By Eric Stephens (The Athletic)
Still the NHL’s youngest head coach at age 37, Ryan Warsofsky is about to start his second season guiding the San Jose Sharks. His debut saw modest improvement after the club bottomed out under former coach David Quinn, but the Sharks still went just 20-50-12 and managed the fewest points in the league.
Warsofsky is trying to lead the Sharks out of a difficult rebuilding project put in place by general manager Mike Grier. While he’s still got a tall task in restoring San Jose as a team to be reckoned with, the Boston-area native is building a reputation as a winner.
In 2022, Warsofsky won the Calder Cup in the American Hockey League while leading the Chicago Wolves. His resume now has a significant update as he guided the United States to a gold medal in this year’s IIHF World Championships, the first such men’s hockey title in 92 years for the Americans.
The Athletic caught up with Warsofsky ahead of his second training camp with the Sharks, who open the regular season on Oct. 9 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
At the time did you understand how historic an achievement it was to lead Team USA to gold? Did it take some time afterward to realize that aspect of it? And what does that element mean to you?
In the moment when it happens, you don’t realize it in a sense. It was more weeks and months later. Maybe even right now it hasn’t totally hit us. Obviously USA Hockey has had the U18s, U17s, World Juniors have won. We talked in Day 1 when we got to Germany in our training camp. It’s been 92 years. It’s downright embarrassing. Our guys took that to heart and our team grew throughout the tournament, which I thought was really important. Something I will always remember and hopefully it’s something that will hit us more so when the Olympics come around. It was a hell of a group. Hell of a management (staff). Trainers, equipment managers, players, staff. It was quite the team.
You haven’t made the triumph about you, but from being named head coach of Team USA to delivering in a tournament like that, what does it mean for you? Your family?
It’s surreal, right? It was an honor, and I was extremely honored to represent my country and the United States. Getting selected to coach that team is something that I’ll remember forever. It was a great experience. Obviously going two years ago as an assistant, you build off that experience so you kind of know what you’re getting into. It’s a real honor. Anytime you can represent your country, I think that’s very, very special. It’s something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Recent Comments