TORONTO – Another high-profile junior hockey player is making the jump to U.S. college hockey.

Porter Martone, the Philadelphia Flyers’ sixth-overall pick at the 2025 NHL draft, said in an Instagram post Monday that he is joining NCAA Division I school Michigan State next season.

The 18-year-old Martone, from Peterborough, Ont., had 37 goals and 61 assists in 57 games as captain of the Ontario Hockey League’s Brampton Steelheads last season. 

He joins a growing number of major junior stars choosing to play south of the border, including former Medicine Hat Tigers star Gavin McKenna.

The presumptive No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft committed to Penn State earlier this month after being named the Canadian Hockey League’s player of the year and helping the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels reach the Memorial Cup final.

The NCAA lifted a long-standing ban in November, allowing CHL players to compete at U.S. colleges starting next season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2025.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz spoke with the ESPN college football analyst about what needs to happens over the next five years to answer some of the biggest questions in the sport. Kirk joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Purina Pro Plan and its “Fueled By” video series featuring NFL tight end George Kittle and USWNT stars Rose Lavelle and Sophia Smith.

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Video Transcript

Jason Fitz with Yahoo Sports hanging out with the great Kirk Herbstreit joining us on behalf of Purina Pro Plan.

Start with what you actually think is realistic for what college football will look like in 5 years.

I’m just taking it day by day like you are to imagine, hopefully in 5 years, we will have some, some concrete, this is who college football is decisions.

And I feel like we’ve been drinking out of a fire hose for the last 3 or 4 years.

And I don’t see that going away for the next few years anyway.

I think there’s so many layers to it.

There’s the postseason part, you know, we’re at 12, the contract’s up.

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Are we going to 14, are we going to 16?

Is it a 4-4-2-2-1-1?

Is it a 5 and 11?

Like what, what are we going to?

And then the obvious is the transfer portal, NIL Revshare.

I would love to see us somehow get to a point where we would have a collective bargaining agreement with somebody that’s representing the players.

And, you know, the conference commissioners or, or college football.

And I would love to see us be able to agree on a lot of those issues, NIL portal, and all those things that drive all of us crazy.

And then have an agreement, and then you don’t have to worry about antitrust laws.

My hope is we have some kind of CBA and some kind of understanding the players are essentially employees.

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And that doesn’t mean school’s not still important for some of these guys, doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t go get a degree.

It just means we need to find a way to knock down the threat of litigation.

You are sitting next to Purina Pro Plan.

Talk to me about it, brother.

What do you love about this?

I’m very big into the ingredients that are in it.

That they put in their dog food.

The more real and the more organic, the better, as far as I’m concerned.

That’s why with this, what we’ve done, you know, over the last, oh, I don’t know, 2 or 3 months, having a chance to do this fueled by docuseries with George Kittle.

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We had Sophia Wilson, Rose Lavelle, elite athletes in their own field.

We had a chance to visit with them and, you know, they train hard, but they also fuel their body with the right food.

No different than humans, anybody out there that tries to stay in good shape.

Well, why shouldn’t we be doing that for our dogs?

And no matter what their age, no matter, no matter what their activity level or their breed, and it’s so important to be able to give our dogs, it’s our responsibility to give our dogs the right food and the right lifestyle.

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The entire coaching staff of Canada’s gold-medal team from this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off is set to return at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, ensuring continuity behind the Canadian bench for the first Winter Games with NHL players since 2014.

Assistant coaches Bruce Cassidy, Pete DeBoer, Rick Tocchet, Misha Donskov and Dave Alexander will all be back, Hockey Canada announced on Monday. Along with head coach Jon Cooper, the staff for Canada’s national men’s hockey team brings more than 50 combined seasons of NHL head coaching experience.

Four assistant coaches are joining Jon Cooper’s staff for #MilanoCortina2026.

Quatre entraîneurs adjoints épauleront Jon Cooper à Milan et à Cortina en 2026.

🍁 Bruce Cassidy
🍁 Peter DeBoer
🍁 Rick Tocchet
🍁 Misha Donskov@TeamCanada | @EquipeCanada

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) July 21, 2025

Cassidy has led the Vegas Golden Knights for the past three seasons, which includes a Stanley Cup victory in 2022-23. DeBoer most recently served as coach of the Dallas Stars before his firing in June; he has been to the Western Conference final in six of the last eight years, with three different teams. Tocchet is entering his first season as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, following three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, highlighted by a Jack Adams Award-winning year in 2023-24.

Donskov was hired by Hockey Canada as vice president of hockey operations in June after two seasons as an assistant under DeBoer in Dallas and a successful Cup run under Cassidy in Vegas. The national team’s goaltending consultant, Alexander, is entering his ninth season as goaltending coach for the St. Louis Blues, having coached Jordan Binnington, who backstopped Canada to the 4 Nations championship, both with the Blues and on the international stage. The general manager of Canada’s Olympic team, Doug Armstrong, occupies the same role for St. Louis.

The staff also includes director of performance analysis James Emery and video coordinator Elliott Mondou. It was chosen by Cooper, who has won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, alongside Armstrong and other members of the Hockey Canada management team.

Canada has already announced its first six players for the Olympic roster in Milan Cortina, where it will look to pick up from a gold-medal performance at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the last with NHL participation. Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart will all be in the lineup, but the final preliminary rosters, consisting of 22 skaters and three goalies, don’t have to be submitted until December 31.

(Photo of Pete DeBoer, Bruce Cassidy, Jon Cooper and Rick Tocchet at the 4 Nations Face-Off: Winslow Townson / Imagn Images)

ADRIAN, Mich. – The women’s NCAA volleyball team was tabbed for the 2025 AVCA Team academic award for their success in the classroom as a squad.

Volleyball programs from across the country continue to prove their dominance off the court as 1,450 collegiate and high school volleyball teams maintained a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale), to earn the 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award.

“It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom,” says AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon. “The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes.”

Congratulations to the 2024-25 NCAA Women’s Volleyball team on this prestigious award.

 

GRAND FORKS — UND is one step closer to finishing its men’s hockey roster for the 2025-26 season.

UND received a verbal commitment Monday from winger Tyler Young, who played his first three years of NCAA hockey at Merrimack College.

Young played sparingly as a freshman (14 games) and sophomore (12) — injuries played a part — but became a regular as a junior. He scored six goals and 10 points in 29 games last season, while serving as an alternate captain. Four of his six goals came against NCAA tournament-bound teams.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound forward also led Merrimack with 40 penalty minutes.

“I’m a checking, bottom-six guy that can play up in the top six,” Young said. “I love to run around and piss people off, to be honest. I don’t think there are a lot of players who love to do that anymore.”

Young went into the transfer portal at the end of the season.

UND first reached out in June. The entire coaching staff was on the first call. Young said it was a process to get to the finish line.

“We’ve been chatting about what they expect from me and what I bring to the table,” Young said. “They did their homework. It’s a no-brainer for me. I had a few options. I really wanted to see this through just because it’s a fresh start for me away from home, where there are distractions.

“I wanted to get away from the Northeast. It’s a lot easier to leave the Northeast when it’s a program like North Dakota. I was just waiting for the OK, and luckily, the coaching staff didn’t leave me in the dark at all. They were moving things along and ironing some things out on their end, which I totally get. I’m glad I stuck with it.”

Jim Stankiewicz / Merrimack athletics

Young did not make a recruiting visit to Grand Forks, but has seen videos of the facilities.

“I know it’s very tradition-driven,” Young said. “They’re very passionate. It’s pretty easy to buy into tradition. I like how the old saying goes: ‘Leave a place better than you found it.’ I try to go by that. Obviously, the bar is set pretty high there. I hope we can do something special.”

Young has some familiarity with the team.

He played for the Wenatchee (Wash.) Wild during his first year of junior hockey in 2019-20. His coach was Bliss Littler, the father of UND sophomore forward, Cade.

He also briefly played with UND senior forward Ben Strinden with the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the United States Hockey League.

“It’s the best school as far as the rink and the fans,” Young said. “It will be a new experience for me, which I’m excited about.”

Young said he will work on earning his undergraduate degree in finance at UND.

Young grew up around hockey.

His father, Scott, is a 17-year NHL veteran, who played for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars.

Scott won Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and Colorado. He also won Olympic silver with Team USA in 2002. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017 and currently serves as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks.

Scott played two years of college hockey at Boston University and was an assistant coach with his alma mater when the Terriers knocked UND out of the 2017 NCAA tournament.

Tyler said plans to get to Grand Forks as soon as he can, so he can prepare to build off of last season.

“My first two years, I was battling injuries,” said Young, who suffered a torn labrum. “My summers were limited. I was recovering. I wasn’t able to take full advantage of every summer. Last year, being trusted to wear a letter with my teammates helped instill a lot of confidence in me.

“Hopefully, I can take that into Grand Forks.”

UND now has 14 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders set for the 2025-26 season.

The Fighting Hawks traditionally carry 15 forwards. They are expected to add one more player before finalizing the roster.

It will have to happen soon. The fall semester begins at 4 p.m. on Aug. 25.

UND plays a preseason exhibition against the University of Manitoba on Oct. 3. It opens the regular season at home against St. Thomas on Oct. 10.

Jim Stankiewicz / Merrimack athletics

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.