Cory Laylin

Biography

Cory Laylin joined the Minnesota men's hockey staff in March 2026, taking over as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He returns to campus after serving in an assistant coaching role at St. Thomas for the past five seasons. A native of St. Cloud, Minn., he enjoyed a standout career for the Golden Gophers from 1988-92 where he posted 107 points on 58 goals and 49 assists across 170 career appearances, reaching the NCAA Tournament all four seasons. As a freshman, Minnesota lost to Harvard in overtime in the national championship game. He went on to play 16 professional seasons throughout Europe and North America until retiring in 2007-08. Following his playing career, Laylin served as an assistant coach at Hamline University for two seasons (2008-10). He went on to become a head coach at the high school, college, juniors, pro and international levels over the next 11 years, including seven seasons leading the Pipers from 2014 to 2021. Laylin then joined the Tommies for their inaugural NCAA Division I campaign in 2021-22. That St. Thomas squad finished with just three wins before improving to 11 wins the next year and defeated all seven CCHA opponents at least once during the 2022-23 campaign. Under his efforts with head coach Rico Blasi, the Tommies increased their win total each of the last three seasons. That led to their first-ever 20-win campaign in 2025-26, going 21-12-5 overall, finishing second in the CCHA regular season before falling in the CCHA title game. At the in