Former Gophers hockey player Cory Laylin scored the game-winning goal in a sudden death shootout Monday night to give the Minnesota Arctic Blast a 7-6 win over Empire State.
The victory assured the Blast (21-6) the top seed in the Eastern Conference going into the first round of the Roller Hockey International league playoffs, which start Sunday. The first round consists of a best-of-three series, and the Blast will play the second-place team from the Central Division — either St. Louis or Montreal.
Minnesota will end its regular season Thursday at Ottawa and will play its first home playoff game Aug. 20.
Amateur men’s golf rankings have former Gopher on top
Terry O’Loughlin, a Gophers golfer in 1991 and 1992, is the current points leader among amateurs in the Minnesota Golf Association. And he is winning by a long shot.
O’Loughlin has 320 points so far this season, whereas Joe Stansberry, who won the State Amateur Championships and is in second place, has 250.
Other former Minnesota players in the mix are Jim Dolan (6th with 147.5 points) and former Gophers All-American John Harris (11th with 100 points).
Also, Harris and his father are currently in first place at the Father-Son Championship at Town and Country Golf Course in St. Paul.
Bill Thompson, who will be a sophomore this year at the University, is in 10th place with 105 points in the MGA standings.
Women’s amateur golfrankings show fiveformer Gophers
The women’s MGA standings show former Gophers coach Nancy Harris at the top of the seniors division. She is also 12th in the regular division.
Harris was a two-time recipient of Minnesota’s most valuable golfer award in the early 1980s.
Current Gophers standouts Amy Dahle and Carolyn Klecker are third and fourth respectively in the MGA standings. Both golfers, however, are at least 180 points behind leader Jennifer Tollette.
Maine retains title
The NCAA upheld Maine’s 1993 men’s hockey national championship, ruling on Monday that USA Hockey officials misled players who accepted stipends for playing in the Olympics.
The Bears won that title after beating the Gophers, 6-2, in the NCAA East Regional at Worcester, Mass. At that point, Minnesota was on a five-game winning streak that included the WCHA Final Five tournament championship.
The NCAA had said Maine hockey player Mike Dunham was ineligible because his mother accepted a $2,000 honorarium on his behalf from USA Hockey for his participation on the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team.
Maine officials argued that Dunham was unaware of the money and that his mother accepted it after being advised by a USA Hockey official that it wouldn’t hurt her son’s eligibility.
“The students on that team earned and deserved that championship,” Maine president Frederick Hutchinson said Monday. “The NCAA considered the circumstances and came to a fair and appropriate conclusion.”
— This story contains informationfrom the Associated Press