Gophers' Sarah Bacon finishes second in 1-meter diving in NCAA meet

A fourth straight national title in 1-meter diving eluded the Gophers' Sarah Bacon, a sixth-year senior from Indianapolis, on Thursday night at the NCAA swimming and diving meet in Atlanta.

Instead she placed second with 356.60 points to junior Mia Vallee of Miami (365.75).

Bacon was hoping to become only the second diver to ever win four 1-meter national titles and the first to do it in four consecutive national meets (2018, '19, '21 and '22). The 2020 meet was canceled.

Bacon will try to win her second straight title on the 3-meter board on Friday.

U's Heise Kazmaier finalist

Gophers forward Taylor Heise, Minnesota Duluth forward Gabbie Hughes and Ohio State defenseman Sophie Jaques were named the three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top player in women's college hockey, the USA Hockey Foundation announced Thursday.

Heise, a senior from Lake City, Minn., leads the nation with 66 points and ranks second with 29 goals. She helped the Gophers win the WCHA regular-season championship and finish with a 29-9-1 record. The WCHA Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, Heise had six game-winning goals, which is tied for third nationally.

Jaques, a senior from Toronto, leads all defensemen and ranks third nationally with 59 points on 51 goals and 38 assists for the top-ranked Buckeyes. The WCHA Defensive Player of the Year is second in the nation with 11 power-play goals.

Ohio State plays Yale at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal of the Frozen Four.

The award winner will be announced at 10:30 a.m. March 26 on NHL Network.

All-America players named

Heise, Hughes and Jaques were named to the American Hockey Coaches Association All-America first team, along with defenseman Skylar Fontaine and goalie Aerin Frankel of Northeastern and forward Theresa Schafzahl of Vermont. Minnesota Duluth forward Elizabeth Giguere made the second team.

Top-ranked Minnesota State Mankato added two top CCHA honors to its haul, with goalie Dryden McKay named conference Player of the Year and Mike Hastings named Coach of the Year. Earlier in the week, McKay was named Goaltender of the Year, Nathan Smith was named Forward of the Year and Jake Livingstone was named Defenseman of the Year.

Randy Johnson

Magicians to disappear

The Minnesota Magicians have agreed to sell their North American Hockey League membership to the Copper Island Hockey Club, LLC. The team will be relocated to Eagle River, Wis., at the end of the 2021-22 season and renamed.

The Magicians are finishing their ninth season playing at Richfield Ice Arena.

The NAHL, which has 29 teams in 17 states this season, is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternative to the Tier I United States Hockey League.

Etc.

Minnesota United completed its trade for left back Kemar Lawrence, with the Loons sending Toronto FC college priority rights to 2021 MLS SuperDraft second-round pick Sean O'Hearn and a conditional $50,000 in General Allocation Money.

Grad student Madison Brinkman and Kayla Deters, both of St. Cloud State, were named the NCAA Division II Diver of the Year and Diving Coach of the Year, respectively. Brinkman won the 3-meter diving national title last week.

Augsburg guard Joe Palmer was named to the D3hoops.com All-Region IX first team in men's basketball. The juior from ,Faribault, Minn., also was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III All-America second team.