San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky won’t flip 38 till October, however he’s already amassed a formidable resume.
Warsofsky has gained two Calder Cups, one as an assistant in 2019 and the opposite as a head coach in 2022, with two completely different AHL groups. Lower than a 12 months in the past, he turned the NHL’s youngest head coach when basic supervisor Mike Grier tabbed him because the Sharks’ subsequent bench boss.
Now, Warsofsky can add world champion to his curriculum vitae.
Warsofsky and his workers helped information Staff USA to its first gold medal on the IIHF World Championship in 92 years Sunday with a 1-0 extra time win over Switzerland at Avicii Enviornment in Stockholm.
Buffalo Sabres ahead Tage Thompson scored the golden objective simply 2:02 into extra time, lifting the Individuals, with its deep and proficient roster, to its first standalone world championship since 1933.
“What an absolutely amazing feeling,” Warsofsky stated Sunday. “Everybody in our group contributed to profitable the gold medal. We beat a wonderful crew in Switzerland tonight, and full credit score to them for the match they’d.
“We’ll remember this for a long, long time.”
Perhaps Warsofsky’s success this month on the worldwide stage will permit him to achieve one other profession milestone.
The Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy, are actually simply 9 months away, and being a world champion ought to bolster Warsofsky’s case to be on Staff USA head coach Mike Sullivan’s workers for the Video games.
Warsofsky and Sullivan are from the identical hometown, simply exterior Boston, and their households have lengthy been extremely shut. Nevertheless, Warsofsky won’t be picked for the Olympic workers merely due to his connection to Sullivan. He’ll be there if USA Hockey and American basic supervisor Invoice Guerin genuinely really feel he may also help the crew break one other drought by profitable its first Olympic gold since 1980.
After all, it in all probability wouldn’t damage if the Sharks received off to a greater begin this season than the 0-7-2 mark they started with final 12 months.
Requested final month close to the tip of the Sharks’ season — after he was named the U.S. coach for the world championship crew – what it might imply to him to be on Sullivan’s Olympic workers, Warsofsky stated, “Obviously, it would be an honor, a dream come true. But again, I’m just focusing on my job here and at the World Championships.”
United States head coach Ryan Warsofsky, heart rear, works from behind the bench throughout a Group B sport between america and Denmark on the hockey world championships, Friday, Might 9, 2025, in Herning, Denmark. (Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix through AP)
From 1963 to 2024, the U.S. had medaled on the world championships simply six occasions, gathering bronze every time. However this 12 months’s American crew, which included Sharks rookie Will Smith, got here collectively rapidly.
The U.S. went 6-1 within the preliminary spherical, together with a formidable 5-2 victory over the Czech Republic on Might 20. The Individuals then started to play their finest hockey, beating Finland 5-2 within the quarterfinals on Thursday and Sweden 6-2 within the semifinals.
The U.S. outshot Switzerland 40-25 within the gold medal sport. Within the 3-on-3 extra time, Thompson took a move from Logan Cooley, entered the offensive zone and beat Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni, who was named the match’s MVP.
The final time the U.S. gained World Championship gold in a non-Olympic 12 months, the nation was within the grips of The Nice Despair, and Herbert Hoover’s presidency was nearly to finish.
“It’s a crazy stat,” Thompson stated of the 92-year drought. “It’s one thing that everybody in that room took to coronary heart. After we received right here, all of us knew we wished to be part of one thing particular, and I believe every man in that room dedicated, whether or not you had been taking part in energy play, high minutes, otherwise you had been out and in of the lineup or not taking part in in any respect.
“Everyone was constructive, pulling for one another and after one frequent objective. That’s why we gained.”
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Warsofsky and his workers, together with Sharks goalie coach Thomas Speer and video coach Nick Gialdini, deserve some credit score. Now, the U.S. this 12 months has gained gold on the world junior (under-20) championships and the ladies’s world championships, to go along with an extra time loss to Canada within the last of the riveting 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I get goosebumps just thinking about it,” Warsofsky stated of ending the 92-year watch for a world championship. “We talked about it when the match began. The primary assembly we met … 1933, proper? That was addressed. It’s not adequate for USA Hockey.
“World Juniors we’ve gained, 4 Nations had a very good run. The Olympics are developing. It’s time for us to actually put a stamp on it, and this match is the beginning of it. We had been embarrassed, actually embarrassed, that we hadn’t gained this match, and now we don’t must have that weight on our again.”
