College Sports
How to Watch Duke vs Murray State
Duke looks to punch its ticket to the College Baseball World Series on Sunday afternoon when it takes on Murray State The Duke Blue Devils battle the Murray State Racers on Sunday afternoon in the second game of the Super Regional. The Blue Devils took the first game 7-4 on Saturday and are now just […]


Duke looks to punch its ticket to the College Baseball World Series on Sunday afternoon when it takes on Murray State
The Duke Blue Devils battle the Murray State Racers on Sunday afternoon in the second game of the Super Regional. The Blue Devils took the first game 7-4 on Saturday and are now just one win away from earning a trip to the College Baseball World Series. It would be their fourth appearance in the CWS and the first since 1961. They are just one win away, thanks to a three-run win in the first game on Saturday. The Blue Devils trailed early by two runs, but answered with two runs in the bottom of the third. They took the lead with three runs in the fourth and never trailed again. They extended the lead with two runs in the sixth and then held off a rally from the Racers in the seventh. Kyle Johnson was the star for the Blue Devils as he went 4-4 with a home run and five RBI. He also had two doubles and was the offense for the Blue Devils.
How to Watch Duke vs Murray State: Baseball Super Regional Today:
Game Date: Sunday, June 8, 2025
Game Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN U
Live stream the Duke vs Murray State game on Fubo: Start your free trial now!
The Racers will have to find a way to slow him down as they try to extend the season to another game on Monday.
Dom Decker was good for the Racers on Saturday in the loss, as he went 4-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Dustin Mercer had two hits to help the Racers, but it wasn’t enough as they couldn’t slow down the Blue Devils offense in the loss.
The Racers will now have to beat Duke on Sunday and Monday if they want to keep their magical season alive. This is their first Super Regional in program history and they are looking to extend it to the CWS with two more wins.
Regional restrictions may apply.
College Sports
2025 SJC Field Hockey Schedule Preview
Story Links STANDISH, Maine – The 2025 Saint Joseph’s College field hockey regular season schedule has been announced. The Monks are slated to play 17 games this fall, beginning with a road contest at Thomas College on Wednesday, September 3rd (7:00 PM) and concluding the regular season with a non-conference tilt at […]

STANDISH, Maine – The 2025 Saint Joseph’s College field hockey regular season schedule has been announced. The Monks are slated to play 17 games this fall, beginning with a road contest at Thomas College on Wednesday, September 3rd (7:00 PM) and concluding the regular season with a non-conference tilt at Wellesley College on October 28th.
Under the direction of second-year Head Coach Theresa Arsenault ’14, Saint Joseph’s will play 10 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests and seven non-conference match-ups, including challenging regional games against Babson College (Sep. 10, home) and Endicott College (Oct. 8, away).
The Monks open GNAC play at home versus Lasell University on Saturday, September 6th at 11:00 AM.
The 2025 GNAC Tournament begins with quarterfinal action on November 1st and continues with the semifinal and championship rounds on November 5th and 8th, respectively. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins on November 12th.
Saint Joseph’s looks to build on a solid 2024 campaign under Coach Arsenault, when the Monks finished 10-11 overall and 7-5 in GNAC play to earn the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. SJC defeated fourth-seeded Colby-Sawyer in the quarterfinal round before falling to top-seeded Johnson & Wales, the eventual GNAC Champion, by a 2-1 score in the semifinal on November 6th.
Games to Watch
Sept. 20 vs. Simmons University – Simmons has had the upper hand in recent years, winning four straight against SJC, including a 3-0 decision last fall. The Sharks reached the 2024 GNAC Championship game, falling 4-2 to Johnson & Wales, and remain a key conference rival.
Sept. 29 at University of Southern Maine – Saint Joseph’s aims to avenge a 4-3 overtime loss suffered in Standish last season. A win in Gorham would be the Monks’ first road victory over USM since 2021.
Oct. 8 at Endicott College – This late-season match-up pits the Monks against one of the region’s perennial powers. The two programs last met in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, where Endicott earned a 3-1 win. This contest will serve as a strong benchmark heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
CLOSER LOOK AT THE 2025 SCHEDULE/OPPONENTS: | |
---|---|
Total Games: | 17 |
Home/Away/Neutral: | 7 / 10 / 0 |
Opponents’ Overall Record in 2024: | 159-163 (.494) |
Monks’ All-Time Record vs. 2025 Foes: | 175-131 (.572) |
Longest Current Winning Streak vs. 2025 Opponent: | 10 – Regis College |
Longest Current Losing Streak vs. 2025 Opponent: | 6 – Babson College |
2024 NCAA Tournament Teams on 2025 Schedule: | Babson College |
First Time Opponent(s) on 2025 Schedule: | None |
2025 GNAC Tournament Dates: | Nov 1 (Quarterfinal), Nov 5 (Semifinal), Nov 8 (Championship) |
2025 NCAA Tournament Dates: | Nov 12 – Nov 23 |
College Sports
Samoskevich’s coaching journey added a new stop in Columbus
But the conclusion of her collegiate hockey career left her at a crossroads. When Samoskevich finished at Quinnipiac in 2019, there was no stable league for professional women’s hockey. Samoskevich continued with the national team, winning gold at the 2019 Women’s World Championship, before stints in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League and with the Connecticut […]

But the conclusion of her collegiate hockey career left her at a crossroads.
When Samoskevich finished at Quinnipiac in 2019, there was no stable league for professional women’s hockey. Samoskevich continued with the national team, winning gold at the 2019 Women’s World Championship, before stints in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League and with the Connecticut Whale in the now defunct National Women’s Hockey League.
“I graduated at a tough time,” Samoskevich said. “We just didn’t have a steady league yet. “There were two pathways for girls coming out of college – I actually chose coaching right away, and then playing was kind of like another thing I did. But my income was (from) coaching.”
While playing with the Whale, Samoskevich served as an assistant coach for the Penn State women’s hockey team – not before turning down a coaching position with her alma mater.
“My coach asked me if I want to coach. I told her no, because I saw how much work she did and how much noise she dealt with,” Samoskevich said with a laugh. “And I was just like, ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’”
But there was one small issue with that, one of the unfortunate realities of the professional women’s hockey landscape at the time.
“I needed a job,” Samoskevich said. “Jeff Kampersal at Penn State called me. He coached me at the U-18 national team. He’s like, ‘Would you be interested in this?’ And I was like, ‘Maybe I am. Let me give it a go.’”
After studying to become a teacher at Quinnipiac, coaching was a natural fit. And despite Samoskevich’s intrigue with figure skating as a child and her skepticisms about coaching as a young adult, there’s no other path she could envision herself on at this point.
“I really don’t know what else I would do,” Samoskevich said. “Like, there are some days where the job is hard. There’s perks to a 9-to-5 job, but there’s perks to this job. … I don’t know what else I would do.”
Samoskevich eventually rejoined Quinnipiac as a director of hockey operations in 2022-23 and was an assistant coach for two years with Princeton. She’s coached her fair share of all-stars – including the first overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft, Sarah Fillier – but her favorite student is her little sister. After following in her older sister’s footsteps through high school and college, Maddy will get an opportunity that Melissa never got – the opportunity to play professional hockey.
In addition, Samoskevich will still shoot Mackie a text here and there with little things she notices about his game. But what Samoskevich learned on the ice last week at CBJ development camp will undoubtedly be shared with Maddy, who will take her talents to Vancouver to continue her playing career.
“Maddy, she’s just a girl,” Samoskevich said. “We had almost an identical path from Shattuck to Quinnipiac. I’ve been in her shoes, so it’s easier to kind of give her advice and just talk her through things.”
Samoskevich was one of a handful of female coaches that assisted at development camps around the NHL this summer. Though she never got the opportunity to play professional hockey long-term, she finds these camps to be a pretty solid substitute.
“I feel so lucky that I got this week under my belt,” Samoskevich said. “Seeing how an NHL club runs – it’s different than women’s collegiate hockey, but we’re all talking the same language.”
Though the NHL Coaches Association allows her an opportunity to make the jump into the men’s hockey stratosphere, Samoskevich is excited to join the Delaware program as an assistant coach. The team’s inaugural Division I season is set to begin this fall.
“We’re starting a brand-new program at Delaware, and I plan to be there for a while,” Samoskevich said. “We just want to grow an amazing program and an amazing culture … just something special.”
College Sports
Florida Gymnast Riley McCusker Announces Fifth Year
Florida Gymnastics senior Riley McCusker announced her return for a fifth year on Instagram Monday afternoon. After spending her junior year sidelined due to an ankle injury, the 2025 SEC Uneven Bar Champion will use her final year of eligibility in the 2026 season. Riley McCusker announced today that she is officially coming back for […]

Florida Gymnastics senior Riley McCusker announced her return for a fifth year on Instagram Monday afternoon. After spending her junior year sidelined due to an ankle injury, the 2025 SEC Uneven Bar Champion will use her final year of eligibility in the 2026 season.
Riley McCusker announced today that she is officially coming back for a fifth year with the Florida Gators! #NCAAgym pic.twitter.com/KTa4kNhqQD
— Gymnastics Now (@Gymnastics_Now) July 7, 2025
Before Florida
This Gator was a six-time U.S. National Team Member in her elite gymnastics career. McCusker also won the team gold at the 2018 World Championship and won four medals at the 2019 Pan American Games, including a gold on uneven bars and in the team competition.
She committed to compete for Florida in 2016 and was set to enroll in the fall of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back the Tokyo Games, McCusker deferred for another year to pursue her Olympic dreams. However, because of an injury she sustained at the 2021 U.S. Classic a month before the team selection, she was only able to compete bars at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, limiting her chances.
A fourth place finish in the bar competition prevented her from making the team, and McCusker shifted her focus toward being a Gator.
Gator Career
In her time at Florida, McCusker has specialized in the uneven bars, but has also appeared on beam. She has a career high of 9.95 on the beam, and her most recent performance came when she filled in for fellow senior Sloane Blakely just after her injury at Oklahoma on Feb. 21.
McCusker achieved her one career perfect 10.0 when she anchored bars for the Gators at the 2025 SEC Championship. She contributed to the record-breaking lineup, as Florida achieved the highest team bar score in NCAA history (49.85).
“I honestly couldn’t believe it,” McCusker said on March 22 following the Gators’ third place finish at SECs. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to get a 10 in NCAA, so I’m just so excited.”
10 ALERT
@mccusker_riley sets her collegiate best on bars with this perfect 10!#NCAAGYM x
@SECNetwork @GatorsGym
pic.twitter.com/n2oq9MTIoa— NCAA Women’s Gymnastics (@NCAA_Gymnastics) March 23, 2025
College Sports
Amid Sweeping Changes in College Hockey, Transferring to Cornell Was a “No-Brainer” for Luke Ashton ’28
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A lot goes into transferring to an Ivy League school — applications, essays, Zoom calls and everything in between. Between video chats and phone calls with the Cornell men’s hockey coaching staff, incoming sophomore defenseman Luke Ashton undoubtedly had many questions about Cornell, and everything it would take to get there. Still, […]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A lot goes into transferring to an Ivy League school — applications, essays, Zoom calls and everything in between.
Between video chats and phone calls with the Cornell men’s hockey coaching staff, incoming sophomore defenseman Luke Ashton undoubtedly had many questions about Cornell, and everything it would take to get there.
Still, though, he had a nagging thought that he needed to ask the coaches.
Do the Cornell fans really throw fish at Harvard?
“It was one of the things I had to question the coaches about because I saw videos online,” Ashton said with a laugh.
With his transfer announced on April 24, Ashton is one of two sophomore transfers set to debut in Ithaca this fall, and part of a sizable 14-player incoming class that stands as one of the largest in recent memory. After spending his freshman year at Minnesota State University, Ashton knew “right away” that Cornell was the place he wanted to be.
“I’m super grateful for my time at Minnesota State. I had a great time, but I felt like I needed a change in Cornell,” Ashton said. “When I was looking at other schools, Cornell had a lot of things that I felt like I missed that were offered, and I was super excited to head in their direction.”
The current landscape of college hockey is a murky one. On top of the transfer portal, a Nov. 7, 2024 rule change now allows Canadian Hockey League players to play in the NCAA — a feat that was previously banned due to the NCAA Division I Council considering the CHL a “semi-professional” league.
That’s all while the House v. NCAA settlement was approved this summer, allowing schools to pay their athletes and essentially ending amateurism in college sports. Along with the rest of the Ivy League, Cornell will not opt into the settlement, continuing the longstanding tradition of the Ivy League’s attitude towards athletics — still, no Ivy League athlete can receive an athletic scholarship.
Big 10 hockey schools have begun offering near millions of dollars to prospective recruits. Penn State reportedly offered an NIL package of over $250,000 to Porter Martone, a CHL player who went sixth overall in the 2025 NHL Draft on June 27. Michigan State and Penn State engaged in a bidding war for Gavin McKenna, another CHL recruit that is the prospective No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
It was reported by multiple sources on Monday that McKenna will also attend Penn State. The Nittany Lions offered nearly $700,000 to land the blue-chip recruit, who — much like many other CHL-to-NCAA bound players — will likely only play one year of college hockey before making the jump to the NHL.
Despite all of that, Ashton chose Cornell.
And when asked about what he’s most excited about, Ashton — grinning widely — said he couldn’t put a finger on one thing.
“I’ve found an exciting part for me about college hockey is the people,” Ashton said. “You get to go to school with your friends and play in front of the crowd. From everything that I hear, Cornell is quite an exciting [and] special place to be. So being able to cherish those memories and make those memories with not only my teammates but students around campus, I’m really looking forward to.”
Ashton was lured by the culture that Cornell hockey cultivates, the prestige of an Ivy League school and the program’s longstanding commitment to success both on the ice and off.
“The history is something to just be in awe of,” Ashton said. “[In] both school and hockey, the team has a winning reputation. I know that Cornell is quite a prestigious school with a lot of rich history, which I love.”
Ashton didn’t go into the process blindly — he was originally recruited by head coach Casey Jones ’90 when Jones was the head coach at Clarkson. When Ashton entered the transfer portal on April 16 — nearly a month after the portal opened — Jones was quick to reach out to Ashton a second time.
The easy part, for Ashton, was deciding to transfer to Cornell.
The hard part? Doing the actual transferring.
“I mean, the timing of it was tough, because I won the portal late, and then applications were due a week later,” Ashton said.
After a three-day road trip from Minnesota State in Mankato, Minnesota back home to North Vancouver, British Columbia, Ashton had to hastily write his essay and cross off boxes on forms. It was “definitely worth it,” he says.
The numbers Ashton put up at Minnesota State were solid — five goals and eight assists for 13 points as a depth defenseman — but not necessarily what he’s known for. Standing at 6’6”, 239 lbs, Ashton’s uniquely massive stature separates him from the rest of the pack. Others have taken notice, too — Ashton was drafted in sixth round of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After Cornell’s defensive corps was rattled by both graduation and the transfer portal, Jones confided in Ashton — as well as incoming sophomore defenseman Michael Fisher, a transfer from Northeastern — to help fill in the gaps.
“I’d like to definitely consider myself as a two-way defenseman,” Ashton said. “Obviously, I’m quite tall and big with my stature, but good with my stick. I play physical [and] hard in the defensive zone, but I definitely like to push the pace up the ice and bring an offensive element. I love to use my shot, for sure.”
After spending a few days in Columbus, Ohio for the Blue Jackets’ development camp, Ashton will return home to North Vancouver to continue training. He’s even been able to acclimate himself to the team early on, skating with fellow British Columbia natives junior defenseman Hoyt Stanley, senior defenseman Jack O’Brien and senior forward Sean Donaldson.
Chatting with them about his future school, Ashton’s excitement is palpable.
“You can just sense a great vibe from not only the team, but the school and the people who go to Cornell. Everyone has good things to say about it,” Ashton said. “So it was kind of a no-brainer.”
Jane McNally is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and was the sports editor on the 142nd editorial board. She is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow her on X @JaneMcNally_ and reach her at jmcnally@cornellsun.com.
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College Sports
Denver Gymnast Rylie Mundell Named CSC Academic All-American
Story Links DENVER – University of Denver gymnast Rylie Mundell has been named to the 2024-25 CSC Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Team, College Sports Communicators announced on Tuesday. Mundell captured second-team honors, marking the second time in the last three years that she was named to the CSC Academic […]

DENVER – University of Denver gymnast Rylie Mundell has been named to the 2024-25 CSC Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Team, College Sports Communicators announced on Tuesday.
Mundell captured second-team honors, marking the second time in the last three years that she was named to the CSC Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Team.
The CSC Academic All-America Teams honor the top student-athletes in the nation based on their combined athletic and academic performances. The Academic At-Large teams are open to student-athletes from fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Nominees must hold at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA and have met participation requirements as determined by each sport.
Mundell completed her bachelor’s degree in physics in June 2024 before pursuing a graduate program in global information system for the 2024-25 academic year. She held a 4.00 GPA in her post-graduate work after finishing her bachelor’s degree with a 3.97 GPA.
In 2025, she ended her stellar collegiate career as an individual bars qualifier to the NCAA National Championships and tied for No. 24 overall on the event. She won a total of eight titles during the 2025 season including four on bars, moving her to No. 4 in Denver history for most career wins on the event (19).
Mundell finished her career among some of the best in Denver Gymnastics history, ranking in the top five for most career scores of at least 9.900 with 60, 30 of which came on bars. In total, she won 42 career titles across all four events and in the all-around, now the 11th most in program history. She achieved career highs of at least 9.900 on all four events including near-perfect 9.975s on bars and beam.
Four times in her career, she picked up Academic All-Big 12 Conference Team honors, doing so in every season that she was eligible. She also owns four WCGA Scholastic All-America awards and is expected to add a fifth for 2024-25 when the honors are announced later this summer.
This is the second career CSC Academic All-America honor of Mundell’s career after earning third-team recognition in 2022-23. She becomes the eighth University of Denver student-athlete and the first gymnast to earn multiple CSC Academic All-America Division I nods. Denver now boasts four Academic All-America honors from gymnasts: two from Mundell and one apiece from Karen Beer (first team, 1982-83) and Emily Bankhead (third team, 2003-04).
In total, 46 Division I student-athletes earned spots on the 2024-25 CSC Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Teams. Mundell is one of two Denver student-athletes to be named to the teams, joining two-time NCAA skiing champion Sara Rask, who collected first-team honors. Gymnastics is the most-recognized sport on this year’s DI at-large teams with Mundell as one of eight honorees.
Mundell and Rask become the fourth and fifth DU student-athletes to earn CSC Academic All-America status in 2024-25 after men’s soccer players Ronan Wynne and Sam Bassett – second and third team, respectively – and men’s swimmer Brandon Chapman (third team).
So far, Denver has now had at least one CSC Academic All-American in each of the last five years and in 11 of the last 12. Over the last two academic years, Denver has boasted 11 honors.
The men’s at-large team will be announced on Wednesday, July 9.
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College Sports
Gavin McKenna Chooses Penn State In Landmark Hockey Recruiting Battle
In what has been one of the biggest recruiting chases in the history of college hockey, Gavin McKenna has made his decision. The projected No. 1 pick for the 2026 NHL Draft is heading to Penn State University for the 2025-26 season according to multiple reports and independently confirmed by FloSports. McKenna is expected to […]

In what has been one of the biggest recruiting chases in the history of college hockey, Gavin McKenna has made his decision.
The projected No. 1 pick for the 2026 NHL Draft is heading to Penn State University for the 2025-26 season according to multiple reports and independently confirmed by FloSports. McKenna is expected to formally announce the decision on ESPN during the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter.
McKenna narrowed a list down to Michigan State and Penn State, choosing to go to the Nittany Lions after weeks of deliberations and recent visits to both schools.
It is believed that Penn State was able to offer the most lucrative NIL package to help entice the top prospect. With NHL earnings surely on the way, money likely wasn’t the primary deciding factor, but the best player going to the highest bidder certainly does not hurt. Sources indicated that McKenna wanted to take on the opportunity to be a game-changing player at a program like Penn State which has yet to produce a single NHL regular since entering the NCAA in 2011.
There is momentum in State College, however.
The Nittany Lions are fresh off their first ever Frozen Four appearance last season and went on a tremendous second-half run that positioned the program well for attracting new recruits, especially as things opened up for CHL players.
McKenna is by far the highest-profile recruit in Penn State history and will likely go down as likely the highest-profile recruit to enter men’s college hockey ever. Even though others like Macklin Celebrini, Adam Fantilli and Jack Eichel played in the college ranks, they made their commitments well before they were the household names they would become in prospect and scouting circles. Their recruitment was not nearly as closely viewed as McKenna’s has been and their decision certainly was not a big topic of conversation on SportsCenter.
McKenna has been viewed as the No. 1 pick for 2026 for the better part of two years, but the college option wasn’t even open to him until a landmark decision made last fall.
The NCAA made a ruling that allowed, for the first time, players from the Canadian Hockey League to be eligible to play college hockey. Many players have already made commitments to the NCAA including several high-profile recent draft picks, but none matches the pedigree and potential of McKenna, who is coming off of an incredible WHL season with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Here is our brief report on McKenna where he was ranked No. 1 in our way-too-early 2026 NHL Draft Top 10 Rankings:
Between the regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup, McKenna put up 173 points in 76 games. His 129 in the regular season ranks third among U18 players in the WHL in the last 35 years. He had points in 54 consecutive games. We can keep going on and on with the points.
What will make Gavin McKenna the No. 1 pick however is his impressive pace, ability to process the game at remarkable speeds and hand skills that will make more than a few defenders look silly even at the NHL level. He is a play-driving winger who craves the puck and makes plays in any way you can imagine. He is a legitimate shot-pass threat, though I think he’s a better playmaker than a goal scorer.
He’s a winner, too. McKenna led Canada to the U18 World Championship in 2024 while setting the Candian scoring record in the tournament, then took Medicine Hat to the WHL championship and the Memorial Cup final. He’s a special, special talent.
In terms of pedigree, college hockey has not yet seen a player with this impressive a resume come into the college ranks in recent years. This is a massive coup for Penn State, putting the program even more firmly on the map as a destination for top prospects. That, is of course, if everything goes to plan and McKenna is the runaway No. 1 pick as everyone expects him to be next June.
Penn State has been extremely aggressive in recruiting top prospects from the CHL, but now have the centerpiece of their 2025-26 roster with McKenna.
In addition to McKenna’s arrival, the Nittany Lions also picked up a commitment from Jackson Smith, who was selected 14th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2025 NHL Draft. He is the highest-drafted player ever to commit to the Nittany Lions, or at least will be until McKenna goes next season.
Additionally, the Nittany Lions still have Hobey Baker Top 10 finalist Aidan Fink and recent second-round draft pick Charlie Cerrato returning from last year’s team. Goalie transfer Kevin Reidler, an Ottawa Senators draft pick, will be joining the team this year, as will Hobey Top 10 finalist and strong NCAA free agent defenseman Mac Gadowsky who starred at West Point. Calgary Flames draft pick Luke Misa, Florida Panthers pick Shea Busch and point-per-game forward Lev Katzin also were added as recruits this year out of the CHL, among others.
This is a potential transformational period for Penn State in landing the highest-profile recruits. They have not yet had this kind of splash in their program’s history. Now they have by far their most talented recruiting class. Though McKenna is almost certainly a one-and-done player, the rest could be sticking around for longer.
So how did Penn State land such a high-profile piece despite the intense competition for his services that included every major program in the country?
I’m told that McKenna was enticed by the opportunity to help build something at Penn State. If he’s going to be an NHL cornerstone piece, why not get a head start at a program that has been searching to gain a foothold among college hockey’s blue bloods since arriving at the Division I level in 2011?
Additionally, Penn State has world class facilities, access to elite level off-ice training and a competitive-enough team to give McKenna a chance at chasing another trophy after winning the WHL last season.
Plus, the opportunity McKenna had to earn the highest NIL figure ever given to a hockey player is important, too. Though an official figure has not been confirmed, reports indicate his earnings will be as high as $750,000 USD. Additionally, McKenna is sponsored by a number of brands including Bauer, increasing his earning potential.
In the NIL era, where sports that are not football or basketball have a harder time getting athletes paid big dollars, McKenna’s arrival and whatever impact he’s able to make could make an impact on the pool of money afforded to hockey players by their athletics departments and NIL collectives in the future. The one caveat is that so few players will enter the collegiate ranks with the pedigree McKenna currently can boast.
Penn State has punched above its weight at times, but still hadn’t become the destination for bluechip recruits. McKenna’s value was not going to be any higher for another Big Ten program than it is for Penn State’s. To be completely honest, they couldn’t pay him enough to match the value a player of his caliber saying yes to the program will bring for their future recruiting opportunities. McKenna is an especially influential player given his status as one of the CHL’s very best talents and what he does will not go unnoticed. That’s why this feels like such a big deal, especially for the Nittany Lions.
This is a monumental moment not just for Penn State, but for college hockey.
The arrival of McKenna is a flashpoint moment for the new era with CHL players being eligible and could be the most important test balloon for players weighing decisions about where to play in their 18-year-old and 19-year-old seasons. Several players with high-profile aspirations including McKenna’s former Medicine Hat Teammate Cayden Lindstrom at Michigan State, and Victoria Royals duo Keaton Verhoeff and Cole Reschny heading to North Dakota, have already made the decision, which made an impact but not in the same way McKenna’s will.
Now the big question is going to be how much more competitive this makes Penn State. That may take a bit longer to determine. Younger teams in college hockey tend to have a more difficult time because some programs are going to be much longer on experience. Penn State has a high number of returnees from its national championship team, but also sustained key losses including in star goalie Arsenii Sergeev turning pro with the Calgary Flames.
Though programs like Michigan, Boston University and Boston College, among others, have loaded up on top prospects and first-round picks, that has not been a recipe for success. Denver won a national championship in 2024 with future first-rounder Zeev Buium on the team, but before that, Riley Tufte was the last first-round pick to win a national championship with Minnesota Duluth in 2019. Teams like Quinnipiac and UMass won national titles without top prospects dotting their rosters.
The NCAA field is going to be awfully crowded and one of the more veteran teams in the country is going to be Michigan State, the school McKenna passed up. They have the best returning goalie in the country in Trey Augustine, the reigning Hobey Baker winner in Isaac Howard and one of the best recruiting classes they’ve pulled in, in many years. And don’t count out defending champion Western Michigan. They had some losses, but loaded up on transfers and will return starting goalie Hampton Slukynsky. Winning in the NCAA does not come easy, especially not in the power conferences.
Because of the wide range in ages of players in college hockey — 17 to 24 — having the most skilled team doesn’t always lead to success. But it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Regardless of if the Nittany Lions win a national title this year, though, this is a massive moment to celebrate for a program that has had seemingly all the tools to land players like this, but for whatever reason hadn’t yet. The talent influx in college hockey heading into the 2025-26 season is unlike anything we’ve ever seen and Penn State just added the very best player of that bunch. It is certainly a new era in Hockey Valley.
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