Tampa Bay students shine in NHL competition, USF team wins award

TAMPA, Fla. — Leading up to the Stadium Series game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins, The NHL set up the 2026 Hockey Innovation Competition.

The competition open to Florida college and university students is designed to foster impactful solutions to expand hockey across the state.

More than 25 teams competed, and it came down to six finalists, two of which were from right here. Tampa Bay 28 anchor Nadeen Yanes listened to their pitches before they went to the final judging.

You might be wondering what hockey, law school, and tourism bed tax dollars have in common. These law students from Stetson University College of Law are about to explain it, competing for the NHL on how to expand hockey in Florida.

"We've seen a Florida hockey team in the Stanley Cup Finals seven out of the last 10 years," said Joey Taylor, a second-year law student at Stetson. And registration in the state has followed that trend, it's up 83% and unfortunately, construction of new ice facilities hasn't followed that trend."

"So, tournaments like this here at the Clearwater Ice Arena generate a lot of bed tax revenue. That money can actually be redistributed back to facilities, just like this," said Vanessa Doueihi, a second-year law student at Stetson.

"The Tampa Bay Lightning just got approved a quarter billion dollars to for renovations of bed tax dollars to renovate benchmark international arena," said Gavin Jones, a first-year law student at Stetson.

It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for these students.

"My family's had season tickets to lightning games for over 15 years, and so I was really excited at the opportunity," said Gavin.

"I'm originally Canadian, so hockey's in my blood," explained Vanessa.

But the law students from Stetson aren’t the only ones from our area that competed. A group of grad students from University of South Florida (USF) were also in the game.

"Our idea is hockey Unidos, which is a mobile pop-up event in Miami for the Hispanic community," Kylie Hafner, USF grad student.

"There'll be two rinks, one for kids and adults. And then next to it, we'll have food trucks. And then there'll be a big broadcast, which will be playing an NHL game in Spanish, all Spanish broadcasting," explained Anthony Costanzo, USF grad student.

"With the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning so it just seems like such a good opportunity to fuse the two together with all the Hispanic residents. Yet not all of them even know that the NHL exists as a brand," said Emma Mussante, USF grad student.

"Hispanic Heritage night has already seen success, which is great, but a lot of the negative feedback is that it's one day a year and usually falls during preseason," said Claire Maloney, USF grad student.

Both groups presented at the finals at ESPN’S Wide World of Sports in Orlando, pitching to NHL executives and Commissioner Gray Bettman himself.

"I want to congratulate the finalists," said Bettman.

The grand prize for the winners included scholarships and a VIP experience to the stadium series game.

"Definitely help with the tuition, and it would definitely help with some of the stress relief. Getting to watch a good hockey game," explained Vanessa.

"I would love. I mean, that's just, that's just so cool outside game," said Gavin.

"Hockey does mean so much to me. And so, any way that I can hopefully somehow help the NHL is definitely something that I want to jump on," said Claire.

"I literally told my whole family, like, instantly. So, I'm really, really excited. I'm just happy to be there, honestly, really happy to be there," said Kylie.

Both teams did a fantastic job and their ideas were great. But we are happy to say that our local USF grad students won the Changemaker Award. Claire, Emma, Anthony, and Kylie will all get to attend the Stadium Series game.