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5/12/2025 11:14:35 AM

 

The UNLV ice hockey team had just pulled off its second Houdini act in as many days, and coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener was searching for a sign — any sign — that his players had enough gas in the tank for one more game.

Not just any 60-minute game, but one with everything on the line: history, legacy, immortality.

So following his team’s 5-2 come-from-behind victory over Liberty University in the semifinals of the 2024-25 American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I national tournament, Vignieri-Greener peered into the eyes of his players.

He liked what he saw.

“That’s when I told the coaching staff, ‘There’s no way we’re losing this next game,’” Vignieri-Greener recalls. “Maybe that was premature. But I could just see it in their eyes.”

Fast-forward some 24 hours, and Vignieri-Greener was watching his players circle the rink at the Centene Community Ice Center near St. Louis, Missouri, with the Murdoch Cup hoisted above their heads.

Nearly 20 years after the club program formed — and 10 years after Vignieri-Greener, himself a former UNLV player, took over as coach — the Skatin’ Rebels were national champions.

“To win something this big — nobody really understands how hard it is until you actually get there,” Vignieri-Greener says. “It was a long, long 10 years. But it was worth every second of it.”

Making it all the more special: UNLV’s 7-3 championship victory came against Adrian College, the Michigan liberal arts school that had defeated the Skatin’ Rebels 3-0 in the title game the previous year.

The Skate to a Rematch

While there were a few tense moments early on in this year’s finals, the stress was nothing like what UNLV endured in its previous two contests.

After coasting to a 6-2 victory over Arizona in their first game of the ACHA Division I tournament, the Skatin’ Rebels faced Maryville University in the quarterfinals. Trailing 2-0, UNLV finally got on the board early in the third period, buried the equalizer with 99 seconds left in the game, then found the net less than five minutes into overtime for a season-saving 3-2 win.

The Skatin’ Rebels returned the next day for a semifinal matchup against Liberty University, and again, they found themselves down 2-0 entering the final period.

Then came the onslaught: five goals in the final 10 minutes. When the final horn sounded, UNLV had secured a 5-2 win and a much-desired rematch against Adrian College.

The team’s mindset heading into the title game?

“For us returners, it was like, ‘This can’t happen two years in a row. They can’t go back-to-back on us. That can’t be our legacy — the team that could get close but couldn’t get over the line,’” says senior defenseman and team captain Mattias Dal Monte. “Playing the same opponent, it definitely added extra juice.”

Vignieri-Greener — who had 96 goals and 169 assists in four years as a player at UNLV from 2006-10 — leaned on some personal experience in his pregame speech.

“I truly believe the tightest and closest teams will go the furthest, and that’s what I relayed to the guys,” he says. “I told them, ‘Listen, I’ve been doing this a long time, and the closer a group is, the farther it will go. And without a doubt, this is the closest group we’ve ever had. So go win a national championship.’”

In doing just that, UNLV capped an incredible season that saw the team post an eye-popping 30-2-3 record and achieve all four of its preseason goals: Win the Western Collegiate Hockey League championship for the first time in program history; defeat an NCAA Division I opponent for the first time; earn a top-four seed in the ACHA tournament; and win the Murdoch Cup, the trophy that goes to the tournament champ.

 

 

A Big Bragging Right

While the national title obviously sat atop the wish list, it arguably ranked second in terms of the season’s most difficult tasks, because on Dec. 28, UNLV — which competes at the highest level of non-NCAA-sanctioned collegiate club hockey — traveled to Colorado for an “exhibition” game against the University of Denver.

The same University of Denver that has won 10 NCAA Division I hockey championships, including the 2023-24 crown.

Two years prior, the Pioneers hosted the Rebels and rolled to a 10-0 victory. This time? UNLV skated into the reigning champ’s arena and stunned the 7,000 fans in attendance by scoring a program-defining — and confidence-boosting — 7-6 overtime victory.

“After that game, we could’ve fallen into the mindset of, ‘Oh, we just beat the defending NCAA Division I national champions; the rest of our games and winning our national championship wouldn’t matter as much,’” says sophomore forward Heath Mensch, who grew up in Las Vegas. “But we stuck to our plan and had the mentality of, ‘Well, we beat them. Now we need to go out and show that we’re legit and clearly the best team in the ACHA.’”

Mission accomplished — thanks in no small part to Mensch, who scored the game-winning goal in the comeback victory over Liberty in the ACHA tournament semifinals.

Following their title-clinching victory over Adrian College on March 18, UNLV’s latest national champions returned home to a hero’s welcome. In addition to celebrations on campus and around the community, the team was honored by Southern Nevada’s two professional hockey franchises: the Henderson Silver Knights and their parent club, the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.

The Silver Knights and Golden Knights each held a brief in-game ceremony recognizing UNLV’s accomplishment. During each game, the players cruised around the arena concourses with the Murdoch Cup.

“That was amazing,” Dal Monte says. “It was endless high-fives and congratulations from fans. It was really cool to see the broader hockey community in the desert showing love to us like that. That was a special night.”

For a special, one-of-a-kind team.

 

BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Bowdoin College Athletic Department handed out its year-end awards at its annual All-Sports Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 8, at Pickard Theater. Below is a complete list of recipients.
 
Anne L. E. Dane Award For Outstanding Female Leadership
Gia Massari (women’s ice hockey) and Emma Watts-Roy (women’s squash)
 
Frederick G.P. Thorne Award for Outstanding Male Leadership
Jason Bogdanos (baseball) and Luke Wheeler (men’s ice hockey)
 
Polar Bear Awards   
Elias Page (Northeast Sports Network), Randy Nichols (Bowdoin Security)
 
Outstanding First-year Male Student-Athlete
Ray Cuevas (men’s basketball)
 
Outstanding First-year Female Student-Athlete
Natalie Garre (women’s swimming)
 
Academic Achievement Award For Men 
Will Goddard (men’s cross country, track & field)
 
Academic Achievement Award For Women
Jess Klein (women’s soccer)
 
Harvey Award For J.V. and Club Sport Leadership
Annie Gailbraith (rowing)
 
The Seventy-Seven Award 
Women’s Golf team
 
The Wil Smith Community Service Award
Candice Ballarin (women’s tennis)
 
Society of Bowdoin Women Award            
Corinne Lamond (volleyball), Jackie Miller (women’s ice hockey)
 
Outstanding Male Athlete
Patrick Fitzgerald (men’s lacrosse)
 
Lucy L. Shulman Award For Outstanding Female Athlete
Sydney Jones (women’s basketball)
 
Sidney J. Watson Award
Jed Hoggard (football, men’s lacrosse)
 

One year after the Missouri Valley Conference reintroduced men’s swimming and diving for the first time since the 2002-23 season, the conference is growing. UMass Amherst announced on Monday that its men’s swimming and diving program will join the conference as an affiliate member of July 1^st.

This means there will be seven teams at the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Miami-Ohio and Ball State are also Mid-American conference affiliates, and compete against MVC members Southern Illinois, Evansville, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Valparaiso at the championships. Many of these teams joined the MVC from the MAC, which sponsored men’s swimming and diving from 1953-2024.

The Miami-Ohio RedHawks are the powerhouse in this conference. Heading into the 2025-26 collegiate season, the team has won five-straight conference championships; four of those titles came in the MAC and the most recent from their win this season at the first MVC men’s swimming and diving championships since 2003.

A simulated version of the 2025 MVC championships with last year’s UMass roster (and using 2024-25 season best times) sees the RedHawks maintain their status as conference championships and slots the Minutemen fifth of the seven teams. Diver Andrew Bell, a rising senior and two-time NCAA Championship qualifier, would be one of the Minutemen’s most valuable athletes at this simulated championship, as he was at this year’s A-10 Championships. Bell was UMass’ high point scorer at the meet, winning gold on the 1-meter and 3-meter board. Freshman Chase Keeler was the team’s highest scoring swimmer with 36 points, followed by junior Sammy Quigg’s 30 points. The team finished sixth of eight teams at the 2025 A-10 Championships, 26 points behind fifth place La Salle.

The UMass men won 16 A-10 Championships during their time in the conference, winning their first in 1996 and their most recent in 2016. The team had 95 A-10 individual champions, 28 A-10 relay champions, and four A-10 individual championship record holders, per the school’s press release.

2025 MVC Men’s Swimming Standings

1. Miami-Ohio — 820
2. Southern Illinois — 691.5
3. Missouri State — 602.5
4. Illinois-Chicago — 553.5
5. Ball State — 387.5
6. Valparaiso — 139
7. Evansville — 127