Minnetonka forward Vinni Lettieri will forgo his senior year and play hockey next season for the Lincoln Stars in the United States Hockey League, Skippers coach Brian Urick confirmed Tuesday.

Lettieri, who has committed to play for the Gophers, led Minnetonka with 60 points last season, scoring 23 goals and adding 37 assists. He recently was named to the Under-18 U.S. National hockey team that will play in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in the Czech Republic and Slovakia next month.

Lettieri, son of the former Kicks and Strikers soccer goalie Tino Lettieri, and grandson of former North Star Lou Nanne, joins at least seven other top hockey players in the state who have made similar decisions recently to leave their high school teams to play elsewhere next season.

Those seven are: Blaine defenseman and future Gopher Michael Brodzinski; Hill-Murray defenseman and Minnesota Duluth recruit Blake Heinrich; Fergus Falls forward Jake Ahlgren; defenseman Jordan Gross of Maple Grove; forward Jake Guentzel of Hill-Murray; forward Connor Valesano of Duluth East; and forward John Wiitala of Lakeville South.

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Van Rooyen leads Frederick Van Rooyen, golfing out of Les Bolstad Golf Club, shot a 4-under-par 68 to take a 1-shot lead over first-round leader Jesse Bull at the MGA Amateur Championship at Hastings Country Club. Bull shot a 73. The third and final round is Wednesday.

Etc. • Gabriele Anderson of Team USA Minnesota won the women's 1,500-meter race at an international track meet in Lignano, Italy, with a personal-best 4 minutes, 4.84 seconds. That is the second-best time by an American this year. Anderson was fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials 1,500 last month.

• Four state college players were selected to play in the Northwoods League All-Star game next Tuesday in Madison, Wis. North team: Sean Borman, 3B, St. Cloud State (Waterloo Bucks); Andy Henkemeyer, OF, Gophers (St. Cloud Rox). South team: Alex Tukey, RHP, Gophers (Battle Creek Bombers); Bryce Bellin, RHP, Minnesota State Mankato (Green Bay Bullfrogs).

• A six-run fifth inning lifted the St. Paul Saints to their fourth victory in a row, a 9-3 defeat of the Grand Prairie Airhogs at Midway Stadium. With the Saints trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, they sent nine men to the plate, capped by Ronnie Bourquin's two-run homer to right. Joe Spiers finished 3-for-5 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

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