Head coach Mike Locksley and the Maryland Terrapins compiled back-to-back eight-win seasons and three consecutive bowl wins before falling to 4-8 in 2024.

It was Locksley’s sixth season at the helm, and one that the former Nick Saban assistant admitted featured an underlying issue.

Locksley revealed at Big Ten Media Days that he and his staff “lost” the locker room, leading to just four wins and five-straight losses to cap off the year.

“I’ll tell you, a year ago Coach Locks lost his locker room,” Locksley said at Big Ten Media Days. “For me to stand in front of a group of media and tell you that I lost my locker room – and it wasn’t because I wasn’t a good coach, it wasn’t because they weren’t good players because we were better than a four-win team.”

Locksley pointed to significant shift to the NIL era as the root of the locker room disconnect, which he believed was created by his players not playing for the collective group. He even claimed that he will put his desk inside the locker room this year if it comes to it.

“What we had to do was, we had haves and have-nots for the first time in our locker room, and the landscape of college football taught me a valuable lesson,” Locksley said. “That valuable lesson is it’s important for me, even in the midst of this change, to continue to educate our players on the importance of what playing for something bigger than yourself is all about. And I can tell you that if I’ve got to put my desk in the locker room this year, I will.”

Some players are hauling in millions of dollars in NIL funds in today’s era. But those figures aren’t distributed equally, and Locksley aims to create more of an equal environment within the program this season.

“What I’ve decided now is if you come to Maryland and you look outside of the our locker room, there’s a sign,” he continued. “That sign reads, ‘You can leave your Louis belts, your car keys, and your financial statements outside of this locker room,’ because when you enter those doors, we’ll all pay the same price for success or failure.”

Maryland’s first test will come in the season opener against Florida Atlantic at home on Aug. 30 at noon ET.

Phone: 814-863-7461 Email: ses13@psu.edu

Eight NCAA Championships appearances, and eight NCAA Regional Championships. Eighteen All-America titles, 25 regional individual titles and 106 all-conference academic selections. Three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (1999, 2006, 2009). One of his athletes sits atop every Penn State event record list. All this as Steve Shephard enters his 18th season as the head coach of the Nittany Lion women[apos]s gymnastics team.
Beyond impressive scores and records, Shephard[apos]s true aim lies in molding the all-around college student. To that end, he, longtime assistant Jessica Bastardi and assistant Randy Monahan have created a family atmosphere within the gymnastics program that has helped athletes thrive.

[quote]We have a philosophy where we want our athletes to succeed in all aspects of their college experience,[quote] Shephard explains. [quote]We want them to succeed academically, athletically, and socially. We want them to come away feeling good about their time at Penn State.[quote]

Shephard, an avid off-road motorcyclist, began his affiliation with national caliber competition early in his career. Competing at Hinsdale High School in Illinois, Shephard was part of two national high school championship teams. He finished fourth in floor exercise in the state scholastic meet in 1973 and was on state championship teams from 1969-73. As an undergraduate at Southern Illinois, Shephard was part of the 1975 Saluki team that placed third at the NCAA Championships.

Shephard went on to become the coach and co-director of the Olympic Academy of Gymnastics and Dance in Newark, Ohio, for a year before joining the coaching staff at his alma mater in 1978.
He moved on to coach the men[apos]s team at Ball State in Indiana for two years and was director of the Woodward Gymnastics Camp in nearby Woodward, Pa., in the summer of 1981. He then purchased the Nittany Gymnastics and Dance School in State College in 1983, a facility he owned and operated for six years.

In 1989, Shephard was named Penn State[apos]s assistant women[apos]s gymnastics coach. During his three seasons as an assistant to Judi Avener, Shephard earned Assistant Coach of the Year honors in the Northeast and helped the Nittany Lions to fifth and fourth-place NCAA finishes and two Atlantic 10 Conference championships.

Following Avener[apos]s departure for the head job at Florida following the 1992 season, Shephard was named Penn State[apos]s eighth women[apos]s gymnastics coach.

In addition to years of competitive gymnastics experience, Shephard holds a master[apos]s degree in physical education and is an internship away from a second masters in Counselor Education. He has used this educational background to enthusiastically develop a unique coaching philosophy.

Shephard and his wife, Debbie, have two sons, Taylor and Sam.

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Blacksburg may be quiet for now, but it won’t be long before a little over 37,000 college students descend upon the small town nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in late August for the beginning of classes this year. For many students and faculty, the beginning of the fall semester marks the start of something new, and the same could be said for 42-year-old Joey Mullen, a father of two and the head coach of Virginia Tech’s Club Ice Hockey Team.

Virginia Tech, the student body, the alumni and Southwest Virginia have strong Hokie pride that runs deep. That same pride is directly intertwined with the school’s extensive collection of NCAA Division I sports programs: football, basketball, baseball and the list goes on.

Just ask any Virginia Tech fan to conjure up some sports images or memories in their head. What comes to mind? Maybe it’s Michael Vick bobbing and weaving through defenders on his way to the endzone, as he was known to do so many times in his stint with the school. Or maybe it’s Georgia Amoore and Liz Kitley leading the 31-5 women’s basketball team to a Final Four appearance against Angel Reese and powerhouse LSU. But how many of those fans would bring up ice hockey despite the club’s presence at the school for the past 41 years?

Although not an NCAA Division I program, the club hockey team is the only collegiate men’s ice hockey team that represents the school. The team currently plays in the ACCHL (Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League), which is a conference within Division II of the ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association). The ACHA is the governing body of non-NCAA hockey, which covers three distinct divisions, each of which has different conferences within those divisions.

The club was founded in 1984 by “a few transplanted New Englanders,” according to the team’s website. Since those humble beginnings, the club has been building a culture that all Hokie fans, hockey and non-hockey fans alike, can be proud of, culminating with a historic 24-4-1 season last year. It’s a testament to the coaching style of Mullen, who has been with the ACHA team for 15 years.

Mullen is no stranger to hockey. One of his uncles is three-time Stanley Cup Champion and Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Mullen; his dad also played pro hockey. Mullen is no stranger to Southwest Virginia either; the Roanoke native has been playing hockey in the area since he was two.

Mullen played junior hockey in the Northeast and at Radford before calling it a playing career. However, Mullen has always wanted to stay close to the game.

“I didn’t go to college long. I just got into working and started coaching some youth hockey at like 19 [or] 20 years old, just helping out, trying to get back to hockey, and the opportunity at Radford came along. I’ve kind of enjoyed coaching just as much, if not more than like playing,” Mullen said.

The “opportunity at Radford” Mullen is referring to was a coaching gig for the school’s club hockey program – the same program he played for during his college years, despite not actually being a student at Radford.

“It was the early years of, like, the ACHA, which is like our governing body. The rules weren’t very strict, so you could kinda dance around them a little bit. So that’s how I ended up at Radford. It was me and a couple of other guys who played there that didn’t go to Radford,” Mullen said.

Mullen coached at Radford for four years before making the jump to become an assistant coach at Virginia Tech after receiving a call from a friend about an opening at the program.

Mullen said that within his first year at Virginia Tech, the team ran into issues with head coaching, and with just two weeks left in the season, he took over head coaching responsibilities.

Since taking the reins, Mullen has not looked back; his tenure includes impressive feats such as 200 wins, the most head coaching wins in program and ACCHL history, multiple regional appearances, one National Tournament berth, and a regular season championship in 2021. While these achievements may not be Mullen’s ultimate goal of winning a national championship, they show a much broader significance.

These achievements are building blocks that increase team visibility not only amongst recruits but fans as well. The ACHA, which had only 15 teams at its inception in 1991, now stands 460 strong, which is reflective of the growth of hockey on a national scale. Recent success from teams like the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes has also increased interest in the sport right here in our region, making it very easy for Mullen and the club to recruit impressive young talent on a consistent basis.

Some of that aforementioned young talent includes rising sophomore defenseman JH Lages and rising junior winger Kam Khazai. Both Khazai and Lages are from McLean, Virginia, an area in the Northern part of the state just a stone’s throw away from Washington, D.C., which has seen a boom in youth hockey thanks in no small part to Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Washington Capitals.

According to a 2024-2025 USA Hockey membership poll by state, a total of 11,085 players ranging from 6 years old to 19 years old and over registered to play hockey in Virginia, almost a 6,000-player increase from a similar USA Hockey Report in 2003.

Khazai is just one of many who were drawn into playing hockey by watching the likes of Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom, a player who his dad would certainly like Khazai to emulate his game after, on their television screens. “I want to do that,” Khazai told his parents one day.

Khazai’s parents obliged, and his dad took him to see a figure skating coach who taught Khazai how to skate, which turned into hockey eventually.

“I think, with the Caps winning the Stanley Cup, the exposure in Northern Virginia for hockey’s gone way up. I started playing for a team called Caps Academy, and they didn’t even have like a Double-A team … I went to Triple-A for the Little Caps … now they have Caps Academy, which has grown, and they have so many teams. But yeah, it’s definitely growing and still growing,” Khazai said about his beginnings in hockey.

Khazai continued to play youth hockey and work his way through the ranks at Caps Academy before landing on a team in Rockville, Maryland, where he honed his skills and continued to grow as a competitor.

“I met with a coach … Rob. He had, like this summer team called D.C. Selects. That was like the true coaching experience that I got because at my Caps Academy thing, it was all like dads and dad coaches. But Rob actually played … like Rob went to like the Pittsburgh Penguins Development Camp, and so that was like the first true hardcore hockey that I experienced, and I made the team … But ever since then, it was competitive,” Khazai said.

For most up-and-coming players looking to play hockey at the collegiate level, the path isn’t always cut and dry, and it certainly isn’t guaranteed. Those who are looking to get scouted by colleges elect to play junior hockey. There are a multitude of junior leagues across North America, including the NCDC (National Collegiate Development Conference). The NCDC is a branch of the United States Premier Hockey League, a team in that league drafted Khazai. However, with the uncertainty regarding playing time and a desire to pursue academics, Khazai chose a different path, which landed him at Virginia Tech and into the lap of coach Mullen.

22-year-old defenseman JH Lages’ entry into hockey isn’t much different from Khazai’s. Lages’ parents had season tickets to the San Jose Sharks’ inaugural season before eventually moving to the D.C. area.

“When they moved to the D.C area, and I was born, I was skating…. they had me skating since I was like two or three years old. That was kind of the foundation of it… They weren’t gonna let me play hockey unless I was a good skater, because that’s a very important part of it. So once I was able to show them that I was a good skater, then I started playing when I was like five,” Lages said.

Lages continued his career bouncing around from location to location, club to club, school to school, including stops in New Jersey, Maryland and New England Prep for his junior and senior year of high school, experiences he thoroughly enjoyed.

“I thought it was a blast. You learn, you meet so many new people, you learn different structures of the game, whether it’s in New Jersey or here, or it’s in Connecticut. You just try to take in the most that you can get…If I had to do it over, I would I would do the same exact thing.”

Unlike Khazai, Lages decided to pursue the Junior hockey route. The offensive-minded defenseman spent two years, including one year in the OJHL (Ontario Junior Hockey League) in Canada. After two years in juniors, Lages had plenty of D-III offers, but he wasn’t interested in playing hockey at a small school far from home, compounded with uncertainties regarding playing time. After much contemplation, and a tour at Virginia Tech that sealed the deal, Lages decided to stick close to home and play club hockey in Blacksburg.

Lages’ first season with the club, Khazai’s second season and Mullen’s 15th proved to be a memorable one last year – a season Mullen is hoping to build on this fall.

The 2024 season started off strong in September despite the club dropping the home opener in Roanoke to N.C State.

Virginia Tech plays at Lancerlot Sports Complex in Vinton, an arena which both players and coach Mullen have nothing but nice things to say about how accommodating the rink and staff are to the team.

“We have our own locker room there, like, they’re awesome to us. We get all the good game time stuff like that, like we’re not playing home games at 11 o’clock at night,” Mullen said.

However, the almost 50-minute drive from campus can take its toll on some of the players who also have to balance their responsibilities as students. The distance of the rink from campus can also be a deterrent for students and fans who might otherwise be interested in watching the team play. The situation is a far cry away from a school like Liberty University, whose club team plays at LaHayce Ice Center, an accessible on-campus ice rink that seats 4,000. However, the university is a bit of an outlier in the region, with schools like Radford and UVA playing at off-campus rinks just like Tech.

After the season-opening loss, the Hokies were able to rattle off 13 straight wins, wins that Lages said were more of an “expectation” for the players in the club. Coach Mullen said the team played very clean hockey throughout the stretch.

“We got to a point….where, instead of game by game, we were breaking it down period by period… We want to win every period, just to keep them motivated, because you can get a little complacent when you’re winning a lot. We didn’t want that to factor in, because we knew the second half of our schedule was gonna be really tough..” Mullen said.

A loss to Penn State would ultimately cut the winning streak short in November after not seeing a loss the entire month of October; the loss was a tight one in overtime, which meant the club was still able to salvage a point. A point streak that would continue throughout the month of December as anticipation built throughout the locker room for Virginia Tech’s first outdoor game in history in January.

Virginia Tech had been scheduled to play the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, January 4th, which by pure happenstance, coincided with the Hokie football team’s appearance against Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl Friday, January 3rd, in the same city. The football team played in Bank of America Stadium, and the hockey team at Truist Field, where the Charlotte Knights, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, play.

It was a game and weekend trip that Mullen, Lages and Khazai will not soon forget. It was also a game the club was to determined to win.

“I give a lot of credit to the kids because we brought them back like three days after Christmas to practice for a whole week…and had a little practice. So we were prepped. We were ready,” Mullen said.

“Prepped and ready” is an understatement; the Hokies came out swinging, scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes, taking a strong 4-0 lead at the end of the first period. It was a commanding lead they never surrendered, blanking UNC 6-0 on a picturesque, albeit cold, Saturday night in Charlotte.

The game and trip was a tremendous bonding experience for the club, some even attended the football team’s bowl game the night before. The trip also boosted fan recognition and team visibility on multiple fronts.

Pop Watson, quarterback for Virginia Tech, who played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl Friday, was named as an honorary captain for the hockey game along with offensive lineman Brody Meadows.

Watson and Meadows showing up for the hockey game Saturday speaks volumes to the camaraderie of Hokie athletics. Watson even ate a pregame meal with the team, a gesture that the club greatly appreciated. The game was also live-streamed on ESPN+ for those who were unable to make the trek to Charlotte.

After the outdoor game, it was back to business as usual, the team finished the regular season with a 5-2 record in January. The team’s 24-4-1 finish, combined with a successful showing in the ACCHL playoffs, was enough to propel them to regionals in Evansville, Indiana, after barely missing regionals in the 2023-2024 season. It was the team’s first regionals appearance in five years.

“We nearly missed out on it the last couple of years by like a spot or two, and that was kind of disappointing for those seniors that have kind of worked to get us back to where we’re at now. So it was super rewarding this year. For some of these guys to get a chance to get there. I wish we could have done more damage,” Mullen said.

The Hokies ultimately lost 3-2 in the first game of regionals, an early bird special, 11 a.m. game against the University of Ohio. Tech lost in heartbreaking fashion in double overtime. Lages, Khazai, and Mullen all shared the same sentiment: the team could have gone to nationals.

“I mean, we all wanted to go to nationals…. A bunch of people were also burnt out. There’s a lot of hockey and it’s a lot of effort throughout the season,” Khazai said.

“I thought we really had the team [to make nationals]. I mean losing 3-2, in double overtime, is tough…especially a game. I thought we played pretty well and could have won,” Mullen said.

“There was a ton of upsets… it’s playoff hockey. It’s why it’s the best sport in the world, the seed just has no like implication on anything… It’s just it’s one hockey game. Doesn’t matter what seed you are. It doesn’t matter who was good in the regular season… Just who can be better in 60 minutes.. or in our case, you know 90, or 80…It was a close game, we, had some moments there where we thought we were gonna close the door in overtime, but you know that’s hockey for you. You win some. You lose some…” Lages said.

A memorable season came to a brutal and abrupt close for the Virginia Tech hockey team, a season that had numerous personal highlights for both Khazai and Lages. Khazai finished the season with an astounding 26 goals and 41 assists, racking up 67 points in total playing on the top line. His efforts did not go unnoticed. He received the team’s unsung hero award. Khazai said that it is always great to be recognized by the team and staff.

Lages was also able to produce at a high level. The freshman defenseman took on the top defensive pairing role with ease; he was able to garner 12 goals and 24 assists for a total of 36 points. Lages also received the team’s Rookie of the Year award and was named the ACCHL’s Premiere Division Defenseman of the Year.

The historic year combined with a bolstered and consistent social media presence, which was carefully crafted by a student-run media team, was the exact recipe the club needed to boost fan recognition and team chemistry. Right now, the team’s socials have amassed a little over 7,000 followers across all major platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X).

The Virginia Tech Hockey Network, a student-run broadcast network, has also increased visibility for the team and provides insightful analysis, podcasts and even pre-game shows for wall-to-wall coverage of the team.

“It was really cool to watch. And we’ve seen a lot of other teams like Liberty does a really high end product. N.C. State, it’s a high-end product like that.You kind of want to keep up with them and emulate what they got going on …. just to get our name out there and kind of show everybody what we’re about, what we do. It’s definitely helped…We reach kids from all over the country now,” Mullen said.

As summer turns to fall in just under 60 days the club and Mullen set their sights on the ultimate prize: 2026 Nationals in St. Louis. It’s a goal that both the players and Coach Mullen believe is attainable, in the sports world, that is called “buy in”. Everyone has to “buy in,” and with the culture that has been created at Virginia Tech, that is exactly what Coach Mullen and his staff have. But until then, Coach Mullen, Khazai and Lages have to take things one step at a time, and that first step is tryouts, next wil be the regular season and playoffs, followed by success in regionals, and then and only then will they be on their way to St. Louis.

Just about a month away before 37,000 students return to campus, around 30 of those returning 37,000 will play club ice hockey this year and compete for the ultimate prize in the ACHA.

For more information on the club, click here.

You used to be able to set your watch to Alabama Football.

Under Nick Saban, the pattern generally followed the same script.

The Crimson Tide would be one of the favorites to win the national championship, they’d often be odds-on to win the SEC and their Over/Under would be the highest in the country.

For most of Saban’s tenure, Alabama would meet or surpass the lofty expectations that were set ahead of each campaign. 

The Crimson Tide won six national championships and nine SEC titles during Saban’s 17-year tenure, and they only lost more than one conference game in four of those seasons.

The stability under Saban made Alabama one of the safest teams to project in all of college football. The range of outcomes was minimal.

Those days appear to be over, and not just because Saban is no longer in charge of the Crimson Tide, but also because the entire landscape of college football has changed.

Realignment, the expanded Playoff and the outlandish growth of NIL have leveled the playing field at the top of college football, making it hard for any program to maintain its spot at the top of the food chain.

Alabama, in its second year under head coach Kalen DeBoer, is the seventh-favorite (12/1) to win the national championship at BetMGM, putting the Tide behind Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, and Clemson.

Alabama was 15/1 to win the national championship ahead of 2024, which means this will likely be the first time in 15 years that the Crimson Tide enters back-to-back seasons with outright odds in the double digits.

The betting market was largely proven right last year when it came to Alabama. DeBoer’s first season got off to a flawless start, culminating in a 41-34 win over Georgia to get to 4-0, but the following week saw the Crimson Tide lose to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984. 

That result set the tone for the rest of an inconsistent season for the Crimson Tide, one that ended with a loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. 

Given how his first season in Tuscaloosa went, it’s no surprise that everybody seems to be lukewarm on ‘Bama in DeBoer’s second season.

The AP preseason poll won’t come out for a few weeks, but Alabama will likely be sitting right around fifth behind Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, and perhaps Penn State and/or Oregon. 

Betting on College Football?

That would match the betting market and public sentiment, as the college football world needs to be convinced that DeBoer is the man for this job.

While the winds of uncertainty that are swirling around DeBoer may seem like reasons for bettors to abandon ship, they’re also presenting a rare opportunity to buy low on ‘Bama in a season that sets up quite well for them on paper.

Aside from DeBoer, the biggest question mark for Alabama will be under center, where dual-threat QB Ty Simpson is the projected starter. 

Simpson does not have much experience running the show at Alabama, but he’s walking into a terrific situation. The offensive line should be among the best in the country, he’s got an experienced backfield to ride with him and his wide receiver corps could be historically good, with Ryan Williams leading the way. 

The defense also grades out splendidly, which should mean that Simpson – or whoever wins the job – won’t need to win many games on his own. 

If you strip out the noise and size up Alabama based on the talent on its roster, you could argue that this is one of the two best teams in the country right now.

In fact, Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings have the Tide ranked second behind Ohio State.

Connelly’s numbers back up the notion that there are just two (albeit important ones) questions for the Tide to answer going into the season.

For any other team, this kind of setup would lead to a bullish market. 

But for Alabama, two question marks are two more than we’re used to, and that has caused the market to sour on the Tide.

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

Mason West has committed to playing hockey. That’s why the Chicago Blackhawks drafted him in the first round.

That won’t stop college football programs from calling, though.

“Yeah, they’ll always be calling,” said Jason Potts, West’s football coach at Edina High in Minnesota, on Thursday.

With West being 6 feet 6 and athletic and deciding to play one more season of high school football as a quarterback, college football programs are still hoping he’ll change his mind.

“I think the interest will always be there,” Potts said. “Recruiting is just out of hand. It’s crazy. It feels like it never stops. They’re always interested, and I think they always will be. I don’t know when it actually ever stops. But again, Mason’s just focused on his goals and what he wants to do. And he’s really good at blocking distractions out and then just enjoying the experience.”

The fact that college football programs continue to call is something the Blackhawks have to live with. That’s part of the game. What is more important to the Blackhawks is West’s commitment to hockey. As long as he’s not enticed by major college football programs calling him, they can rest assured in his path. West doesn’t seem to be tempted. Potts said he hasn’t thrown for any major football programs this summer.

Dream come true. Thankful to so many who helped along the way, and extremely excited to be apart of the @NHLBlackhawks organization. pic.twitter.com/loH9k5Hs1M

— Mason West ‘26 (@MasonWest2026) June 29, 2025

Potts won’t be trying to change his mind, either.

“A lot of people think, as the football coach, I’m going to tell him to play football or don’t play hockey,” Potts said. “But I love Mason. I love him as a person, and I want him to do whatever his heart is set out to do, so I’m really proud of him. I think (he and his family) handled it phenomenally. His parents were great support. I never told him what to do. I would just ask him guiding questions for him to help figure it out on his own, and I think that’s what he did, and I think he feels really good about it, and the family is really happy.”

The Blackhawks have a ton of faith in goaltending scout Dan Ellis.

When it comes to other positions, they consult a variety of opinions from within their hockey operations department. On goalies, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson mostly turns to Ellis. His opinion carries weight.

So when the Blackhawks were looking for another goalie to sign for next season and likely be the No. 2 to Drew Commesso with the Rockford IceHogs, they turned to Ellis.

Ellis had someone in mind: Stanislav Berezhnoy, a 22-year-old, 6-4, 218-pound undrafted goalie from Russia.

Berezhnoy was on Ellis’ radar when he was draft-eligible, but he and every other NHL team didn’t see enough to select him.

“But I just continued to track him, and his game just kept getting cleaner and cleaner,” Ellis said. “He’s a huge man, and it takes a lot for a big body like that to gain control, gain speed, gain power, and he’s slowly just gotten better and better. And I thought that the size, the athleticism and the consistency that he’s putting up, from the MHL to the VHL — he’s only got a couple of games in the KHL, so there’s not much to judge from that, but it’s nice to see that he got that experience — and he just looked like a guy that might be a good prospect to add to the depth chart.”

Berezhnoy had a .928 save percentage in 27 games in the VHL and played in one KHL game for SKA this past season.

Berezhnoy is a bit of a project, but the Blackhawks can take that chance. They’re confident in their NHL goalie pool, with Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom returning and Laurent Brossoit possibly joining the mix. They also have Commesso coming off a strong second half of last season with the IceHogs, likely to start next season as the No. 1. Berezhnoy can ease into North American hockey and share the IceHogs’ net with Commesso.

The Blackhawks considered signing a veteran for that role, but they thought there might be more upside in someone like Berezhnoy.

“The only thing with (the veteran) is it’s great, but that player still wants their minutes, and they still want their games and stuff,” Ellis said. “They’re not always willing to accept that role, and some guys just don’t want to be a mentor. … So you’re paying anywhere from ($250,000) to ($500,000) in the American League to get a guy like that. Or, you look at, well, we can also get a prospect who can develop and maybe becomes an NHL goaltender, an NHL asset.

“That was the route that we felt was best to take, with Drew taking the jump in his development. He’s put himself in a position to be the No. 1 goaltender in Rockford and put himself in a position to be that next guy in line in Chicago. And Stanislav will now get a chance to earn the same opportunities in his own development time.”

Ellis said he has been communicating with Berezhnoy’s goalies coach in Russia and exchanging video and notes. Ellis said the focus will be getting Berezhnoy up to speed on playing more of an east-west game and adapting to the direction changes, mobility and quickness of the North American game in net.

Ellis also influenced the Blackhawks in drafting goalie Ilya Kanarsky in the seventh round in June.

Like Berezhnoy, Kanarsky is from Russia. He’s 20 years old, 6-3 and 192 pounds. He had a .938 save percentage in 34 games in the MHL and a .942 save percentage in three games in the VHL last season. In the MHL, he shared the net with Kirill Zarubin, a Calgary Flames 2024 third-round pick, and had better numbers than him.

“I think there’s a ton of potential there,” Ellis said of Kanarsky. “I honestly don’t know how he slipped through the draft. He’s another guy that I tracked a couple years ago when he was first draft-eligible, and I’ve continued to follow him as well. He completely outplayed Zarubin, who was a third-round pick by Calgary. I remember talking to the goalie coach that year, the year that they were both draft-eligible, and he kinda seemed like he was steering us towards Rubin, for whatever the reason was.

“But I kept watching Kanarsky. They play a very similar game. They’re very similar in size. They got the same equipment. They look identical, honestly. And so I was like, you know what, like, if this guy is available in the seventh round, why not take a swing at him? He’s motivated. He’s seen his partner get drafted over him. He stole the net from him last year. He’s played in the VHL. He might get an opportunity to play in the KHL this year. I mean, the value that you have in a player like him in the seventh round, I think it’s fantastic.”

The Blackhawks’ development camp is advertised as being off-ice, but some prospects get on the ice and work with the organization’s development staff. That aspect of camp worked out well for Adam Gajan.

“I’m the only goalie here, so we get on the ice, and it’s four coaches and me,” Gajan said. “There was a lot of focus and working on a lot of details that we normally wouldn’t have time to work on it. This week was super productive on the ice.”

The Blackhawks drafted Gajan in the second round in 2023 with the understanding he’d be a long-term project. He was in the USHL the season after being drafted and was a freshman at Minnesota Duluth last season. His first year in college was challenging, playing behind a young team and dealing with an injury. He finished with an .885 save percentage in 21 games.

Adam Gajan will be a sophomore at Duluth next season. (Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

The focal point of the Blackhawks’ instruction has been for Gajan not to rush to use his athleticism.

“You don’t get that opportunity very often where you get an hour, hour and a half every day to just break down games, and so when I was out there with (goalie development coach) Matt Smith, we can slow things down,” Ellis said. “We got a couple of great shooters out there. We can look at some of the small details of his game. The emphasis was controlling the power that he has. He’s an extremely athletic guy, and sometimes he gets into those stretch or those split situations where he doesn’t necessarily need to. He has to learn to trust his edges, trust his power and get to places under control. And so I think with the adjustments that we had him work on throughout the summer, his game has really evolved and improved, and we’re looking forward to another great season for him.”

The Blackhawks restructured their scouting staff this offseason and made some changes to streamline their process. With those changes, Anatoli Semyonov, Mikko Luoma, Brigette Lacquette and Alexandre Rouleau were not extended as full-time scouts, nor was Ron Anderson as a senior advisor.

The Blackhawks also hired Juan Gonzalez to be their head strength and conditioning coach. He was with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the last two seasons. He also previously worked for the IceHogs from 2020 to 2022.

The Blackhawks also promoted Sam Forstner from manager of analytics to director of analytics. He joined the Blackhawks in 2022 as a data scientist. Chris McCorkle has gone from senior analyst of hockey strategy to manager of hockey operations. Zack Brusso was made director of hockey technology after previously being a senior software engineer of hockey systems.

(Top photo of Mason West: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

Sharon Kuntz-Herlocher returns for her seventh year as the Nittany Lions[apos] volunteer assistant coach. Kuntz-Herlocher works mainly with the defense.

Her work with the defense has been instrumental in Penn State[apos]s great success over the past few seasons. In 2006, the Nittany Lions finished fifth in the country in goals against average followed in 2007 when Penn State finished second in the Big Ten and 13th in the country, while last year finishing tops in the conference and second in the nation.

A former Penn State player from 1990-94, Kuntz-Herlocher brings additional on-field experience to the staff. Kuntz-Herlocher currently plays for the perennial club powerhouse and three-time defending national champion (indoor and outdoor) Red Rose Field Hockey Team. While at Penn State, Kuntz-Herlocher appeared in three NCAA Semifinals. She was also the team captain in 1994, an NCAA Third Team All-American in 1994, First Team All-Big Ten in 1994, and Second Team All Big-Ten in 1993. She made the All Mid-East Regional Teams from 1992 to 1994, and received the NCAA Academic-Athletic Achievement Award in 1993 and 1994. Kuntz-Herlocher was part of Penn State[apos]s first Big Ten Title in 1993 and won the gold medal in the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival. Her love for field hockey comes from learning the game through the eyes of two of the greatest and most passionate coaches, Linda Kreiser at Lower Dauphin High School and Charlene Morett at Penn State.

Kuntz-Herlocher graduated in 1995 with a major in health & human development and a minor in business administration. She was an assistant coach at Penn State in 1995 when she helped lead the Lions to their second Big Ten Championship. In 1996, Kuntz-Herlocher left for Boston University, serving as assistant coach from 1996-98 and helped lead the Terriers to two America East Championships and NCAA appearances during her tenure there.

Kuntz-Herlocher returned to State College where she married Neil Herlocher in 1999. The couple has three children, Charlie (7), Phebe (5), and Helena (2). She currently owns and operates Solutions Marketing in State College and is a marketing consultant for Nittany Bank and (her husband[apos]s company) Herlocher Foods, the makers of Herlocher[apos]s Penn State Dipping Mustard.

GETTING TO KNOW COACH KUNTZ-HERLOCHER
Nickname: Sharon
Favorite Food: Herlocher[apos]s Dipping Mustard & cheese
Favorite Color: Violet
Favorite Musical Artist: Van Morisson
Favorite Movie: Shawshank Redemption
Favorite TV Show: Divine Design
Favorite Website: www.herlocherfoods.com
Favorite Sports Broadcaster: Bob Costas
Favorite Pro Teams: State College Spikes, Penguins
Favorite Athlete: Todd Rucci
Childhood Idol: Ed (Too Tall) Jones, Mary Lou Retton
Hobbies: Yoga, laughing with my kids & dogs, shopping with L.B. & Char
Biggest Fear: Making a parenting mistake
Teams I[apos]d Like To See Added To The Schedule: Stanford, Boston University (both for travel reasons)
Best Player I Ever Played With: Chris McGinley
Magazine Cover I[apos]d Like To Be On: The Penn Stater
Most Prized Possession: My health
Place I[apos]d Like To Visit: Greece (and eat unlimited fresh fruits and veggies)
If I Didn[apos]t Coach Field Hockey, I Would: Watch PSU Field Hockey
If I Had $1 Billion, I Would: Invest it in a major marketing campaign for Herlocher[apos]s Dipping Mustard, build a hotel in downtown State College
After Penn State, I Would Like To: Grow the sport of field hockey and keep every Penn Stater playing for years to come. College sports are just the beginning.