Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1398709
A YOUTH COACH'S ROLE: BUILDING THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID You can't have a pyramid unless you have a broad enough base. We [the NHL] are at the top of pyramid. It's vital that you teach your players to become better players, students and people. You make the base. This can't be about the NHL. It's about creating players to play hockey for the rest of their lives, give back to the game and be good people." – Long-time NHL and Olympic gen- eral manager Brian Burke address- ing youth hockey coaches during the 2009 National Hockey Coaches Symposium in St. Paul, Minn. UDE, WE'RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER. And that spells trouble for the rest of the hockey world. The coaching staff for the U.S. National Junior Team that captured gold at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship will reunite to defend their title at next year's event scheduled to take place Dec. 26, 2021 to Jan. 5, 2022, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. Providence College head coach Nate L e a m a n i s t h e f i r st h e a d c o a c h s i n c e Bob Motzko (2017-18) to guide the U.S. i n b a c k - t o - b a c k Wo r l d J u n i o r s . H e will be joined by assistant coaches Ted Donato, Kris Mayotte, Steve Miller and Theresa Feaster. Leaman, who led the Friars to the 2015 NCAA title, is now in his 11th season as the head coach at Providence. Donato serves as head coach at his alma mater Harvard University, and previously played on the 1988 U.S. National Junior Team in Moscow as well as for Team USA at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France. M a y o t t e w a s n a m e d h e a d c o a c h o f Colorado College earlier this summer, after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan for two seasons. Mayotte will be coaching in his fourth World Junior Championship. Miller returns as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Junior Team for a sixth straight year after helping the U n i t e d S t a t e s e a r n m e d a l s i n 2 0 2 1 ( gold), 2019 (silver), 2018 ( bronze) and 2017 ( gold). Feaster is preparing for her tenth season at Providence College after helping the U.S. win gold in 2021. Mayotte, Miller and Feaster all served on the Providence College staff under Nate Leaman when the Friars won the NCAA championship in 2015. P JUNIORS D Gold Medal Staff Returns To Defend World Juniors Title O F F T HE D R AW 14 // AUGUST 2021 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM YOUTH HOCKEY PHOTOS BY Kyle Huson; Getty Images