Gophers’ Bob Motzko named Team USA head coach for the world juniors a third time

Bob Motzko was taking well-wishes from the media gathering assembled at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday for the announcement of Team USA’s coach for next winter’s IIHF World Junior Championship. Someone jokingly asked the Gophers men’s hockey coach if he was there to watch Brock Faber play for the Wild in its regular-season finale against the Anaheim Ducks.

“No, Jackson LaCombe, too” Motzko quickly shot back with a smile, referring to another of his former Gophers defensemen, now with the Ducks, and one who teamed with Faber to help the United States win a gold medal in the 2021 world juniors, hockey’s top under-20 tournament.

Motzko has a gold medal from the world juniors, too, leading Team USA to the championship as head coach in 2017, which he followed up with a bronze medal in 2018. On Tuesday, U.S. General Manager John Vanbiesbrouck named Motzko coach for this winter’s tournament, which will run Dec. 26-Jan. 5 at Xcel Center and 3M Arena at Mariucci.

“It’s pretty special,” said Motzko, an Austin, Minn., native who also has coached at St. Cloud State. “I can tell you that anytime USA Hockey comes knocking at the door and you could work for Team USA … of course you have to say yes.

“… I’m more excited for our state," Motzko added. “We’re gonna showcase this thing throughout the whole state.‘’

Team USA is coming off back-to-back gold medal performances for the first time with both teams coached by Denver’s David Carle. The United States won the 2024 tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden, defeating the host Swedes 6-2 in the final. This year, the repeat came in Ottawa, Canada, as Team USA edged Finland 4-3 in overtime.

Motzko, 64, will serve as head coach for Team USA in the world juniors for the third time after leading the Americans to the gold medal in Montreal and Toronto in 2017 and the bronze medal a year later in Buffalo, N.Y. He has led the Gophers to five NCAA tournament appearances, including two Frozen Fours, in his seven years at Minnesota. Minnesota won a share of its third Big Ten regular-season title under Motzko before falling 5-4 in overtime to Massachusetts in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Vanbiesbrouck joked he used one tool of persuasion to get Motzko to say yes. “It’s called the headlock,‘’ he said. Motzko’s experience, though, carried the most weight with the GM.

“You hear the excitement of Bob’s voice. He has experience, and we need his experience,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “It’s going to take a lot. We’ve been on a lot of foreign soil for this tournament in the past few years, and we haven’t hosted. So, we needed somebody with his experience, his leadership, and obviously it was just the perfect fit.”

Motzko raved about the high level of talent in the world juniors, including seven players who were on the ice for Tuesday’s Wild-Anaheim game. “It’s truly the greatest tournament, outside of the Olympics, in all of hockey,” he said.

Motzko distinctly remembers a player from the 2017 tournament that gave the U.S. coaching staff fits.

“There was a player in the tournament, and we had to beat that team twice, and we didn’t know how to stop him,” Motzko said. “It was absolutely crazy how good this player was, and the Wild drafted him. And then they didn’t get their hands on him for about five years.‘’

That player was Russia’s Kirill Kaprizov. Team USA beat Russia 3-2 in the preliminary round and 4-3 in a shootout in the semifinals. Kaprizov, now a star for the Wild, scored one goal in each game.

Motzko’s staff for Team USA hasn’t been determined yet, but he has several experienced options with Minnesota ties. Steve Miller, Gophers associate head coach, has been an assistant for Team USA seven times in the world juniors and has four gold medals (2017, ’21, ’24 and ’25), one silver medal (2019) and one bronze medal (2018) to his credit. St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson and Augustana coach Garrett Raboin, the former Gophers assistant from Detroit Lakes, Minn., also were on Carle’s staff for the 2024 and ’25 gold medal runs.

“It’s an honor to have this opportunity,” Motzko said.