The Atlanta Gladiators announced Tuesday that the ECHL ice hockey club has signed forward Isak Walther for the 2025-26 season.

Walther, a native of Södertälje, Sweden, was selected by the Nashville Predators in the 6th round (179th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. The 23-year-old forward joins the Gladiators after four seasons playing NCAA Division I hockey at the University of Vermont, where he scored 23 goals and 33 assists for 56 points in 128 career games with the Catamounts.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound forward scored 6 goals and 11 assists for 17 points in 33 games with the University of Vermont last season and is now entering his first season of professional hockey.

“Isak is a big body coming off a successful college career at Vermont,” Gladiators director of hockey operations and head coach Matt Ginn said. “He has very good hands and a good shot. Isak uses his size and strength effectively to get to the dirty areas on the ice. He is a very driven player, and we are excited to work with Isak this season.”

MINNEAPOLIS — James Hagens has had quite a year.

The 18-year-old helped the United States win its second straight gold medal as the top-line center at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in January before following that up with a workmanlike performance as the No. 1 pivot at Boston College as a freshman last season.

He was starry-eyed watching actor Adam Sandler announce him as the No. 7 pick to the Boston Bruins during the 2025 NHL Draft at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater on June 27, gained great experience at Bruins development camp earlier in July, and then attended the premier of Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore 2,” where he met and conversed with the famed actor at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on July 21.

Whew!

“You’re going from place to place, state to state, so it’s crazy but it’s just something you have to let soak in because it only happens once,” Hagens said.

He’s one of 42 U.S. players attending the World Junior Summer Showcase this week at Ridder Arena, looking to lead and make a difference as the Americans prepare for a possible three-peat at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in St. Paul and Minneapolis from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

“To have the whole thing behind him probably feels good and then to be drafted by Boston, in the same city that he’s playing college hockey, was probably exciting for him,” said Boston College coach Greg Brown, who is also serving as the assistant coach for the U.S. “I know it just seemed to be a lot … you’d see all the interviews he went through for the draft, and he’s trying to play well and do as well as he can for BC.

“I think now that the whole draft is behind him, he knows where he’ll be to start his pro career. He can concentrate on just playing hockey and that’ll probably be much easier.”

He looks laser focused on helping the U.S. win a third straight gold and do it on home ice for the first time. He has four assists in two exhibition games, playing center on a line with BC teammate Teddy Stiga (Nashville Predators) and right wing Brodie Ziemer (Buffalo Sabres).

“Creating culture is a huge part of this, you don’t want a divided locker room,” Hagens said. “Everyone here knows each other well. I think that’s something that really is helpful. It carries over a ton when you’re able to trust the guy off the ice, when you’re able to just go out there and play freely.”

Hagens tied for the U.S. lead with five goals in seven games to help his country win the championship at the 2025 WJC as the top center between Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers) and Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals).

He also centered Perreault and Leonard at Boston College, where he had 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games.

“James had an unreal year. I can’t speak to the pressure he faced as a top pick in the draft, but I know it’s got to be a lot,” Stiga said. “I was his roommate, so I know what he was going through. It’s hard but I think he handled it well.

“He was a point per game player in college, and that’s hard to do playing with guys like Perreault and Leonard, who are really high skilled. Sometimes you saw him deferring to ‘Lenny,’ but you know he can score with the puck, he can pass the puck, do everything.”

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• An individual must be a sophomore, junior, or senior both academically and athletically
• must participate in 50 percent of their team’s competitive rounds
• own a stroke average under 76.0 in NCAA Division I, and maintain a minimum cumulative career grade-point average of 3.2
• must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at their college or university.

Scott, a senior in 2024-25, finishes his Texas Tech career earning the All-America Scholar honor all three years of his career. DeLong, also a senior, took home the honor both seasons as a Red Raider while Gregg, a sophomore in 2024-25, earned the honor after his first year eligible.

In total, 556 NCAA Division I athletes from 190 schools earned 2024-25 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar honors.

About Cobalt Golf

Cobalt is a direct-to-consumer golf brand focused on developing premium laser rangefinders for golfers who demand the best out of their gear. We take pride in producing highly accurate, durable, easy-to-use products and delivering high-performance optical quality at a better price. For more information, please visit www.cobalt-golf.com.

About GCAA

Established in 1958, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is the professional organization of men’s collegiate golf coaches. The GCAA’s mission is to support its member coaches from six divisions, including the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA, by creating educational opportunities, providing resources, and promoting its members with the purpose of enhancing their overall performance as coaches, mentors, and teachers. The GCAA also recognizes the excellence and achievements of its members and their student-athletes in academic, athletic, and civic endeavors.

– TECH –

In case you somehow haven’t heard of AJ Dybatnsa yet, welcome. He’s likely going to be the face of college basketball next year. He’s also going to BYU, which hard to imagine why you’d pick BYU: 

And now you have him showing off his vert. Sure, it’s a weird angle that’s designed to show him looking like a damn freak, but he still jumped 42 inches. 

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But the real sign he’s going to be a star? People fighting about this, a simple picture. 

And on and on we go with a lot of the same stuff. But the fact is it’s July and people are willing to fight over a college basketball player. That’s how you get people to like my sport. I don’t care how high he can jump. Sure it makes for viral clips and all that shit, but that doesn’t mean anything if he struggles. I don’t think he will, the dude can play. 

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All this is good for college basketball. You have 3 big time guys coming into the sport, all of who are listed as the possible No. 1 pick for the NBA Draft with him, Darryn Peterson and Cam Boozer. You have big names coming back, people caring and willing to fight in the comment section. That’s awesome for a sport that deserves more attention than feast week and 3 weeks in March. Weird to see BYU loading up on talent, playing a true national schedule and being one of the teams listed first this year, but welcome to the new era.