University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Bob Motzko to lead Team USA in world junior championship
Gophers men's hockey coach Bob Motzko will lead the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team, USA Hockey announced on Tuesday.
Motzko recently finished his seventh season as head coach of the men's ice hockey team at the University of Minnesota, where he led the team to the NCAA national tournament for five consecutive years. Before that, he was the head coach at St. Cloud State University for 13 seasons.
This will be Motzko's second time leading the national junior hockey team, coaching them to gold and bronze at the 2017 and 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships, respectively.
"We're fortunate to have someone with Bob's level of experience coaching our team on home soil," John Vanbiesbrouck, general manager of Team USA, said. "Having guided our teams to medals on two other occasions in the World Juniors, he knows what it takes to have success, and we're excited to have him leading our team."
Motzko, as a collegiate head coach, holds the all-time record of 437-274-70 with 13 trips to the NCAA tournament, including three NCAA Frozen Four appearances. He was named the top coach in all NCAA Division I men's ice hockey for the 2022-2023 season and has been named conference coach of the year seven times.
The 2026 U.S. National Junior Team will play in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The tournament starts Dec. 26 and is expected to conclude Jan. 5, 2026.
The U.S. will go into the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship as two-time defending gold medalists, competing against Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland in the Group A preliminary round at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The preliminary round for Group B, which includes Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland and Latvia, will be at the 3M Arena in Minneapolis.
