The UNLV ice hockey team had just pulled off its second Houdini act in as many days, and coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener was searching for a sign — any sign — that his players had enough gas in the tank for one more game. Not just any 60-minute game, but one with everything on the […]
The UNLV ice hockey team had just pulled off its second Houdini act in as many days, and coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener was searching for a sign — any sign — that his players had enough gas in the tank for one more game.
Not just any 60-minute game, but one with everything on the line: history, legacy, immortality.
So following his team’s 5-2 come-from-behind victory over Liberty University in the semifinals of the 2024-25 American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I national tournament, Vignieri-Greener peered into the eyes of his players.
He liked what he saw.
“That’s when I told the coaching staff, ‘There’s no way we’re losing this next game,’” Vignieri-Greener recalls. “Maybe that was premature. But I could just see it in their eyes.”
Fast-forward some 24 hours, and Vignieri-Greener was watching his players circle the rink at the Centene Community Ice Center near St. Louis, Missouri, with the Murdoch Cup hoisted above their heads.
Nearly 20 years after the club program formed — and 10 years after Vignieri-Greener, himself a former UNLV player, took over as coach — the Skatin’ Rebels were national champions.
“To win something this big — nobody really understands how hard it is until you actually get there,” Vignieri-Greener says. “It was a long, long 10 years. But it was worth every second of it.”
Making it all the more special: UNLV’s 7-3 championship victory came against Adrian College, the Michigan liberal arts school that had defeated the Skatin’ Rebels 3-0 in the title game the previous year.
The Skate to a Rematch
While there were a few tense moments early on in this year’s finals, the stress was nothing like what UNLV endured in its previous two contests.
After coasting to a 6-2 victory over Arizona in their first game of the ACHA Division I tournament, the Skatin’ Rebels faced Maryville University in the quarterfinals. Trailing 2-0, UNLV finally got on the board early in the third period, buried the equalizer with 99 seconds left in the game, then found the net less than five minutes into overtime for a season-saving 3-2 win.
The Skatin’ Rebels returned the next day for a semifinal matchup against Liberty University, and again, they found themselves down 2-0 entering the final period.
Then came the onslaught: five goals in the final 10 minutes. When the final horn sounded, UNLV had secured a 5-2 win and a much-desired rematch against Adrian College.
The team’s mindset heading into the title game?
“For us returners, it was like, ‘This can’t happen two years in a row. They can’t go back-to-back on us. That can’t be our legacy — the team that could get close but couldn’t get over the line,’” says senior defenseman and team captain Mattias Dal Monte. “Playing the same opponent, it definitely added extra juice.”
Vignieri-Greener — who had 96 goals and 169 assists in four years as a player at UNLV from 2006-10 — leaned on some personal experience in his pregame speech.
“I truly believe the tightest and closest teams will go the furthest, and that’s what I relayed to the guys,” he says. “I told them, ‘Listen, I’ve been doing this a long time, and the closer a group is, the farther it will go. And without a doubt, this is the closest group we’ve ever had. So go win a national championship.’”
In doing just that, UNLV capped an incredible season that saw the team post an eye-popping 30-2-3 record and achieve all four of its preseason goals: Win the Western Collegiate Hockey League championship for the first time in program history; defeat an NCAA Division I opponent for the first time; earn a top-four seed in the ACHA tournament; and win the Murdoch Cup, the trophy that goes to the tournament champ.
Defenseman and team captain Mattias Dal Monte handles the puck during the WCHL championship game against Arizona State. (Becca Schwartz/UNLV)
A Big Bragging Right
While the national title obviously sat atop the wish list, it arguably ranked second in terms of the season’s most difficult tasks, because on Dec. 28, UNLV — which competes at the highest level of non-NCAA-sanctioned collegiate club hockey — traveled to Colorado for an “exhibition” game against the University of Denver.
The same University of Denver that has won 10 NCAA Division I hockey championships, including the 2023-24 crown.
Two years prior, the Pioneers hosted the Rebels and rolled to a 10-0 victory. This time? UNLV skated into the reigning champ’s arena and stunned the 7,000 fans in attendance by scoring a program-defining — and confidence-boosting — 7-6 overtime victory.
“After that game, we could’ve fallen into the mindset of, ‘Oh, we just beat the defending NCAA Division I national champions; the rest of our games and winning our national championship wouldn’t matter as much,’” says sophomore forward Heath Mensch, who grew up in Las Vegas. “But we stuck to our plan and had the mentality of, ‘Well, we beat them. Now we need to go out and show that we’re legit and clearly the best team in the ACHA.’”
Mission accomplished — thanks in no small part to Mensch, who scored the game-winning goal in the comeback victory over Liberty in the ACHA tournament semifinals.
Following their title-clinching victory over Adrian College on March 18, UNLV’s latest national champions returned home to a hero’s welcome. In addition to celebrations on campus and around the community, the team was honored by Southern Nevada’s two professional hockey franchises: the Henderson Silver Knights and their parent club, the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
The Silver Knights and Golden Knights each held a brief in-game ceremony recognizing UNLV’s accomplishment. During each game, the players cruised around the arena concourses with the Murdoch Cup.
“That was amazing,” Dal Monte says. “It was endless high-fives and congratulations from fans. It was really cool to see the broader hockey community in the desert showing love to us like that. That was a special night.”
Big Green Rowing Set for Championship Racing This Weekend
By: Justin Lafleur
Story Links
HANOVER, N.H. — It’s a big weekend for Dartmouth rowing, with the women’s team, along with the men’s heavyweight and lightweight teams in action for championship racing. Women’s Rowing – Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 Ivy League Championship Watch Live (Saturday) | Watch […]
HANOVER, N.H. — It’s a big weekend for Dartmouth rowing, with the women’s team, along with the men’s heavyweight and lightweight teams in action for championship racing.
Women’s Rowing – Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 Ivy League Championship
Watch Live (Saturday) | Watch Live (Sunday) | Live Results | Event Schedule
The Big Green head to Camden, New Jersey for the Ivy League Championship this weekend. Racing in the heats begin on Saturday at 4 p.m. with Sunday’s championship racing set to begin at 8 a.m. The Big Green most recently finished fourth overall at the Eastern Sprints, which included a varsity eight win over Columbia which helped propel them to No. 19 in the national rankings.
Men’s Heavyweight Rowing – Sunday, May 18 Eastern Sprints
Watch Live (Morning Session) | Watch Live (Afternoon Session) | Live Results | Event Schedule
Dartmouth heads to Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester to compete in the Eastern Sprints, facing the best teams in the East. The Big Green varsity eight has enjoyed an impressive season, standing unbeaten heading into a weekend that will face strong competition, which includes the entire Ivy League. Most recently, Dartmouth defeated Northeastern two weekends ago at home. The Big Green varsity four is ranked fourth nationally, only two points behind Harvard and 10 points ahead of Princeton.
Men’s Lightweight Rowing – Sunday, May 18 Eastern Sprints
Watch Live (Morning Session) | Watch Live (Afternoon Session) | Live Results | Event Schedule
The men’s lightweight rowing team will also be in action at Lake Quinsigamond, looking to build momentum from last time out — a varsity eight win at Columbia. The Big Green own dual wins over Yale for the Durand Cup and Columbia for the Subin Cup, with the varsity eight entering the weekend ranked No. 5 nationally.
Falk College Sport Analytics Students Win Multiple National Competitions — Syracuse University News
David Falk (far left) speaks with students from the sport analytics program during their capstone poster presentations. “I think the Rolls-Royce of Falk College, undoubtedly, is the analytics program,” said David Falk, benefactor of the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, to a room of senior sport analytics students and their families during their […]
David Falk (far left) speaks with students from the sport analytics program during their capstone poster presentations.
“I think the Rolls-Royce of Falk College, undoubtedly, is the analytics program,” said David Falk, benefactor of the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, to a room of senior sport analytics students and their families during their capstone poster presentations. “We’ve won virtually every analytics competition for the last few years.”
That was certainly true during the Spring 2025 semester, when sport analytics students were victorious at multiple analytics and research competitions and presented findings at several highly regarded conferences around the country. Below is a recap of the semester’s highlights.
SABR Analytics Conference
Nathan Backman (left) won best student presentation at the SABR Analytics Conference.
Sport analytics students Owen St. Onge ’26, Payton Smith ’26, Andrew Diamond ’27, Jonah Soos ’25 and Jacob Kalamvokis ’27 won their room in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition, during which teams compete by preparing an analysis and presentation of a baseball operations decision similar to what a team’s general manager and staff would do in Major League Baseball.
Two students, Nathan Backman ’25 and Brett Cerenzio ’25, took part in the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Analytics Conference research competition, with Backman winning best student presentation for his research titled Baseball Cinematography: Using Open Source CV Algorithms to Track and Quantify Pitcher Mechanics.
Syracuse University Football Blitz
Sport analytics students won every room of the Football Blitz competition, including one room of entirely first-year students, while also being named winners of the overall competition.
The Football Analytics Blitz tasks students with a current football analytics prompt. They are given a week to put together a presentation for football analytics professionals. The competition brought together students from 25 different universities and judges from eight NFL teams.
The winning Falk College students were:
Room 1: Charlie Maddux ’26, Jonah Soos ’25, Nathan Backman ’25, Austin Ambler ’26 and Zach Seidel ’26
Room 2: Nick Wolfe ’27, Jameson Bodenburg ’27, Jacob Kalamvokis ’27 and Jessica Fackler ’27
Room 3: Noah Bair ’28, Jimmy Roberto ’27, Carter Pointon ’28, Alex Percey ’28 and Braden Hines ’28
MIT Sloan Research Paper Competition
Research conducted by sport management major Alivia “Ava” Uribe ’25, a member of the University’s women’s soccer team, with sport analytics professors Justin Ehrlich and Shane Sanders about the location of penalty kicks won the Research Paper Competition at the prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Their paper won over thousands of entrants and six other finalists, and Uribe became the first female lead author in the conference’s 19-year history to capture the competition.
Connecticut Sports Analytics Symposium
From left, students Dan Griffiths, Danielle Napierski, Brett Cerenzio and Alivia Uribe at the Connecticut Sports Analytics Symposium
Sport analytics students Danielle Napierski ’26, Dan Griffiths ’26 and Brett Cerenzio ’25 were named runners-up in the Major League Baseball Data Challenge at the Connecticut Sports Analytics Symposium (CSAS).
Alivia Uribe ’25 and Shane Sanders also presented their penalty kick research at CSAS.
American Soccer Insights Summit
Sport analytics students Sebastian Bush ’27 and Theo Schmidt ’26 presented their work, Dual Dependency: Analyzing the Winger and Wingback Relationship, at the American Soccer Insights Summit.
NFLPA Analytics Case Competition
Sport analytics students Christopher Marfisi ’25, Evan Vassilovski ’25, Walker Oettl ’25 and Ryan Severe ’25 were named finalists for their work on the given prompt and traveled to Washington, D.C., to present their findings.
National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championships
Jonah Soos holds his trophy for winning the individual/undergraduate division at the National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championships.
Falk College student Jonah Soos ’25 won the undergraduate division individual championship, while the undergraduate team of Soos, Hunter Geise ’25, Piper Evans ’25 and Maddy Forster ’25 finished second in the team competition. Two graduate students, Andrew Odnoralov G’25 and Owen Brown G’25 , also competed—a first for representatives from the Falk College’s graduate programs.
At this event, students gave five-minute presentations based on analysis of provided data related to brands, teams and athletes. Judges chose a winner based on statistical analysis, data visualization, actionable insights, communication and integrity.
Cincinnati Reds Hackathon
Teams were tasked with modeling a projection system that predicted total plate appearances and batters faced for Major League Baseball players in the 2024 season based on their past data. Sport analytics students Dan Griffiths ’26, Ben Resnic ’26, Hunter Cordes ’26, Jared Weber ’27 and Josh Davis’27 won the Hackathon, with two other teams from the Falk College being named finalists.
To learn more about the college’s academic programs, experiential learning and career opportunities in sport analytics and sport management, visit the Falk College website.
UCLA opens NCAA regional with victory over UC Santa Barbara
With UCLA’s bats quiet early, Kaitlyn Terry stepped into the batter’s box looking to ignite a two-out rally — and with one swing she brought the Bruins to life. Terry, a right fielder and left-handed pitcher, hit a three-run home run in the second inning to jump-start UCLA’s 9-1 win over UC Santa Barbara in […]
With UCLA’s bats quiet early, Kaitlyn Terry stepped into the batter’s box looking to ignite a two-out rally — and with one swing she brought the Bruins to life.
Terry, a right fielder and left-handed pitcher, hit a three-run home run in the second inning to jump-start UCLA’s 9-1 win over UC Santa Barbara in six innings in the opening round of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday.
The No. 9 Bruins (50–10) advanced to Game 3 of the regional, where they’ll face the winner of Arizona State and San Diego State at 2 p.m. PDT Saturday.
Before the season, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez stressed that a UCLA championship push had to start with securing a regional at Easton Stadium — and taking care of business once there.
UCLA is chasing its ninth Women’s College World Series berth in the past decade, but early on Friday, the path looked shaky. Instead of a confident march into the postseason opener, it felt like déjà vu for a moment — a flashback to the haunting 2023 regional, when the Bruins dropped their first game and ultimately fell short of a trip to Oklahoma City.
The Bruins squandered early opportunities uncharacteristic of the nation’s No. 2 run-scoring lineup.
Trailing in the second inning, Alexis Ramirez reached base on a hit up the middle, then stole second. After advancing on a groundout, she was caught in a rundown between third and home. Still, UCLA had a chance to even the score with runners on first and second, but Terry flied out to end the inning.
UCLA pitcher Taylor Tinsley delivers against UC Santa Barbara in the Los Angeles Regional on Friday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Terry found herself in a similar situation two innings later, and she delivered.
With two outs in the fourth, Kaniya Bragg reached first on a hit-by-pitch. Batting for the first time this season, Taylor Stephens followed with a slow roller into right field — just soft enough for Bragg to beat the tag at third while Stephens stepped onto second.
On the next pitch, Terry crushed a home run to center field.
Taylor Tinsley, an All-Big Ten first team selection, gave up three hits and one walk while striking out one. Her only blemish came in the second inning, when she gave up a run on an RBI single by UCSB catcher Delaina Ma’ae.
1
2
3
1.UCLA’s Jordan Woolery fields the ball at third base against UC Santa Barbara on Friday.2.UCLA infielder Kaniya Bragg fields the ball.3.UCLA’s Megan Grant celebrates after hitting a game-ending home run in the sixth inning.(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
A pair of home runs in the sixth inning ended the game via the mercy rule. Jessica Clements hit a three-run home run. That was followed by a walk and steal from Savannah Pola, who was driven in by Jordan Woolery’s RBI single. Megan Grant ended the game with a two-run blast to left-center field.
UCLA, which finished its first season in the Big Ten tied for second with Nebraska, has won 26 games by mercy rule this season.
Yale Athletics The eight members of the Yale men’s soccer class of 2025 started their collegiate careers with a bang and reached heights that no prior Bulldog class had seen before. In October 2021, a young Yale squad earned a 1-1 tie against the No. 3 ranked University of New Hampshire Wildcats, putting the college […]
The eight members of the Yale men’s soccer class of 2025 started their collegiate careers with a bang and reached heights that no prior Bulldog class had seen before.
In October 2021, a young Yale squad earned a 1-1 tie against the No. 3 ranked University of New Hampshire Wildcats, putting the college soccer world on notice. That year, TJ Presthus ’25, a first-year Yale defender, already earned an All-Ivy honorable mention. The following season, Yale once again came to play, securing a 2-1 road victory over No. 10 ranked University of West Virginia.
The next fall, in 2023, the team hit double digit wins and won the first-ever Ivy League Tournament Championship. The Bulldogs then defeated Bryant University in the opening game of their first NCAA Tournament. Presthus was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, and Chris Edwards ’25 earned All-Ivy status both that year and in 2024.
“These seniors were inspirational both on and off the field,” midfielder Andrew Seidman ’26 said. “On the field, they were a key component for one of the most successful periods in Yale men’s soccer history, and off the field they were role models for all of us to follow.”
After the 2024 campaign, the senior class was honored with multiple awards. Jamie Orson ’25 took home the Jack Marshall Award for the member of the team who demonstrated the qualities of team spirit, loyalty and dedication. Quanah Brayboy ’25 and Edwards won the Walter Leeman Trophy for “sportsmanship and team play.” Presthus was recognized as the team’s most valuable player.
TOMMY GANNON
Tommy Gannon covers men’s ice hockey. He is a sophomore in Branford college majoring in history and economics.
Hockey is set up much the same way, the exception being – and this is really what’s driving a lot of the misconception about “bust” picks — all drafted players are typically 18 years old. Some don’t get drafted their first year of eligibility and occasionally do get taken the following summer at age 19. […]
Hockey is set up much the same way, the exception being – and this is really what’s driving a lot of the misconception about “bust” picks — all drafted players are typically 18 years old. Some don’t get drafted their first year of eligibility and occasionally do get taken the following summer at age 19.
But just like baseball, they are also competing against grown men at the NHL level and that’s very tough to do for reasons both physical and mental. An 18-year-old player can have all the “hockey sense” in the universe, but their body is still not fully developed physically compared to players in their early to late 20s.
Sure, a handful of truly gifted players have entered the league at 18. Kraken president Ron Francis was one of them, stepping in with the Hartford Whalers for a 68-point season in 59 games the fall after being taken fourth overall in 1981.
But Francis played at a solid 6-foot-3, 200 pounds in an era where players weren’t as big or quick as today’s.
When I was a teenager growing up in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, our local junior team, the Voisins, featured a guy named Mario Lemieux. We used to take the bus across town to the arena next to a penitentiary, buy standing room tickets for right up at the ice level glass and watch Super Mario in action.
His draft year in 1984, Lemieux stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 230 pounds. That season, he scored 133 goals and added 149 assists in 70 games. For those who like math, that’s a four-point-per-game average.
He was a giant among boys and watching him from ice level emphasized the size part. I was standing by the glass the Monday night in March 1984 when he broke Guy Lafleur’s single-season junior goals record of 130, finishing that game with six goals and five assists against the league’s second-best team from Longueuil. It was 11-0 by the eight-minute mark of the second period and wound up a 16-4 final.
His team clinched the league title that season with a 17-1 victory over the same squad.
When you think of surefire, NHL-ready 18-year-olds, that’s a good place to start. Merely putting up 100 points in a major junior hockey season doesn’t guarantee you’ll withstand the next level.
And that’s just from a physical standpoint. Lemieux, clearly, was a gifted playmaker with hockey sense streaming out of him that was wise beyond his years.
Put that whole package together, that’s a candidate for an 18-year-old NHL debut.
Now, not every 18-year-old has to be a towering future Hall of Famer to make the NHL full-time. But it sure helps. A teenage body often must grow into a man to play into a men’s league.
North Adams Foote Memorial Skating Rink to replace roof with more than $500,000 in state money | Northern Berkshires
NORTH ADAMS — The Peter Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink is in serious need of a new roof — and the state has agreed to pay for it. In a Wednesday news release, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation said the money “is part of DCR’s ongoing effort to ensure families and residents have access […]
NORTH ADAMS — The Peter Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink is in serious need of a new roof — and the state has agreed to pay for it.
In a Wednesday news release, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation said the money “is part of DCR’s ongoing effort to ensure families and residents have access to welcoming and safe recreational facilities that provide important opportunities for activity as well as serve as community hubs.”
The replacement will cost about $537,000, with completion slated for the summer and before the rink’s fall season opening, and consists of replacing the 36,000-square-foot roof with PVC roofing membrane and new insulation.
The city took the rink over from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, which didn’t own it but had a lease with the state, in 2008. The city signed a long-term lease and committed to putting money into the rink. Around the same time, the DCR made a major change in its management of skating rinks throughout the state, ceding control to private operators and municipalities. Now, the rink is owned by DCR and managed by the city.
A Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts hockey team sign hangs over a goal at the Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink. MCLA hosted its first hockey game in 20 years in 2023. The rink is in line for a roof replacement, paid for by the state, to be completed before the end of the year.
GILLIAN HECK — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Between expanded youth hockey programs, open skating and more, the rink is a popular spot in the city, even more so now that MCLA hockey has returned to the rink after a 20-year hiatus.
State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, who was instrumental in getting the DCR to fund the project, recalled his efforts as mayor in 2008 to secure a long-term commitment of $1.1 million from the state for the upkeep of the rink, which was built in 1969.
“DCR was getting rid of all of its rinks, and MCLA backed away from it, ending their hockey program and no longer running the rink,” he said Thursday. “We took it over, and it has become most successful, and hasn’t cost the city any money. It’s a tremendous resource for Northern Berkshire.”
“I never thought I’d be around to promote this,” Barrett said. “I know it’s in desperate need, like it was when I took it over. I thank the DCR and the Healey administration for not walking away from commitments made two administrations ago.”
The Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink, built in 1969, is set to get a new roof. The state Department of Conservation and Recreation, is picking up the tab.
GILLIAN HECK — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
North Adams Mayor Jennifer Macksey said that one of her first actions as mayor, in January 2022, was to work with DCR on maintaining “this important community and regional asset.”
“Fortunately, one of our biggest concerns with the rink is being addressed,” she said in the news release.
