Bob Motzko, who led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championship, will return to coach the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2026 World Juniors in his home state of Minnesota. Motzko has been the head coach for the University of Minnesota since 2018-19 and before that was head coach at St. Cloud State University for 13 years.

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Motzko will be making his third trip to the World Junior Championship as a head coach, having coached in 2017 and in Buffalo in 2018 where Team USA won bronze, becoming the first back-to-back medalists for USA at the World Juniors.

The 64-year-old Austin, Minnesota native will not have to travel far for the tournament as Team USA’s games will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The other group in the tournament will be playing at Motzko’s current stomping grounds as 3M Arena at Marriucci on the campus of the University of Minnesota is the secondary site.

Motzko has been a hockey coach for his entire adult life, starting as an assistant at his alma mater, St. Cloud State, before moving to the USHL as a head coach in 1987. He also had stints as an assistant coach at Miami University and at Minnesota, where the Gophers won a national championship in his first year at the school.

The 2017 World Juniors will forever be remembered as the “Troy Terry” tournament where the current Anaheim Ducks star scored three shootout goals against Russia in the semifinals then scored the lone goal in a shootout against Canada in one of the greatest gold medal finishes we’ve ever seen at the tournament.  

The following year, Motzko also helped lead the U.S. to victory over Canada in the first-ever outdoor game at the World Junior championship, with USA once again beating their North American rivals in a shootout.

Team USA will enter the 2026 World Junior Championship as the two-time defending gold medalist for the first time ever. They’ll have home ice advantage, but will be missing many key players from last year’s team. That said, they could bring back as many as nine returnees from the 2025 gold-medal squad.

Among the players eligible to return are James Hagens (2025), Cole Eiserman (NYI), Cole Hutson (WSH), Adam Kleber (BUF), Logan Hensler (2025), Trevor Connelly (VGK), Teddy Stiga (NSH), Max Plante (DET) and one of Motzko’s current players, Brody Ziemer (BUF).

Team USA will hold its summer evaluation camp and the World Junior Summer Showcase in Minneapolis at Ridder Arena, the home ice of the Gophers women’s hockey team in July.

The U.S. will open the 2026 World Juniors on Dec. 26 with an opponent yet to be announced. USA’s group will include Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany.

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