LAS VEGAS — UNLV revealed its jersey numbers Sunday for a 27-player roster that returns 16 players from last season and adds 11 newcomers from the NAHL, NCDC, BCHL, MJHL, WHL and NCAA Division III levels.
UNLV enters 2026-27 ranked No. 3 in the ACHA Men’s Division I preseason poll after finishing 27-4-2, winning the WCHL regular-season championship and reaching the national semifinals last March. Only defending national champion Ohio and Adrian begin the season ahead of the Rebels.
That followed the first ACHA Division I national championship in program history in 2025. UNLV returned to the final four a year later before Adrian ended its title defense with a 3-2 overtime win in the semifinals. The Rebels have finished in the ACHA’s top five in each of the last five seasons.
Associate head coach Nick Robone said in August that the loss had not disappeared during the offseason. “We have a very hungry team coming off the 2025 national championship run,” Robone said while discussing the returning group and its eagerness to get back to Las Vegas.
Watch: Adrian’s overtime winner over UNLV in the 2026 ACHA national semifinal
The most significant departures are easy to locate. Defenseman Jaxsen Wyatt led UNLV with 40 regular-season points and earned first-team All-WCHL honors. Goaltender Douglas Wakelyn was also selected to the conference’s first team. Both are gone from a roster that otherwise retains much of the production that carried UNLV through last season.
Replacing Wakelyn is the more obvious positional question because there is no established returning starter. Replacing Wyatt looks different. Mario DiMaggio, Deven Nagra, Dillon Kuntz, Asher Wites and Dylan Gordon combined for 91 regular-season points last season, leaving UNLV with several defensemen who have already produced at this level.
Up front, the numbers become even harder to ignore. Luke Backel, Charlie Masek and Bryce Johnson combined for 41 goals and 93 regular-season points in their first seasons at UNLV. Incoming forwards Zach Boren, Easton Edwards and Mikey Coleman combined for 74 goals and 165 points in the NAHL last season.
The roster is deeper, but the philosophy behind it is familiar. During UNLV’s title defense last year, head coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener described the internal standard this way: “With our group, everything is about competition and staying at the top. It all starts with culture.”
The clearest competition is in net and throughout the 16-player forward group.
Goaltenders
No. 1 Jimmy Mologousis
Mologousis arrives after a high-volume final junior season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights in the NCDC. He went 14-13-4 with a 2.44 goals-against average and .935 save percentage over 32 appearances, then posted a .946 save percentage in two playoff games.
His season included several starts that required considerably more than protecting a lead behind a dominant team. Mologousis stopped 59 of 61 shots in a 3-2 win over Jersey in February, a .967 performance that earned him another NCDC weekly honor. At that point his season save percentage sat at .935.
He also won consecutive starts while stopping 75 of 78 shots during one late-January weekend and recorded multiple shutouts during the season. Those performances gave him repeated experience handling 35, 40 or more shots.
With Wakelyn gone, Mologousis enters camp with a statistical case for substantial work.
No. 31 Liam Choquette
Choquette brings the only NCAA experience in the room.
He spent two seasons at Nichols College and finished 2025-26 with a 3-7 record, 3.56 goals-against average and .887 save percentage in 11 appearances. As a freshman, he posted a 3.14 goals-against average and .894 save percentage over 15 games.
There were better individual nights than the season numbers suggest. Choquette stopped a season-high 36 shots against both Assumption and Curry last season. As a freshman, he made 38 saves in a 1-1 tie against Endicott and earned Conference of New England Rookie of the Week recognition during the year.
Choquette arrives having already spent two seasons in college hockey.
No. 35 Owen Zenone
Zenone is the only returning goaltender, but his first season produced almost no statistical sample.
He appeared in two regular-season games, won both and did not allow a goal. WCHL coaches nevertheless selected him to the conference’s all-rookie team while he spent most of the season behind Wakelyn.
His advantage entering the competition is familiarity. Zenone has already practiced inside UNLV’s system, worked with the staff and experienced a season that extended to the national semifinals.
Mologousis brings the strongest recent junior numbers. Choquette brings NCAA Division III experience. Zenone brings a year in the program.
The position that was settled for most of last season no longer is.
Defensemen
UNLV lost its highest-scoring player, but the blue line does not look like a group waiting for one player to replace him.
DiMaggio, Nagra and Kuntz each reached 20 points last season. Wites and Gordon each added 13. The returning five combined for 91 points before UNLV added Thomas Manzella, Simon Nealy and Ryan Winklebleck, three right-shot defensemen listed at 6-foot-2 or taller.
No. 4 Thomas Manzella
Manzella changes the physical profile immediately.
The 6-foot-6, 209-pound right shot recorded six goals and seven assists with the Chippewa Steel last season while accumulating 205 penalty minutes in 51 games.
Manzella has also played more than 140 NAHL regular-season games across multiple organizations.
The penalty total is too large to treat as background noise. At roughly four penalty minutes per game, discipline becomes part of the evaluation. UNLV can use Manzella’s reach and physical presence without wanting those traits to turn regular five-on-five shifts into unnecessary penalty kills.
No. 6 Simon Nealy
Nealy brings another veteran right shot after three NAHL seasons.
He played 55 regular-season games for El Paso last year and recorded one goal and 16 assists. He finished his NAHL career with 129 regular-season games, giving UNLV another experienced newcomer on the blue line.
The assist total is the most useful piece of the profile. Nealy does not arrive needing to become a high-volume scorer from the point, but 16 assists show a defenseman who was involved in moving the puck and creating offense.
No. 7 Mario DiMaggio
DiMaggio is the clearest returning candidate for a larger offensive role.
He scored 10 goals and added 15 assists in only 22 regular-season games as a freshman, a 1.14-points-per-game rate. WCHL coaches placed him on the all-rookie team and named him second-team all-league.
His national quarterfinal against Liberty showed why those numbers were not simply the product of accumulating secondary assists.
DiMaggio opened the scoring by carrying the puck into the left circle and beating Liberty goaltender Konrad Kausch through the five-hole. In the second period, his first attempt was blocked, but he stayed with the play, moved behind the net and finished a wraparound for his second goal.
He also started the sequence that produced Backel’s first-period goal by moving the puck out of UNLV’s defensive end.
Those plays showed different parts of the same profile. DiMaggio can activate into the offensive zone, carry the puck himself and begin offense from deeper positions.
Wyatt’s departure creates more available responsibility. DiMaggio had already begun assuming some of it before Wyatt left.
No. 8 Deven Nagra
Nagra gives UNLV another defenseman with an established offensive role.
He finished last season with nine goals and 11 assists in 25 regular-season games, giving him 41 points through his first 55 regular-season appearances at UNLV.
His biggest goal came when UNLV’s season was already under pressure.
Grand Canyon had erased a 2-0 third-period deficit in the national tournament and forced overtime. The Lopes then went shorthanded in the extra period. They killed the first 91 seconds of the penalty before Nagra scored the power-play winner and sent UNLV into the quarterfinals.
Nagra gives UNLV another defenseman it can use when it needs offense rather than one whose value is confined to its own end.
No. 16 Asher Wites
Wites played 31 games in his first UNLV season, one of the highest totals among Rebels defensemen, and finished with two goals and 11 assists.
He also scored in the national quarterfinal. Dylan Jensen found Wites in the left circle against Liberty, and Wites finished the play with a slapshot into the top-left corner to extend UNLV’s lead to 4-1.
The larger value is the 31-game workload. Wites returns after already handling regular shifts on a defense that reached the national semifinals.
No. 22 Dillon Kuntz
Kuntz quietly produced one of the better passing seasons among UNLV’s defensemen.
The 6-foot-3, 201-pound defenseman finished with two goals and 18 assists in 32 games. He now has 34 points in 58 regular-season appearances for the Rebels.
His 18 assists were second among UNLV defensemen who return this season. That gives the Rebels another established puck mover alongside the more visible scoring production from DiMaggio and Nagra.
No. 23 Dylan Gordon
Gordon recorded three goals and 10 assists in 28 games during his first UNLV season.
He arrived with major junior and NAHL experience and now has a full season inside the Rebels’ system. His 13 points also meant each of UNLV’s five returning defensemen reached double figures last season.
No. 27 Ryan Winklebleck
Winklebleck adds another large right shot.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound defenseman recorded two goals and nine assists in 16 regular-season games after joining the Winkler Flyers.
Winklebleck finished his junior career with a noticeable offensive surge in Manitoba. Eleven points in 16 regular-season games represented a jump in production, and he also scored twice in the third period of a 5-0 win over Neepawa during a seven-point, two-game stretch.
Watch: Ryan Winklebleck and the Winkler Flyers
The Rebels do not need one defenseman to replace Wyatt’s 40 points.
The returning five already produced 91. The newcomers give the staff different options around them.
Forwards
The competition up front is more complicated because UNLV did not simply replace departing production.
It added to a group that already had it.
Backel, Masek and Johnson scored 41 goals and 93 points as first-year Rebels. Jensen, McIntosh, Band and Kelly all played at least 30 games. Then UNLV added six forwards, including three who each cleared 50 points in the NAHL.
That could make earning ice time one of the defining stories of camp.
No. 3 Charlie Masek
Masek’s first season answered most of the questions attached to his transition from junior hockey.
He scored 10 goals and added 22 assists in 32 regular-season games, finishing with 32 points. The ACHA named him Men’s Division I Rookie of the Year, making him the first UNLV player to win the award. He also earned WCHL Rookie of the Year, second-team all-league and all-rookie honors.
Masek’s 22 assists reflected the way he contributed to UNLV’s offense. Against Liberty at nationals, DiMaggio moved the puck up the boards to Caleb Strong, whose crossing pass deflected off Masek’s stick toward Backel entering the right circle. Backel carried it to the crease and scored.
It was one touch in one game, but it fit a larger season in which Masek regularly created offense without needing to finish every play himself.
He also recorded two assists in three games at nationals and was named second-team all-tournament.
The question entering Year 2 is no longer whether his junior production translates. It already did.
Watch: Charlie Masek highlights
No. 5 Mikey Coleman
Coleman arrives after scoring 24 goals and adding 29 assists in 54 regular-season games for Austin.
Coleman’s 53 points trailed only Boren and Edwards among UNLV’s NAHL additions. His postseason provided another reason he should compete for significant minutes.
Austin faced elimination against Edwards and Aberdeen in Game 4 of the Central Division Final. Coleman carried the puck from the blue line toward the crease and created the rebound that produced Austin’s second goal. With the game tied late in the third, he scored off another net-front rebound with 2:27 remaining to give the Bruins a 4-2 win and force Game 5.
The better description entering camp is not that Coleman already owns a top-six spot. It is that UNLV is adding a 24-goal NAHL winger who produced in a high-leverage game to a lineup that already has established scorers.
No. 9 Bryce Johnson
Johnson scored 13 goals and added 16 assists in 31 games during his first season at UNLV.
Only Backel scored more goals among returning Rebels. Johnson’s 29 points also came without the individual awards attached to Masek’s season, making him easy to lose in a discussion centered on the two 32-point freshmen.
At 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds, Johnson also gives UNLV size among its returning forwards before Lunski and several other newcomers are added to the mix.
No. 10 Dylan Jensen
Jensen enters his third season after recording six goals and 12 assists in 30 games last year.
He has played 61 regular-season games for UNLV and was part of both the 2025 national championship team and last season’s semifinal run.
His national quarterfinal included an assist on Wites’ goal and a third-period finish of his own after Liberty had pulled within 5-3.
No. 11 Hayden Siegel
Siegel appeared in 13 games last season but scored five goals and added three assists.
He has 13 goals and 22 points through 40 regular-season games at UNLV. That scoring history gives him a case for more work, but the forward room around him is considerably deeper than it was a year ago.
No. 12 Shaun Rios
Rios comes to UNLV with a résumé that looks different from most of the incoming class.
He spent two seasons in the WHL and scored 21 goals with 26 assists in only 42 games for Wenatchee in 2024-25. Last season, he recorded five goals and six assists in 31 WHL games split between Wenatchee and Prince George before moving to Vernon.
When Vernon added him in January, head coach Matt Cooke pointed specifically to Rios’ hockey sense, skill and previous 20-goal production as reasons he could strengthen the Vipers’ scoring depth.
That background separates Rios from the heavy NAHL presence in UNLV’s class. Boren, Edwards and Coleman arrive after major NAHL scoring seasons. Rios already produced at close to a point-per-game pace during his best WHL season.
He gives the Rebels another experienced offensive option without simply duplicating the profile of the other newcomers.
Watch: Shaun Rios WHL hat-trick highlights
No. 13 Alex Lunski
Lunski gives UNLV a 6-foot-4, 216-pound center with experience in both the USHL and NAHL.
He recorded four goals and six assists in 22 regular-season games for Bismarck last season.
His production does not match the three 50-point NAHL newcomers. His size and experience down the middle give UNLV something different.
No. 14 Luke Backel
Backel returns as UNLV’s leading goal scorer.
He finished his freshman regular season with 18 goals and 14 assists in 32 games, tying Masek with 32 points and placing both behind Wyatt on UNLV’s scoring list.
Backel also earned WCHL all-rookie honors.
His scoring translated to the postseason.
Against Liberty, Backel received the Masek touch entering the right circle, carried the puck to the crease and finished inside the right post for a 2-0 lead.
The larger moment came one game later. With UNLV trailing Adrian late in the national semifinal, Backel scored to force overtime and keep the title defense alive.
Adrian ended it shortly afterward, but the goal was a useful final image from Backel’s freshman season: UNLV needed a goal with its season on the line, and its first-year leading goal scorer produced one.
Year 2 begins with a different expectation.
Watch: Luke Backel highlight
No. 15 Ryder McIntosh
McIntosh recorded five goals and 13 assists in 30 games during his first season.
The center played nearly the entire regular-season schedule and finished with 18 points. That gives him a year of established work down the middle before a new group of forwards begins competing for the same minutes.
No. 17 Gaige Giblin
Giblin finished last season with 13 goals and 16 assists in 50 regular-season games for El Paso and added three goals and three assists in the postseason.
He leaves junior hockey with 104 NAHL regular-season appearances and 54 points, giving UNLV another newcomer with more than 100 games of experience at that level.
No. 18 Shane Dean
Dean appeared in five games last season and scored one goal.
The Las Vegas native returns for his second season with far more competition for forward spots after UNLV added six newcomers.
No. 19 Zach Boren
Boren arrives after the best season of his junior career, but the 29 goals only tell part of the story.
The Watertown captain scored 29 goals and added 28 assists for 57 points. He finished his time with the Shamrocks as the franchise leader in goals and points while setting their single-season records in both categories.
His final junior season was cut short by an injury, but he still finished his NAHL career with 150 regular-season games and 97 points.
Boren’s own description of his game makes the scoring jump more interesting.
“Biggest strength has always been my passing,” Boren said during a Watertown interview, describing how he prefers to use teammates to create offense.
The final season eventually produced 29 goals anyway.
That creates a more complete profile than simply calling him a scorer. Boren has played center, produced as a passer, developed into Watertown’s leading goal scorer and carried leadership responsibilities after being named captain.
When he committed, Boren also pointed to UNLV’s treatment of its players and the Division I feel surrounding the program as factors in his decision.
He enters Las Vegas after already spending a season as the player expected to produce and lead.
No. 20 Luke Baker
Baker appeared in three regular-season games last season and scored once.
He returns for his second season after limited freshman action and will enter camp in a forward room with six newcomers.
No. 21 Easton Edwards
Edwards arrives with one of the strongest recent offensive résumés on the roster.
He scored 21 goals and added 34 assists in 57 games for Aberdeen last season, finishing with 55 points.
That followed a 2024-25 season in which he helped Idaho Falls win the NCDC championship before making the move to the NAHL.
His offense held up in the playoffs. Edwards added five goals and seven assists in 10 games, then faced another future Rebel when Aberdeen met Coleman and Austin in the Central Division Final.
Edwards scored the empty-net power-play goal that finished Aberdeen’s 2-0 victory in Game 2. Coleman answered later in the series with his late Game 4 winner for Austin.
They spent May trying to eliminate each other.
Now both are entering the same forward room in Las Vegas.
UNLV lists Edwards at both left wing and center, adding positional flexibility to the production.
Boren finished with 57 regular-season points. Edwards had 55. Coleman had 53.
Three newcomers, 74 goals and 165 NAHL points.
No. 34 Oliver Band
Band returns for his third season after recording four goals and 13 assists in 30 games.
He has played 61 regular-season games at UNLV and has already spent two years in the program, giving him substantially more familiarity than the six incoming forwards competing around him.
No. 46 Mason Kelly
Kelly is the most experienced returning Rebel by regular-season games played at UNLV.
He enters his fourth season after appearing in 82 games over his first three years. Kelly produced nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points last season, ranking behind Backel, Masek and Johnson among returning forwards.
He also belongs to a shrinking group on this roster that experienced both ends of UNLV’s recent postseason run: winning the program’s first national championship in 2025 and returning a year later only to have the next title run end in overtime.
That history does not guarantee him a role on a deeper roster.
It does mean few players entering camp know more about what UNLV has required to play into the final weekend of the season.
UNLV opens 2026-27 ranked No. 3, with 16 returners, 11 newcomers and a roster built to take another run at the game it missed by one overtime goal last March.