Female student at Florida State University, believed to be graduate student Eden Deckerhoff, who allegedly assaulted male Jewish classmate at gym on campus. Photo: Screenshot/StopAntisemitism

Florida State University has suspended a female student who allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center on Thursday after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim, who filmed the encounter. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.”

According to StopAntisemitism, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group, the assailant is graduate student Eden Deckerhoff. Florida State University (FSU) reportedly employs her mother, Rosalyn Deckerhoff, as a teaching professor in its College of Social Work.

“The matter is being reviewed for potential criminal charges and for charges under the FSU Student Code of Conduct,” the university said in a statement on Tuesday. “While this process is underway, the student shown prominently in the video has been prohibited from returning to campus. Our commitment to swiftly and effectively responding to incidents of hate is unwavering. We appreciate the prompt report of this incident, which allowed us to address this instance of antisemitism without delay.”

It continued, “Florida State University strongly condemns antisemitism in all forms and follows Florida law, which protects Jewish students and employees from discrimination motivated by antisemitism, harassment, intimidation, and violence.”

The incident is a surprise occurrence at FSU, which has not come under the same scrutiny as many other US universities for allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester on campus.

In 2024, as a tide of antisemitic discrimination swept across the US, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) directed the state university system to streamline the transfer process for Jewish students seeking to leave a school where they have a “well-founded fear of antisemitic persecution.”

Under the new policy, the State University System of Florida and the Florida College System may waive certain transfer application requirements that would “unnecessarily” delay transferring from one school to the next. The policy also affords Jewish students more time to submit their applications and relieves them of minimum credit requirements that would also prevent or delay their matriculating at a new campus.

“With leaders of so-called elite universities enabling antisemitic activities rather than protecting their students from threats and harassment, it is understandable that many Jewish students are looking for alternatives and looking to Florida,” DeSantis, who was seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for president of the United States at the time, said in a press release. “Throughout my tenure as governor, we have implemented measures to safeguard our Jewish communities from hatred in the K-20 school system, and with this announcement, we want to again make it clear that Jewish students are welcome to live and learn in Florida, where they will be respected and not persecuted due to their faith.”

DeSantis had previously enacted policies to curb extreme anti-Zionist activity on higher education campuses in Florida.

Following the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the state’s university system, working in consultation with the governor, directed public universities to “deactivate” chapters of the national group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for defending Hamas following the Palestinian terrorist group’s invasion of the Jewish state earlier that month. In a memo, State University System of Florida chancellor Ray Rodrigues referenced how, following Hamas’s onslaught, the National Students for Justice in Palestine organization called for a “Day of Resistance” on college campuses across the US, distributing propaganda aimed at demonizing Israel and seemingly defending Hamas.

In December 2021, DeSantis’ office issued a statement advising Florida State University not to allow the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), with which it was an institutional partner, from operating a boycott of Israel on its campus. The association had just moved towards — and ultimately arrived at — an endorsement of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

 Texas to Tempe 
Eight of the 16 returning starters for the Sun Devils this year are from Texas. The list includes Jordyn Tyson (Allen), Josh Atkins (Mansfield Timberview), Keith Abney (Waxahachie), Xavion Alford (Shadow Creek), C.J. Fite (Tatum), Clayton Smith (Texas High School in Texasarkana), Prince Dorbah (Highland Park) and Jordan Crook (Duncanville).

 Elite experience 
Eight Sun Devils started all 14 games last year, and seven of them return. C.J. Fite, Josh Atkins, Ben Coleman, Max Iheanachor, Javan Robinson, Myles Rowser and Keith Abney II were 14-game starters. Center and second-team Walter Camp All-American Leif Fautanu is the only 14-game starter who doesn’t return in 2025.

 Protecting home turf 
Arizona State (6-0) was one of 16 teams to go undefeated at home in 2024 and the only Big 12 team. Oregon, Boise State, Alabama, Missouri, Army, Memphis and Tennessee all went 7-0, while Miami, Ohio, Marshall, UTSA, Georgia and Washington joined ASU at 6-0. Indiana went 8-0, while Georgia Tech went 5-0. ASU travels to one-home loss Big 12 teams from last year Iowa State (6-1), Colorado (5-1) and Baylor (5-1). The Sun Devils didn’t lose a home game for the first time since 2004.

 Comfortable when it’s close 
Arizona State was 6-2 in one score games (5-1 in games of seven points or less) in 2024. The only teams with six or more wins in one-score games were Arkansas State (7-1), Sam Houston State (6-0), Texas Tech, Duke and Missouri (all 6-1) and Syracuse (7-2).

 Fo(u)rks Up 
ASU made 18 fourth-down conversions in 2024. After converting on those 18, ASU had 12 touchdowns, 2 field goals and took a knee to end the Mississippi State game. The only three times it didn’t work as it had an interception, a missed field goal and turned it over on down later in the drive.

 Undefeated in November 
ASU went undefeated in November for the first time since 2013 and just its third time from 1976-present. ASU also was undefeated in November in 2013 (4-0), 1996 (3-0), 1975 (5-0), 1972 (4-0), 1971 (4-0), 1970 (3-0), 1969 (5-0), 1968 (5-0), 1967 (3-0), 1965 (3-0), 1963 (4-0), 1959 (4-0), 1958 (4-0), 1957 (5-0) and 1950 (4-0).

 Returning AP All Americans 
Jordyn Tyson earned Third-Team Associated Press All American honors last and is one of 16 returners from those teams in 2025. He is one of five returning AP All Americans returning on offense along with center Jake Slaughter (Florida), wide receivers Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) and Eric Rivers (Florida International) and tackle Spencer Fano (Utah).

 2024 Big 12 honorees are back  
Arizona State has six returnees from the 2024 All Big 12 Team returning next year, led by wide receiver and first team honoree Jordyn Tyson (Offensive Newcomer of the Year), second team honoree Sam Leavitt (Offensive Freshman of the Year), defensive back Xavion Alford (first), tight end Chamon Metayer (second), defensive lineman C.J. Fite (second) and linebacker Keyshaun Elliott (second).

 ASU alumni on Sun Devil Football 2025 roster 
(listed alphabetically)
Xavion Alford, BA Liberal Studies, 2024
Coben Bourguet, BSE Engineering Management, 2024
Ben Coleman, MA Communication, 2024
Anthonie Cooper, BA Interdisciplinary Studies (Communication/Nutrition and Healthy Living), 2022
Prince Dorbah, BS Communication, 2024
Adama Fall, BA Liberal Studies
Zyrus Fiaseu, BA Liberal Studies, 2025
Cameron Harpole, BA Communication, 2025
Max Iheanachor, BA Liberal Studies, 2025
Chamon Metayer, BA Liberal Studies, 2025
Elijah O’Neal, BA Liberal Studies, 2024
Kyle Scott, BS Psychology, 2025
Ian Shewell, BS Clinical Exercise Science, 2025
Clayton Smith, BA Liberal Studies, 2025
Justin Wodtly, BA Liberal Studies, 2025

Sun Devil Football on social
For exclusive content, the latest updates, and more information on the Sun Devil Football program, follow our X (@ASUFootball) and Instagram (@sundevilfb) accounts, like our Facebook page (facebook.com/SunDevilFootball), and visit our website (sundevils.com).

Kenny Dillingham (X: @KennyDillingham | Instagram: @coachdillinghamasu)
C.J. Fite (X: @FiteCullen | Instagram: @cjfite99_)

AMHERST, N.Y. – The state of Washington made its presence felt throughout the week at Boys 15 Player Development Camp at the Northtown Center this summer.

From the positive energy off the ice that Jody Carpenter, the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association president, brought to camp as a team leader for Team Orange to the on-ice performances of Washington natives Levi Ellingsen (Pasco, Wash.) and Thomas Ogee (Vancouver, Wash.), it was a week of celebration for the PNAHA affiliate. 

Ellingsen starred at forward for Team Red, tallying five assists over four games, good for second-most on the team. Ogee, a defenseman, impressed for Team White, finishing second on the squad among d-men with two helpers in four contests. 

“The camp experience has been great,” said Ellingsen. “All the team leaders have been great, and it’s really good competition here.”

The team leaders are not only essential to keeping the wheels turning at USA Hockey Player Development Camps, but they lead the charge on team-building on and off the ice at camp.

While overseeing Team Orange, Carpenter’s passion was on full display all week long. Despite his status as an already prominent volunteer in his home state, this was Carpenter’s third year as a volunteer at USA Hockey Boys National Player Development Camps, and the Tri-Cities, Washington, native wants to keep coming back each summer.

“I started doing these camps trying to figure out where our players needed to be at competitively. I felt that it was important to understand where the bar is and how far we needed to go to improve as a state,” added Carpenter. “Now I come back for the sheer enjoyment of being with the best kids in America and to be around truly exceptional hockey people.”

Carpenter grew up in North Dakota before moving to Washington at 16, where he played youth hockey and eventually went on to play college hockey at Itasca Community College and Washington State University.

When Carpenter’s son started playing 8U hockey in Tri-Cities in 2012, Carpenter decided to get involved by becoming a coach.

“I had one kid in hockey, then all of a sudden I had 12. And then from there I became coaching director with the Tri-Cities Jr. Americans, and then I had 400 kids playing hockey.”

Following his time with Tri-Cities, Carpenter became a development-focused volunteer in eastern Washington and was then elected president of PNAHA in 2023. This year, he was re-elected for a second two-year term. 

Carpenter’s desire to get involved goes beyond just helping kids out on the ice.

“I feel like hockey teaches so many life lessons,” he added. “Being a good teammate, being a good person, and playing a role as a member of the team. Learning humility, and how to put the team in front of yourself is a really cool life lesson.” 

That team-first mentality is evident in his work both with PNAHA, and within the much smaller world of Boys 15 Camp. 

When asked about the work being done at PNAHA this year, Carpenter noted, “Rob Kaufman is our senior coaching director, he’s doing a great job, and Marty Rubin is our youth coaching director, and he’s making a real difference.”

Since he took over as president of the affiliate in 2023, the total number of hockey players in the state has grown by nearly 10%. Carpenter and his team are hoping to continue positively impacting hockey in Washington at every level, and Ellingsen and Ogee have been a stellar reflection of that growth. 

“Both of them being here at a national level, especially with both starting out in relatively smaller associations, to have them stay in-state and achieve at this level has been great,” added Carpenter.

Making sure the top players from the state remain in state without hurting their development has been a key point of emphasis for the PNAHA team during Carpenter’s tenure. 

“I started asking myself, ‘Why are all these kids leaving their state to get better at hockey?,” said Carpenter. “If a kid has to leave to become a better player, we are failing. If a kid stays and doesn’t reach his potential, we are failing. So we had to find a solution.”

The solution involved strengthening the competitiveness of leagues in Washington at every “rung of the development ladder”, ensuring a sound developmental environment for players from 8U all the way through 18U hockey, and it’s paying dividends, as shown by Ellingsen and Ogee’s path from youth hockey in Washington, to the Pacific District Camp, to National Camp and beyond. 

Carpenter’s hope is that more and more players continue to develop out of the Washington pipeline and into district and national-level camps, and there’s no doubt that he’ll continue to be there at the Northtown Center to welcome them each year. 

“This is truly my favorite week of the year.”

Aug. 1—ROCHESTER — Hockey has a way of finding Sam Orth, even while he lives in a country that doesn’t have an ice rink.

When Orth and his wife moved from Tennessee to her home country of Colombia a few years ago, his hockey equipment bag was among the belongings he wouldn’t — or couldn’t — leave behind.

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It wasn’t that Orth, a 2011 Byron High School graduate who played hockey for the Dodge County Wildcats program, had delusions of finding a hockey arena in the South American country. He just doesn’t get too far from bag of pads and breezers and skates. And at some point, he thought, maybe he’d find a local roller hockey team or league to connect with.

It took three days.

“With (the COVID pandemic) and inflation and all that stuff, we were living in Tennessee at the time, and we were looking at where to move to if we wanted to move,” Orth said, “and she said, ‘what about going home for a little bit, going to my mom’s for a little bit?’ And so, we sold everything and went (to Colombia), and I always bring my golf clubs and hockey bag with me.

“One day my mother-in-law said, ‘you play hockey, right?’ She said, ‘I have a person I work with, he’s a goalie, he wants you to come out and shoot around a little bit.”

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Just like that, hockey had found Sam Orth again.

That day he met the group of players who run the Colombian Ice Hockey Federation, including Eric Tyndall, a native Canadian who grew up in Winnipeg, but has been with the CIHF since 2015. Tyndall also coaches the Colombia Lightning, the country’s youth program, which includes boys and girls players through the high school level.

“He came up to me and, in English — no one spoke English — he said ‘hey, where are you from?'” Orth said “He asked if I would come out and coach the kids sometime. I said ‘sure, here’s my number. Let’s connect in the future.’ He said ‘no, I mean tomorrow.'”

Less than a week after moving to a different country — a different continent — Orth had a team to play for and a youth team to coach. Though, he quickly found, convincing kids to join a hockey team in a soccer-crazed country isn’t the easiest sell. But, Orth said, the kids who have joined the program have made his experience far better than he dreamed it could be.

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For the past two weeks, Orth was back home in southeastern Minnesota, and a half-dozen players and a couple of coaches from the Colombia Lightning U14 girls program came along.

“The two-year journey with this club has been nothing but excitement,” he said. “It’s been an uphill climb, in a good way — uphill and downhill. But the kids have been great and now they get to come to Minnesota and it’s just a boost of confidence for them to come up here and do this.”

Orth said his former Dodge County coach, Matt Erredge (now the co-head coach for the Century/John Marshall boys team), as well as Caryn Rooney, who manages the Rochester Recreation Center, were instrumental in clearing ice time for the Colombian team and connecting them with other girls teams in the area to practice with.

The Lightning have joined summer practices with the Austin High girls hockey team at Riverside Arena, and with the Rochester Century/John Marshall girls team at the Rec Center. And, for many of the Lightning players, it’s one of the first — if not the first — times they have been on ice skates.

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With no ice rinks in Colombia, the Lightning play inline hockey, similar to roller hockey, but using the same set of rules as are used in ice hockey, such as offside and icing.

“The kids are just having fun, practicing different things; it’s different than playing on RollerBlades,” Lightning coach Juan Diaz said before the team practiced with the Century/JM girls at the Rochester Recreation Center on Wednesday night. “At first, they were just trying to learn how to stop (on ice skates) with just their right leg. Now they’re trying to stop with their outside (skate blade) edge.

“… it’s difficult, it’s challenging to grow a sport in a non-traditional country, but to overcome those challenges for these kids and their parents, it’s not as difficult because they are really passionate about it. Colombia is essentially soccer and cycling, but it’s been fun to help to grow the game.”

Orth said his proudest moments as a coach have come from seeing the progress the youth players have made, as they have evolved from playing an individual game to play a team game — cycling the puck, implementing faceoff plays and forecheck systems, and working together.

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“It’s not about me, you know?” he said. “This game has given me so much, nothing but love. I just want to give it back. … It’s just really special to be a part of this. I’ll never not be. As long as they want me there, I’ll be there.”

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Bethlehem’s largest adult ice hockey tournament is kicking off Friday along with Musikfest.

Hockey Fights MS is celebrating 20 years. The tournament was started in 2005 by Candice Arnold shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Starting Aug. 1-3 and Aug. 8-10, more than 50 teams will face off at Steel Ice Center.

“I grew up here in the Lehigh Valley playing ice hockey and in 2005 I was diagnosed with MS and at the time I was a student at Muhlenberg College, and I had to do a school project, I had to shadow a small business,” Arnold told 69 News.

Instead of shadowing a business, Arnold, who grew up playing ice hockey, created a fundraiser for MS.

“I asked my professor if I could do this instead and he said yes. It was supposed to be a one-time fundraiser and it just kind of blew up from there,” Arnold explained.

Now Hockey Fights MS tournaments are played as far north as Maine to down south in Virginia.

“We’ve had some teams playing since the very first tournament so it’s pretty cool,” Arnold stated.

Steel Ice Center’s owner Keith Krem said Hockey Fights MS is the largest tournament the rink hosts.

“It’s an exciting time for us. Obviously, we’re on the southside of Bethlehem [during Musikfest] so we have a lot of moving parts that are going on here but this is a really cool opportunity for the hockey community to get down here in really one of the most exciting times to be at Steel Ice Center,” Krem said.

Dawn Reeps is a volunteer and has played in the tournament since its inception.

“It’s just a lot of fun. You get to see a lot of friends that you don’t get to see all year and obviously we get to play hockey,” Reeps said.

To date, Hockey Fights MS has raised more than $575,000 to benefit various research centers and the MS Wellness Program at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation.

The famous Alaska Pipeline stretches 800 miles, delivering vital crude oil from the edge of the Arctic Ocean to a port on the Pacific Coast. Perhaps the most unexpected talent pipeline in the century-plus history of Minnesota Gophers hockey stretches nearly 900 miles, from the Pittsburgh suburbs to the ice sheet at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

That’s where soon-to-be Gophers forward L.J. Mooney met with the media this week, skating for Team USA at the World Junior Summer Showcase, with hopes of wearing red, white and blue for the tournament in December and January.

Before that, he will be donning a maroon and gold jersey and continuing a recently-established family tradition of Steeltown relatives coming to the State of Hockey to take classes and score goals. Less than three years ago, L.J. watched his cousin, Logan Cooley, do the same.

“We’re with each other a lot. Just having him around, I’m pretty lucky,” Mooney said following a Team USA scrimmage next door at Ridder Arena.

In the summer, the cousins are at home in western Pennsylvania skating together most days. Cooley, in his lone Gophers season (2022-23), led the team in goals, assists and points, and helped them get to the brink of a sixth NCAA title before falling to Quinnipiac in overtime in the national championship game.

Blue lines and bloodlines

As an NHLer, Cooley was picked third overall by the Arizona Coyotes in 2022. He signed a pro contract after Cooley was one of three finalists for the 2023 Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey’s top player. The Coyotes relocated after Cooley’s first pro year, in which he made the NHL’s all-rookie team, and with the Utah Mammoth he has become an on-ice leader and a fan favorite in the NHL’s newest market.

Those college and pro heroics came after Eric Cooley built an outdoor rink, with a refrigeration system, in the yard of their family’s home in West Mifflin, Pa., for his three hockey-playing boys. Their cousin, L.J., would often join the fun. As the youngest of five children, and the only boy, he was quick to learn and emulate his uber-talented relative.

“We live actually in the same yard. They’re right across from us,” said John Mooney, L.J.’s father, who played two seasons at Colorado College for former Gophers coach Brad Buetow back in the old WCHA days. “So either with the rink or with street hockey, there was something every day, all day long.”

While apples-to-apples comparisons between the cousins on-ice are inherently unfair, sisters Cathy Cooley and Donna Mooney have produced some of the same traits in their hockey-playing sons.

“They’re both very dynamic, with their edges and their compete, all of it,” said Gophers assistant coach Steve Miller, who coached Cooley on Team USA and in college, and will do the same for Mooney at the U and possibly with World Juniors this winter. “They’re both very highly competitive men. That’s where it all starts.”

Undersized, not underestimated

It has already been an exciting summer for Mooney, 18, who wore the colors of the American flag the past two seasons as a member of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Michigan. While a Gophers sweater is in his immediate future, he hopes to wear what French-Canadian fans call “blau, blanc et rouge” after he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens with their fourth round pick in June.

In his final season with the NDTP, the slightly undersized Mooney (officially listed as 5-foot-8) averaged a point per game and has made an impression both with teammates and likely future college and NHL rivals.

“He’s been a stud for a while,” said Boston University star Cole Eiserman, a first round pick of the New York Islanders in 2024. “Obviously, he’s super skilled and he went in the fourth round or whatever it was. I think he has a chip on his shoulder, for sure, being a smaller guy that can still produce.”

College programs like Ohio State, Penn State and Mercyhurst are an easy drive from Pittsburgh and are the next step down for fans in the region where Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are the kings of the rink. But for Mooney, seeing Logan at the U of M scoring goals versus the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions left a lasting impression.

Asked about choosing Minnesota, the Mooney family talks about the history, the tradition and the facilities of the storied college hockey program, but family history definitely was a factor, as well.

“You look at Minnesota through the years, what they’ve done, but I think 100 percent it would be because of Logan and the experience he had there,” John Mooney said. “That rink, the crowds they get, the first time L.J. saw it, that’s where he wanted to go. When he got the feedback from Logan, it pretty much was a no-brainer.”

The numbers game

Throughout his career, Logan wore jersey number 18. When he arrived in Minneapolis as a freshman, those digits were in use by then-junior Mason Nevers.

Using the mathematical logic that nine times two equals 18, Cooley switched to 92, and still wears that number with the Mammoth. In another nod to family tradition, with Nevers graduating and now playing pro hockey in Idaho, Mooney will wear 18 with the Gophers. He’s already played alongside a few of the incoming freshman class with Team USA and elsewhere, and the initial predictions are that in an incredibly competitive Big Ten race, Minnesota fans are going to like what they see.

“I’ve had a lot of fun playing with him. I’ve had the opportunity to play with him a few times and we’ve been linemates quite a bit. He’s obviously a super-skilled player, so all positive things,” said future Gophers forward Mason Moe, from Eden Prairie. “If you get open for him, he’ll find you, and he finds a way to get open himself, so it’s kind of just reading off each other and knowing where you’ll be.”

Mooney planned to head home after the Showcase concluded Saturday, having made his case for one of the 25 roster spots on the World Juniors team. He will ride that Pittsburgh-to-Minneapolis pipeline back to Minnesota around State Fair time, when the latest member of the family to become a Gopher will move into his campus home and take his place as the next in line with designs on hanging more banners from the arena rafters.

“By the end of August I’ll be up here for good,” Mooney said. “I look forward to it all. All this summer you keep working towards it, but I couldn’t be more excited to get up here and start playing.”

It’s not just an educational and athletic opportunity. For two Pittsburgh cousins, it’s a family tradition.