COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Minnesota's Don Lucia, whose team won the NCAA title Saturday, will be an assistant to U.S. head coach Lou Vairo at the World Hockey Championships.

Nick Fotiu, an assistant for the AHL's Cleveland Barons, will also be on Vairo's staff for the April 26-May 11 tournament in Sweden.

It will be Vairo's third straight stint leading the United States. The team finished fourth last year and fifth in 2000, going a combined 8-5-3.

Vairo was an assistant to Herb Brooks for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and was the head coach of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.