Canterbury Park officials on Thursday asked the Minnesota Racing Commission to approve a 70-day racing season in 2015, proposing the longest race meet at the Shakopee track since it reopened in 1995.

The schedule will follow a familiar template. The proposed season would begin May 15 and end Sept. 12, with racing on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The track also plans some Saturday evening cards, which it introduced last August. Purses are expected to increase about 5 percent from the record $13.1 million paid during last summer's 68-day season.

The season would be the longest since an 87-day meet in 1992, the final year of racing at Canterbury Downs before the track closed for two years and reopened as Canterbury Park.

"Horse racing and breeding in Minnesota is as strong and popular as any period in recent history,'' Canterbury Park president Randy Sampson said. "I expect the popularity to continue to grow. We have found a schedule that works very well.''

Canterbury has seven years left on an agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community that is adding $75 million to the purse fund over 10 years. The increased purses have continued to attract more higher-quality horses and have stimulated a depressed breeding industry. In 2013, 246 thoroughbred foals were born in the state, after the number fell to an all-time low of 96 in 2012.

The track plans to recruit more new trainers for the 2015 season, Sampson said. The racing commission is expected to vote on the dates request at a meeting next month.

Rachel Blount

U women to face UND

The top-rated Gophers women's hockey team plays No. 9 North Dakota at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota (5-0-1, 3-0-1) is coming off a sweep against then-No. 1 Wisconsin in Madison last weekend. The Gophers were 4-1 against UND last season, including a 3-1 win in the title game of the WCHA Final Face-off.

Both teams excel on special teams. The Gopher have the nation's top power play at .417, UND is second at .294. North Dakota ranks third on the penalty kill at .962, the Gophers ninth at .931.

Gophers home for soccer

The Gophers women's soccer team faces Maryland at 7 p.m. Friday and No. 16 Rutgers at 1 p.m. Sunday in its final homestand of the regular-season at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. Minnesota (8-7-1, 5-4-1) is coming off a 4-1 loss to Wisconsin which ended a three-match winning streak.