Junior winger Joe Basaraba of Fort Frances, Ontario, and junior winger Adam Krause of Hermantown have been named Minnesota Duluth men’s co-captains for 2013-14, the school announced Thursday.

Basaraba had 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points in 37 games last season, and has 20 goals and 28 points in 113 career games. He’ll be part of a four-player senior class next season.

Krause had two goals and two assists for four points in 2012-13, and has seven points in 66 career games. His brother, Joe, was a sophomore forward at Nebraska-Omaha in 2012-13.

Minnesota Duluth recruit Alex Iafallo had a third-period goal Wednesday as Fargo (N.D.) defeated Sioux Falls (S.D.) 7-4 in the deciding game of the U.S. Hockey League’s Western Conference final series before 4,348 fans in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Fargo advances to the league championship playoff series for the third time in five years, and begins a best-of-5 Clark Cup meeting against Dubuque on Friday in Dubuque, Iowa.

Fargo trailed 2-0 before rallying. UMD recruit Dom Toninato had an assist in the game. UMD coach Scott Sandelin said he was expecting to be in attendance.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader has a game story here.

The University of North Dakota is expected to make bids for an NCAA men’s regional for 2015 or 2016 (to be hosted at Scheel Arena in Fargo) and for an NCAA women’s Frozen Four for 2015 or 2016) to be held at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks). Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald has an update here.

Mike Cavanaugh was named University of Connecticut coach Wednesday. The school has a news release here.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has video highlights from Wednesday’s U.S. 4-1 win over Finland here and USA post-game interviews here.

Former Minnesota Duluth forward and athletic director Bruce McLeod has indicated at various times over the past year that he’s looking at 2013-14 as his final season as commissioner of the WCHA. And apparently he’s moving toward that end, confiding his intentions to the league during last week’s annual WCHA meetings in Florida, according to Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, in a blog post here.

McLeod, 66, who lives in Denver, is entering his 20th year as league commissioner.  It’s also likely supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd is entering his final season.

The WCHA is also debuting a new web site here.

The plight of NCAA regional tournaments was discussed during NCAA meetings in Florida. And while it is unlikely that NCAA would ever go back to teams hosting at campus sites in the first round, it was talked about, said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. One plan had eight best-of-three first-round series with the eight winners advancing to two Super Regionals.

However, there is no movement to change the present format. Reducing ticket prices and being vigilant about choosing hockey-friendly regional sites were among the main talking points, said Sandelin.

The United States defeated Finland 4-1 Wednesday in the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. USA Hockey has an update here.

The Big Ten Conference released its inaugural conference schedule Wednesday here. Many games will be on the Big Ten Network, significantly reducing the number of games on regional network FS North in the case of the University of Minnesota, according to Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. FS North may have as few as 10 Minnesota games in 2013-14.

The San Jose Sharks and assistant coach Jim Johnson (dad of UMD defenseman, Derik Johnson) finished a first-round NHL sweep of Vancouver on Tuesday night, 4-3 in overtime at home. A story from the San Jose Mercury News is here.

Now that the Houston Aeros have ended their American Hockey League season, a number of players are being added to the Minnesota Wild’s extended roster for the NHL post season. Winger Justin Fontaine was among six players recalled Tuesday.

Fontaine, 25, led Houston in regular-season scoring with 23 goals and 33 assists for 56 points in 64 points. Last season he had 16-39-55 in 73 games.

The Wild news release:

ST. PAUL – Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today Tuesday the National Hockey League club has recalled the following players from the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League: F Zack Phillips, F Justin Fontaine, F Brett Bulmer, F Chad Rau, D Kyle Medvec and G Jeff Deslauriers.

Russia defeated the United States 5-3 Tuesday in the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Boston College assistant Mike Cavanaugh reported to be front runner for Connecticut job, according to the Hartford Courant via College Hockey News here.

J.T. Brown’s dad, Ted, a former North Carolina State and Minnesota Vikings star running back, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has a story here.

Boston Herald reporter Katie Eastman ran in the 117th Boston Marathon, yet was unable to finish because of the bombings at the finish line. Her 4-minute video account, via Runner’s World, is here.

Now that the Houston Aeros have ended their American Hockey League season, a number of players are being added to the Minnesota Wild’s extended roster for the NHL post season. Winger Justin Fontaine was among six players recalled Tuesday.

Fontaine, 25, led Houston in regular-season scoring with 23 goals and 33 assists for 56 points in 64 points. Last season he had 16-39-55 in 73 games.

The Wild news release:

ST. PAUL – Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today Tuesday the National Hockey League club has recalled the following players from the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League: F Zack Phillips, F Justin Fontaine, F Brett Bulmer, F Chad Rau, D Kyle Medvec and G Jeff Deslauriers.

Boston College assistant Mike Cavanaugh reported to be front runner for Connecticut job, according to the Hartford Courant via College Hockey News here.

J.T. Brown’s dad, Ted, a former North Carolina State and Minnesota Vikings star running back, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has a story here.

Boston Herald reporter Katie Eastman ran in the 117th Boston Marathon, yet was unable to finish because of the bombings at the finish line. Her 4-minute video account, via Runner’s World, is here.

Winger Tim Stapleton had a goal and an assist Sunday as the United States defeated Latvia 4-1in the World Championships before 5,048 fans at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

Stapleton, 30, played this season for Minsk Dynamo in Kontinental Hockey League based in Russia. He had 24 goals and 16 assists for 40 points in 52 games.

The Americans (2-0) next face Russia on Tuesday in Helsinki.

A U.S.-Latvia summary is here and a game story from the International Ice Hockey Federation here and post-game video interviews from USA Hockey here.

The IIHF has world rankings with Russia No. 1 and the USA No. 4 here.

Fargo Force forward Dom Toninato of Duluth had a goal Sunday, yet Sioux Falls defeated Fargo 5-3 to force a deciding Game 5 in the U.S. Hockey League’s Western Conference Finals. The game was in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The deciding game is Wednesday in Sioux Falls. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader has a game story here.

The start of the NHL playoffs is lengthening the season for four Minnesota Duluth alums: defenseman Jason Garrison and forward Mason Raymond of Vancouver; defenseman Matt Niskanen of Boston; and assistant coach Jim Johnson of San Jose.

San Jose defeated Vancouver 3-1 Wednesday in the opening game. Stories from the San Jose Mercury News here and Vancouver Sun here.

Boston blanked the New York Islanders 5-0 in a series opener Wednesday. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here.

In the regular season, Garrison had eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 47 games; Raymond 10-12-22 in 46 games; and Niskanen 4-10-14 in 40 games. Niskanen, 26, has already played more than 400 games in six seasons with 25 goals and 96 assists for 121 points in 410 games.

Johnson, 50, is in his first season in San Jose on the staff of Todd McLellan.

Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald takes a close look at what may be on the agenda as Division I coaches have their annual meetings this week in Florida here.

The Run to Remember Half Marathon in Boston on Memorial Day (May 27) already has a capacity field of 10,400 runners. ESPNBoston reports that race event participation in the area is showing and increase since the Boston Marathon bombings April 15. That story is here.

Drew LeBlanc gets a Sports Illustrated mention here.

College Hockey, Inc. has a list of 271 former college players, from 48 schools, who played at least one game in the NHL in 2012-13 right here.

Andy Johnson of SB Nation follows up on a Let’s Play Hockey report that the six teams in the Big Ten Hockey Conference will each receive $2 million in TV income in 2013-14 here.

Former U.S. track Olympian Carrie Tollefson of St. Paul will debut at 26.2 miles in the 2013 Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 6, from Minneapolis to St. Paul. She made the announcement in a video on her Web site here.

Former St. Cloud State center Drew LeBlanc of Hermantown has been added to the United States team for the World Championships May 3-19 in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden.

LeBlanc won the 2013 Hobey Baker Memorial Award and signed an NHL free-agent contract with Chicago, and played in two regular-season games.

Also added to the American team Monday were goalie John Gibson, and forwards Ryan Carter of White Bear Lake, Minn.; Stephen Gionta, both of the New Jersey Devils, and forward David Moss of the Phoenix Coyotes.

USA Hockey has a news release here.

Winger J.T. Brown, following a broken collar bone, returned to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League this season to record 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 51 games. Syracuse leads Portland 2-0 in a Eastern Conference quarterfinal series which resumes Thursday. The Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard has a game story from Sunday (with Brown scoring a goal) here and a previous note on a Brown tattoo here.

USA Today has the complete series listing for the first round of the NHL playoffs here.

U.S. College Hockey Online takes a look at Steve Rohlik, who bided his time as an assistant and is now head coach at Ohio State. The story is here.

The International Ice Hockey Federation has a game story from Sunday on Canada’s 3-2 title win over four-time defending champion United States in the World U18 final in Sochi, Russia here.