The last time the IIHF held the World Junior Championship in the Twin Cities, Bob Motzko could have played in it. He was 20 around this time of year as 1981 was turning to 1982, and the world’s best young hockey players were battling at rinks in the metro area, in Rochester and elsewhere around the state.
He’s 64 today, and in his third stint as head coach for Team USA, with the honor and the pressure of trying to win a third consecutive gold medal, this time on home ice with the tournament being played in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
In an exclusive interview with the Pioneer Press as his team was prepping for Monday night’s game with Slovakia, Motzko said the biggest change from 2018, when he coached the Americans to a bronze medal at the World Juniors held in Buffalo, N.Y., is the depth and talent among all 10 teams that have come to Minnesota to determine the next world champion.
“The depth of the teams in the tournament seems to be amazing,” Motzko said. “You saw Latvia and Canada in a tight game, and Latvia beat Canada last year. There are a lot of good hockey players in the world right now.”
A decade ago or so, World Juniors was considered to be a de facto five-team tournament, with the gold medal realistically up for grabs among the United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden and Russia. Since the start of their war with Ukraine, Russian teams have been banned from international competition, and while Canada and the U.S. have claimed the past six gold medals, other national teams are joining the fray.
After beating Switzerland 2-1 in their second game of the tournament, the Americans raved at how quickly the Swiss are ramping up their hockey development.
Motzko noted that the American men needed overtime to beat Switzerland 1-0 for gold at last spring’s IIHF World Championship, and Germany gave Team USA all it could handle in the World Juniors opener.
Motzko has joked in the past that the IIHF will need to erect a statue of Steve Miller at some point in honor of his life-long contributions to World Juniors. Miller, who is Motzko’s top assistant with the Gophers, has been an assistant for the Americans in nine of the past 10 tournaments, bringing home four gold medals, a silver and a bronze in that stretch.
“He’s an encyclopedia. He remembers everything in the tournament, moments in the tournament, things that are going to come up. He just has information that’s so valuable in so many situations,” Motzko said. “There’s a reason every coach keeps having him on their staff, and I don’t think anyone should ever stop unless he gets tired and wants a break to hang out with his family at Christmas. He’s got a skill set that really pays great dividends for me at Minnesota and everywhere he has been.”
For Motzko, Miller and the other coaches, their nine-day training camp in Duluth, and the early games of the tournament have been an exercise in building cohesiveness among two-dozen of the nation’s top players in their age group, many of whom are on-ice rivals before and after World Juniors.
Some of the in-game challenges in the Americans’ first two wins are attributed to the notion of all-star teams, and the work needed to bring them together to work toward a common goal.
“Most of these kids know each other and have played together from that standpoint of camaraderie and coming together,” Motzko said. “But you’ve got guys that a lot of them have played the same roles on their teams, and they can’t all play the same role when you put them all together. These are smart athletes. They understand the responsibility of the roles they’re going to take.”
Perhaps the biggest understanding comes from talented players trying to do too much early on, and once they settle into their roles, team success usually follows.
“You saw that from us from Game 1 to Game 2. We were so amped up in Game 1 with emotions. These are young kids and they try to overdo things,” Motzko said. “We use the analogy that Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions in his rookie year. Well, he did OK as he got older. We need to think older. These guys all have played winning hockey. They know.”
Following the wins over Germany and Switzerland, Team USA led Group A heading into their Monday evening showdown with Slovakia. They play Sweden at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, with medal round play set to begin on Friday, Jan. 2.
Bob Motzko speaks to reporters after being introduced as head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team before an NHL hockey game between the Minnesota Wild and the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
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