image description — The Shamrocks Sunday celebrate their A Division title at the Berkshire Summer Bash.

Hockey Tournament Raises More than $20,000 for Team Liam

iBerkshires.com Sports10:52AM / Monday, August 03, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Shamrocks and Rensselaer Rejects won the A and B Division titles, respectively, at this weekend's Berkshire Summer Bash.

The three-day tournament organized by the Berkshire Bear League Hockey league, brought teams from around the region to help raise money to support Liam Lescarbeau, a 9-year-old member of the Northern Berkshire Youth Hockey League's Black Bears youth program.

On Monday morning, NBYHL President Aaron Girgenti reported that the event raised more than $20,000 through team entry fees, the concession stand and a raffle.

On Sunday evening, the Rejects squared off against the F-Bombs in the B division final after each team played three games in a four-team round robin.

The Rejects held a slight, 3-2, lead after two periods but earned a two-goal margin with a goal midway through the third. The New Yorkers tacked on an empty net goal in the closing seconds to take a 5-2 win and the B Division title.

The Shamrocks' A Division final against the Ducks got off to a fast start with the teams trading goals in a high-flying first-period that saw the Shamrocks take a 3-1 lead before the Ducks scored in the 15th minute of the 17-minute period to get within a goal at 3-2.

In the second period, though, the defenses and goalies took over, and the score stayed 3-2 until midway through the third, when the Shamrocks broke through to get some breathing room.

The Ducks pulled within a goal with a power-play goal with just more than two minutes left in regulation, but the Shamrocks potted an empty netter with 38 seconds left to finish with a 5-3 win.

Photos from this event here.

Tags: cancer, fundraiser, hockey,

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MCLA Kicks Off Fall Term With New President, Full Dorms

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:41AM / Wednesday, September 09, 2026

President Diana Rogers-Atkinson says she's excited to be at MCLA and impressed by the work done by the college's faculty and staff.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts kicked off the school year last week with fully occupied dorms and its "lucky 13th" president.

Diana Rogers-Atkinson welcomed the gathering of staff, faculty and student representatives in the Venable Hall gymnasium for the traditional convocation breakfast on Tuesday, along with several trustees and Mayor Jennifer Macksey. Theater arts professor Laura Stanley sang the alma mater, starting a new tradition.

"This is a great time of the year. It's a time of new beginnings on many levels for us this year, and I'm really excited," said the college's new leader. "I hope everyone is prepared for an exciting school year ahead. I am constantly impressed by the work that the MCLA staff and faculty do every day. You work tirelessly to provide our students with a fantastic education and a home away from home. I want to thank you on behalf of our board for your dedication, determination, and hard work."

The hard work is paying off as the college's enrollment continues to climb out of the hole it dropped into during the pandemic.

The college has 162 first-year students and 89 transfer students, Richard Glejzer, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said, up from 219 last year.

"We also have an additional student pool that we've kept separate in our count because it's a one-time pool," he explained. "As we are serving as a teach-out partner for two [closed] institutions, Anna Maria College and Hampshire College, we have two students coming from Anna Maria, and we have 20 students coming from Hampshire College. That brings us up to 272 new students, up 24 percent when you add all this together from this from last year and 29 percent from the year before."

He held up his hand to halt the applause to "add one more thing": looking at a "slice" of graduate student numbers, the college is expecting 105 to be enrolled, up from 92 last year.

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