansas

Meja Ortengren, Fr., Stanford

Andrea Revuelta, Fr., Stanford

Kiara Romero, So., Oregon

Mirabel Ting, Jr., Florida State

Lottie Woad, Jr., Florida State

 

Second Team

Eila Galitsky, Fr., South Carolina

Megha Ganne, Jr., Stanford

Lauren Kim, So., Texas

Paula Martin Sampedro, So., Stanford

Farah O’Keefe, So., Texas

Catherine Park, Jr., USC

Louise Rydqvist, Sr., South Carolina

Amanda Sambach, Sr., Virginia

Kendall Todd, Sr., Arkansas

Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, Fr., Oregon

 

Third Team

Hannah Darling, Sr., South Carolina

Anna Davis, So., Auburn

Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, So., Texas A&M

Caitlyn Macnab, Sr., Ole Miss

Marie Madsen, Fr., NC State

Lauryn Nguyen, Sr., Northwestern

Patience Rhodes, So., Arizona State

Rocio Tejedo, Fr., LSU

Avery Weed, So., Mississippi State

Ashley Yun, So., Northwestern

 

Honorable Mention

Brooke Biermann, Michigan State

Vanessa Borovilos, Texas A&M

Pimpchompoo Chaisilprungruang, Charlotte

Lauren Clark, Kansas

Beth Coulter, Arizona State

Cindy Hsu, Texas

Grace Kilcrease, Oklahoma State

Chloe Kovelesky, Wake Forest

Mackenzie Lee, SMU

Vivian Lu, Washington

Ava Merrill, Vanderbilt

Megan Propeck, Virginia

Catherine Rao, Princeton

Paula Schulz-Hanssen, Arizona State

Andie Smith, Duke

Megan Streicher, North Carolina

Clarisa Temelo, Arkansas

Karen Tsuru, Oregon

Kelly Xu, Stanford

Reagan Zibilski, Arkansas

 

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech Head Hockey Coach Bill Muckalt has named Benton Maass (pronounced MASS) an Assistant Coach with the Huskies. Maass comes to Houghton after one season as an Assistant Coach at Lindenwood. He played collegiately at New Hampshire and Minnesota State and appeared in 122 professional games in the AHL and ECHL.

“I developed a great relationship with Benton over the past year and know that he will be a great fit and valuable asset to Michigan Tech,” Muckalt said. “Benton is a tireless worker and has developed a skill for identifying top talent. He has demonstrated that he can relate and communicate effectively with today’s student-athlete and will work with our defense and penalty kill.”

“First off, I’d like to thank Athletic Director Suzanne Sanregret and Head Coach Bill Muckalt for the opportunity to join the hockey staff here at Michigan Tech,” Maass said. “The hockey program has a long and storied history, and I’m excited to get to work with our student-athletes as we prepare for a successful upcoming season, both on and off the ice!”

As an Assistant Coach at Lindenwood, Maass helped develop the Lions in their third year of NCAA Division I hockey. The 2024-25 season included the most wins in program history, with key victories over Notre Dame, Omaha, and Wisconsin. Five players from the roster went on to sign professional contracts.

Maass played 64 games as a defenseman for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays during the 2023-24 season and tallied 27 points with eight goals and 19 assists, serving as an alternate captain. He skated in 55 games for the Stingrays in his first season with 11 points and 44 penalty minutes. He also played three career games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears and was on the 2023 Calder Cup Championship Team.

The native of Elk River, Minnesota, was initially selected by the Washington Capitals in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Draft after playing for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the NAHL and Elk River High School.

Maass played five seasons of college hockey, tallying 51 career points on 13 goals and 38 assists in 162 games. He began his collegiate career at New Hampshire from 2017-21 before transferring to Minnesota State for the 2021-22 season. At UNH, he was a three-time Hockey East All-Academic Team member and was an alternate captain for the 2020-21 season. The Mavericks won the MacNaughton Cup and Mason Cup as CCHA Regular Season and Tournament Champions and advanced to the Frozen Four NCAA Championship Game.

Former Husky Tyler Shelast will begin his fifth season as an Assistant Coach in 2025-26 after being the Strength and Conditioning Coach during the previous eight seasons. Coach Muckalt is in the process of hiring another Assistant Coach.