NASHVILLE — In addition to his legendary hockey work on the ice, in the front office and in the broadcast booth, Lou Nanne is a natural salesman and has had a tremendously successful life in business.
So, when Nanne put his powers of persuasion to work on the USA Hockey folks that were considering awarding the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship to the Twin Cities for the first time since 1982, they could hardly say no.
“I guess it’s more personal when Lou Nanne calls you and he says, ‘Johnny, we’ve gotta do it there. Hasn’t been back for 40 years,’ ” recalled John Vanbiesbrouck, the long-time NHL goalie who is now USA Hockey’s executive director of hockey operations. “And when he said that to me, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Lou, you’re so right.’ ”
In an exclusive interview with the Pioneer Press at USA Hockey’s 2026 Winter Meetings in Nashville, Vanbiesbrouck talked Friday about what comes next now that the puck has been passed from 2025 host city Ottawa to St. Paul and Minneapolis.
With Xcel Energy Center serving as the primary venue and a statue of American hockey hero Herb Brooks right outside, there could hardly be a more fitting place for Team USA to seek a third consecutive gold medal.
But after winning gold in Sweden last year, and in Canada a few weeks ago, perhaps the biggest initial adjustment to Minnesota for the Americans will be hearing cheers instead of boos when they take the ice.
“I haven’t been involved in the environment at home yet, and I’m personally excited about hearing ‘USA, USA,’ because we’ve been the villain everywhere we’ve gone,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Now we’re actually gonna have people on our side. I don’t know how we’re gonna handle that.
“But I’d have to say that there’s a lot of motivation to represent our country well. The players dictate. We’ll have a good player pool, we always do, we know that. I think there’s an extra sense of responsibility here, though. Of course we want to win, but we want to make sure that we represent the United States and people see that because we’re very patriotic, and we care.”
The process of finding the 25 or so players who will wear the red, white and blue will be finalized just days before the tournament begins on Dec. 26. Before that, there will be a training camp held in the summer, likely in the Twin Cities; and before that, sometime after the college hockey season concludes, USA Hockey will name Team USA’s 2026 head coach.
Vanbiesbrouck noted that with the college hockey season in the thick of its second half schedule, when teams are battling for conference standings and Pairwise points, they do not want the naming of the American coach to be a distraction, hence the wait until late March or early April.
With part of their tournament being played in his home office, Minnesota Gophers’ coach Bob Motzko’s name has been mentioned in many circles as the logical choice for 2026. Motzko was the Team USA head coach at the World Juniors twice previously, those teams winning gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018.
Asked about his interest in the job last week, Motzko declined to comment, saying his sole focus was preparing the Gophers for their home series with Notre Dame over the weekend, but adding that World Juniors is the greatest tournament in the world.
Vanbiesbrouck reiterated that any coaching news would be coming in the spring, but admitted that they have had conversations with their likely candidate.
“I could say that we’re down a road with a coach that we feel will represent Minnesota very well,” he said, adding that they work with the head coach to pick the rest of the coaching staff, and as close to a guarantee as you will find in the process is that Gophers’ assistant coach Steve Miller will be offered a spot with Team USA.
Known for his prowess as a defensive coach and special teams expert, Miller has been on the staff for Team USA during eight of the past nine World Juniors and has brought home four gold medals, a silver and a bronze.
“We might build him a statue. Steve’s a special guy,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “We have built a great relationship. I’ve got an unreal amount of respect for him, and we hope that all these guys get another opportunity. But it’s up to the head coach, primarily.”
At its heart, USA Hockey’s mission is to develop gold medal winners, a process that starts when boys and girls are taking their first unsteady strides on ice. Minnesota’s youth and high school hockey development programs are the envy of the rest of the hockey playing nation, and Vanbiesbrouck feels bringing the best young hockey talent to the Twin Cities for a few weeks next winter will be a natural fit.
“We’re grateful for so much groundwork that gets done with our players, starting with the coaches that get out on the ice when they’re young kids and teach them these skills,” he said. “It’s a celebration of everybody, and I think Minnesota is going to celebrate it well.”
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