By USA Hockey, 12/16/25, 11:00PM EST
The 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will take place from Dec. 26, 2025 – Jan. 5, 2026, right here on home soil in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scroll for an inside look at Team USA's journey from training camp in Duluth, Minnesota, all the way through the team's final moments at this year's world championship on home soil!
It was day two on the ice here in Duluth, Minn., for Team USA as it prepares for the 50th anniversary of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. The tournament will take place Dec. 26 – Jan. 5 in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Team Germany and Team Finland are also here for training camps and pre-tournament games through Dec. 23.
The U.S. skated for about 90 minutes, starting at 11 a.m. on the AMSOIL Arena ice, with special teams play taking place the final third of practice. The mood was upbeat and competitive. A few media interviews followed practice, along with an off-ice cool down session led by performance coach Will Morlock, whose full-time job is with the Michigan State University men’s hockey team.
We invite you to enjoy a fun piece where players were asked as they headed to the ice for practice to answer the question, “What state has the smallest sodas?” …. Think Dad joke and get ready to chuckle.
Head Coach Bob Motzko has a terrific cast of assistant coaches to help in guiding the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team, including Greg Brown, head men’s hockey coach at Boston College; Steve Miller, associate head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team; Garrett Raboin, head men’s hockey coach at Augustana University; David Lassonde, national goaltending coach for USA Hockey; Travis Winter, associate men’s hockey head coach at Bemidji State University; and Jacob LeRoy, video coach and director of hockey operations for the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team. Brown will lead the U.S. power play with Winter assisting, while Miller has lead responsibilities for the Team USA penalty kill with help from Raboin.
With temperatures reaching the low 40s here today in Duluth, some players ventured outside through downtown Duluth and Canal Park today after practice … During their free time, a handful of players have also been finishing up papers and exams connected to their respective collegiate studies … Team USA will practice tomorrow at 11 a.m. at AMSOIL Arena as preparation continues for the World Junior Championship … Beginning tomorrow, we’ll unveil a new daily feature of the Insider to help you to get to know players part of Team USA using “throwback” questions.
Welcome to Mini-soda!
(aka Minnesota) #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/UPFyaf96JH
The U.S. departed Saint Paul at 10 a.m. and made the 2.5 hour journey to Duluth, Minnesota. Team USA will spend the next nine days here in preparation for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. The team will practice daily, with pre-tournament games sprinkled in on Dec. 21 vs. Germany and Dec. 23 vs. Finland (who the U.S. defeated in last year’s gold medal game in overtime). Team USA had a spirited skate at AMSOIL Arena late this afternoon that lasting for approximately 90 minutes.
Steve “Killer” Miller is back as an assistant coach for his record ninth U.S. National Junior Team. No one has served on more U.S. National Junior Teams in that capacity and no one has won more medals, with the Sun Prairie, Wis., native having been part of guiding U.S. teams to gold medals in 2017, 2021, 2024 and 2025; a silver medal in 2019 and a bronze medal in 2018. On top of that success, Miller, who is currently the associate head coach for the University of Minnesota men’s ice hockey team, has been an assistant collegiate coach for three NCAA national championship squads and 23 teams that have earned NCAA Tournament berths.
The preliminary roster of the U.S. National Junior Team includes two AJ’s and one LJ. We knew you were wondering what the letters stood for and below we share the answer.
AJ Spellacy … Anthony Jude Spellacy
AJ Reyelts …. Andrew John Reyelts
LJ Mooney – Little John … Real name is John Thomas Mooney
Scott Sandelin, head men’s ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth, was on hand to welcome Team USA to the home of his UMD Bulldogs. Sandelin, who this past Friday (Dec. 12) coached his 1,000th collegiate game, has a long history with USA Hockey, including serving as the head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team both in 2005 and 2020.
Welcome to the Team USA Insider! We're excited to share this daily, behind-the-scenes look at the journey of the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team as it gets ready for and ultimately competes in the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Look for updates each night and thanks for following along with the World Juniors at home on U.S. soil, we hope to see many of you at the rink cheering on our team!
The quest for a third straight gold medal in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship began tonight in Minnesota’s capital city of Saint Paul for the U.S. National Junior Team with an opening team meeting that included the players crafting a charter that will guide them in their three-week journey together.
For Head Coach Bob Motzko, it’s his third time leading the U.S. National Junior Team after guiding Team USA to a gold medal in the World Juniors in 2017 and a bronze medal in the 2018 event. With his full-time job as head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team now on hold through the conclusion of the 50th anniversary of the IIHF World Junior Championship on January 5, the Austin, Minn., native is excited about the journey ahead.
“It’s such an honor for all of us to represent our country and we’re all excited to get going,” said Motzko, one of the most accomplished coaches in American hockey today. “We have a talented group and it will be fun to be in Duluth as we prepare for the tournament.”
Team USA will head via charter bus to Duluth, Minn., tomorrow morning and have the first practice of its week-long pre-camp on the AMSOIL Arena ice there tomorrow afternoon. AMSOIL Arena is home to the University of Minnesota Duluth hockey program so it will be familiar territory to UMD Bulldogs Max Plante and Adam Kleber, two of the nine players that have a chance to return after helping lead the U.S. to gold at last year’s World Juniors.
The roster currently stands at 30 players, with the final group of 25 who will represent the U.S. in the tournament set to be announced by Dec. 24.
Team USA will play two pre-tournament games in Duluth in preparation for the World Junior Championship – Dec. 21 vs. Germany at 4 p.m. CT and Dec. 23 vs. Finland at 6 p.m. CT. Both games will be available on USAHockeyTV.com.
The IIHF World Junior Championship gets started in full force on Dec. 26 with Team USA opening play against Germany at 5 p.m. CT that day at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, Minn. Tickets for all games are available at WorldJuniorsMN26.com.
John Vanbiesbrouck, who for the eighth straight year is the general manager of the U.S. National Junior Team, played 20 seasons in the NHL and is one of the best American-born goaltenders of all-time. He was drafted by the New York Rangers and spent 11 years competing for the Blueshirts. Vanbiesbrouck was in New York last night for one of the themed nights of the Rangers Centennial Celebration where the 1967-91 era of the franchise was celebrated along with the “New Garden.” … Tom Koulentes led the players through a 90-minute session to develop a charter that will be used as a guiding document through its 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship journey. He was also in Michigan this summer during the U.S. National Junior Team evaluation camp and conducted the first session of what is a two-step effort in the overall creation process … FOX9 sports director Jim Rich was on live from the lobby of the team’s headquarters hotel tonight and spoke to Brodie Ziemer, one of the nine returning players from last year’s gold-medal U.S. National Junior Team. He also did a segment with Head Coach Bob Motzko.
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