COLORADO SPRINGS — Two former St. Cloud residents are among the six assistant coaches named for the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team on Wednesday, June 25.

The six coaches are Greg Brown (Scituate, Mass./Boston College), Steve Miller (Sun Prairie, Wis./University of Minnesota) and Garrett Raboin (Detroit Lakes/Augustana University) have been named assistant coaches, David Lassonde (Durham, N.H./USA Hockey) was named goaltending coach and Jacob LeRoy (Dublin, Ohio/University of Minnesota) and Travis Winter (St. Cloud/Bemidji State University) were named video coaches.

The group will work with former St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko (Austin/University of Minnesota) who was previously named head coach of the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team.

The U.S. enters the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, which will be played from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The Americans have won the last two gold medals in the tournament. Ticket information is available

here.

Contributed / USA Hockey

Raboin will enter his third season as the head men’s ice hockey coach at Augustana University in 2025-26. He will serve as an assistant coach of the U.S. National Junior Team for the third straight year.

Prior to arriving at Augustana, Raboin spent four seasons as an assistant men’s ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota, highlighted by helping the Gophers to the NCAA Frozen Four in 2023. During his time with at Minnesota, the Gophers won the Big Ten championship in 2022, and made NCAA Tournament appearances (2021, 2022, 2023).

Prior to joining the Gophers, Raboin spent six seasons as an assistant men’s ice hockey coach at his alma mater, St. Cloud State University. He helped guide the Huskies to five trips to the NCAA tournament, including a spot in the 2013 Frozen Four, along with three NCHC regular-season championships.

As a player, Raboin was a two-time All-WCHA selection and led St. Cloud State to three NCAA Tournament berths. He went on to play professionally in Europe for two seasons.

Contributed / USA Hockey

Winter, associate head coach of the Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team,

is serving on the staff of the U.S. National Junior Team for the first time.

The St. Cloud native has been part of the Beavers coaching staff for the last 11 seasons, including the first eight as assistant coach and the last three as associate head coach.

Previous to his time at BSU, he was the head coach and director of hockey operations for the Aberdeen Wings of the NAHL for one season (2013-14). Prior to that, he spent parts of four seasons (2009-13) serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

Winter was also a volunteer coach for the Saint Johns University men’s ice hockey program in 2009 and served on the coaching staff of the USA Hockey Selection 15 National Camp in 2010.

As player, Winter was a four-year letterwinner (2005-09) for Bemidji State where as a senior he served as captain and helped the Beavers to the program’s first Frozen Four appearance in 2009.

NCAA Tournament expansion is a three-word profanity for most college basketball fans. However, they aren’t the ones cashing the big checks. Power players within college athletics want even bigger checks, which has put the subject at the forefront for years.

Despite significant pushback from the general public, NCAA Tournament expansion talks have persisted. Now, it’s one step closer to becoming a reality.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that we will know “in the next few weeks” if the NCAA elects to expand the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments for the 2026 season. There is no clear consensus on exactly how many teams will be added to the NCAA Tournament field, but 76 teams feels more likely than 72.

What exactly will that look like? The NCAA Tournament will double its preliminary games from the “First Four” to the “First Eight.” Instead of just two games on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton before the first round begins, we will get four total play-in games on each night. The other pod of games will be at a location outside of the Eastern Time Zone.

The NCAA Tournament is the largest revenue generator for the four-letter entity. This is a way to make more money from their broadcast partners to redistribute to power conference schools, who are looking for more revenue in the revenue-sharing era.

In an ideal world, this would give more opportunities for mid-major programs that win their conference in the regular season, but are upset in the conference tournament. We aren’t too naive to believe that will be the case. This will most likely pave the way for bubble teams from power conferences to play their way into the round of 64. Even though it disgraces the bracket we love, let’s be honest, getting more March Madness games isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Pro Sports Gambling for NCAA Athletes

Almost 20 years ago, I had to sit through “Don’t Bet On It” seminars from the NCAA before participating in AAU events. That was long before sports gambling became legalized and ubiquitous in American sports culture. Betting on sports you play in is still frowned upon, but is it so wrong to bet on sports you will not be playing in?

The NCAA Division I Council has drafted a proposal that could be finalized today that will allow student-athletes, staffers, and coaches to bet on professional sports games.

It seems fair. Why shouldn’t a college basketball player be able to make a $10 parlay on an NFL Sunday? For years, many coaches played the ponies regularly because it was their only avenue to gamble on sports. That restriction may soon be lifted.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

35 NCAA Schools Have Players in Central Scouting Rankings

The present and future of college hockey will take center stage this week at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles, with more than 100 current and committed NCAA Division I players listed in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings.

Twelve active college hockey players were among those ranked by Central Scouting, including potential top-five pick James Hagens. The Boston College forward from Hauppauge, New York, enjoyed a terrific freshman season, collecting 11 goals and 37 points in 37 games, and was ranked No. 3 among North American skaters.

Other rising sophomores ranked inside the top 25 of North American skaters included Wisconsin defenseman Logan Hensler (12), Boston University defenseman Sascha Boumedienne (18), Arizona State forward Cullen Potter (22), and Michigan forward Will Horcoff (24).

In all, 35 different schools had at least one current player or recruit ranked by Central Scouting.

Last season at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas, 57 players with NCAA ties were selected, including nine first-round picks. Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini and Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov were taken with the first two picks by San Jose and Chicago, respectively.

The 2025 NHL Draft takes place Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The first round is on Friday, followed by rounds two through seven on Saturday.

For more NCAA-related storylines ahead of this year’s draft, including the complete list of current or committed college hockey players on Central Scouting’s final rankings, visit College Hockey Inc.’s 2025 NHL Draft Guide.

BOSTON – Highlighted by a two-game home series against Michigan State and a pair of home games against Boston College, the Boston University men’s ice hockey team announced its 2025-26 schedule on Wednesday.

BU will play 19 home games, including two exhibitions and a season-opening seven-game homestand, at Agganis Arena. Fans can purchase season tickets by clicking here; individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

The Terriers will open the 2025-26 slate on Oct. 4 when they welcome LIU to Agganis Arena in the first-ever matchup between the two schools. BU will then host RPI in an exhibition game the following day before a two-game set with Colgate on Oct. 10-11. Michigan State will then visit Agganis for a weekend series on Oct. 17-18. The Spartans are one of eight NCAA Tournament teams from last year that BU will face this season.

BU will close its homestand by opening a home-and-home series with UConn on Oct. 25 before traveling to Maine for two tilts on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. A home-and-home set with Merrimack (Nov. 7-8) follows before a non-conference contest at Quinnipiac on Nov. 15 and a me-and-home series with Northeastern (Nov. 21-22).

As previously announced, BU and Cornell will travel to New York City for the 10th edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 29. Fans can purchase tickets to that event by clicking here. The Terriers will then begin December with a pair of home games against Vermont (Dec. 5-6).

BU will fittingly be Northeastern’s opponent in the final hockey game to be played at Matthews Arena, as the Terriers visit their old home on Dec. 13. Known then as Boston Arena, Matthews was the Terriers’ home until 1971 when Walter Brown Arena opened.

The Terriers will welcome Simon Fraser back to Agganis for an exhibition on Jan. 3. A trip to Harvard (Jan. 12) is sandwiched between home-and-home weekends against UMass (Jan. 9-10) and UMass Lowell (Jan. 16-17). BU will then head to Providence on Jan. 23 before the Friars come to Agganis the next night.

The 300th Battle of Comm. Ave. will take place in Boston, either on the second night of the 73rd Dunkin’ Men’s Beanpot at TD Garden or at Agganis Arena on Feb. 27. BU bested BC, 4-1, in the 2024 title game to claim the program’s 32nd Beanpot. BU and BC will meet for the 299th time at Agganis on Jan. 30, with the Terriers traveling to Chestnut Hill on Feb. 28.

BU will open its Beanpot title defense against Northeastern on Feb. 2 before hosting Maine on Feb. 6. A home-and-home series with New Hampshire on Feb. 13-14 precedes the aforementioned weekend set with BC, while the regular season is scheduled to conclude on March 7 at UMass Lowell.

All home and Hockey East games will be broadcast on ESPN+, as will the Terriers’ trips to Quinnipiac and Harvard. Game times will be announced at a later date.

Holy Cross student-athletes continued to raise the bar for academic excellence during the Spring 2025 semester, with a department semester grade-point average of 3.43 during the term — the highest department GPA on record. 

The mark bests the previous high set last semester, when Crusader student-athletes averaged a 3.40. 

This is also the second consecutive semester in which every Holy Cross team has recorded a 3.0 GPA or better; last semester was the first time since 2016 that every Holy Cross team recorded a GPA above 3.0 during a single semester (excluding a COVID-impacted Spring 2020). 

Additionally, 14 teams finished with a 3.5 GPA or better. The women’s tennis team had a 3.79 GPA to lead all programs; the men’s soccer team (3.66) had the highest GPA of any men’s team. 

For 30 consecutive semesters, Holy Cross student-athletes have averaged above a 3.1 GPA. 

In total, 577 student-athletes had a 3.0 or better; 371 posted a 3.5 or above while 55 student-athletes recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA during the semester. 

Seventeen Holy Cross programs achieved a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s academic performance standard, the Academic Progress Rate (APR), that was released in May, which is tied for third in the nation. According to the Graduation Success Rate Report released last November by the NCAA, Holy Cross’ athletic teams tied for sixth in the nation with an overall graduation rate of 98 percent. This marks the 18th consecutive year in which the Crusaders have posted a Graduation Success Rate of at least 97 percent.

ABOUT HOLY CROSS 

The College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts — the second-largest city in New England  — is among the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions. A highly selective, four-year, exclusively undergraduate college of 3,100 students, Holy Cross is renowned for offering a rigorous, personalized education in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition. Holy Cross is one of a select group of colleges that meets 100% of each admitted student’s demonstrated financial need. Holy Cross has made a positive impact in society since its founding in 1843 by graduating students who distinguish themselves as thoughtful leaders in business, professional and civic life.

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS 

Be sure to follow all things Crusader Athletics on social media!

X – @goholycross

Instagram – @goholycross

Facebook – Holy Cross Athletics

YouTube – GoHolyCross

• Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork knows “the atmosphere can be better” at Value City Arena.
• The future of the arena, as well as that of St. John Arena, are long-term questions for the athletic department.

There is work to be done to get Ohio State men’s basketball to where the program believes it should be, and it’s not strictly tied to the on-court product.