The Big Ten Conference has announced it will be rotating its men's hockey tournament between the Xcel Energy Center and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit at least the first four years. The six-team conference will start playing in the 2013-14 season and its first postseason tournament will be at the Xcel in 2014 and return there in 2016. In between in 2015 and again in 2017, it will be at Joe Louis Arena.
"The Big Ten made the right choice, going to Joe Louis and the Xcel," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "They are both NHL arenas. This is good for the league and the players."
• Sophomore center Erik Haula, who led the Gophers in scoring with 49 points, has decided to return next season. The Wild took him in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL draft. He had 20 goals last season, second on the team behind Nick Bjugstad's 25. Bjugstad, a first-round pick of Florida in 2010 and also a sophomore, remains undecided on whether he will turn pro.
• North Dakota men's hockey coach Dave Hakstol has signed a new six-year contract that runs through the 2017-18 season. Hakstol is the third winningest coach in UND history, compiling a 213-106-30 record in his first eight seasons.
• Five hockey players, including James Hansen of Maple Grove, signed national letters of intent to play at Bemidji State in 2012-13. Hansen, a defenseman, played last season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League. The other four are Markus Gerbrandt of Edmonton, Alberta; Brad Robbins of Murrieta, Calif.; Fabian Sivnert of Hollviken, Sweden; and Cory Ward of Las Vegas.
Etc. • The No. 5-ranked Gophers men's gymnastics team ended the first day of qualifying events in the early stages of the 12-team NCAA championships in Norman, Okla. The Gophers scored 343.35 points, putting them in fourth place in their six-team group. Illinois was first with 356.25 points and Oklahoma was third with 356.2. The event continues Friday and ends on Saturday.
• The Macalester women's water polo team is seeded fourth in the nine-team Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III championships that begin Friday in Grove City, Pa. The Scots take on Connecticut College in a first-round game at 12:45 p.m.
• Dan Sattler, a relief pitcher who spent last season with the Los Angeles Angels organization, most of it at Class AA Arkansas, has signed with the St. Paul Saints.
