Columbus Blue Jackets Senior Director of Amateur Hockey Programming Dave Caruso has been named an assistant coach for the 2024 U.S. Youth Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, USA Hockey and the Blue Jackets announced today. Caruso will work alongside Head Coach Joe Bonnett and Assistant Coaches Matt Gilroy and Jason Guerriero.
“Thank you to USA Hockey, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Head Coach Joe Bonnett for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of Team USA at the 2024 Youth Olympics. I am honored, grateful and have the ultimate focus on helping the team win a gold medal for the United States of America,” said Caruso.
Caruso joined the Blue Jackets in 2022 to create and develop the National Hockey League franchise’s amateur hockey program, the Blue Jackets Hockey League, where he also serves as the executive director. The new league offers community-based, age-specific, and developmentally specific programming for players aged five to 10 years old in Columbus.
Prior to joining the Blue Jackets, Caruso, who was born in Queens, New York and raised in Roswell, Georgia, served as the manager of coaching education for USA Hockey, where he worked with more than 30,000 coaches every year. During his time with USA Hockey, Caruso was an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-17 Select Team at the 2019 Five Nations Tournament.
Additionally, Caruso served as an International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) goaltending coach mentor for the 2017 and 2018 Chinese Ice Hockey Federation Coaching and Asian Women’s Camps and spent two years as a goaltending coach with the Albany Devils, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate for the New Jersey Devils.
Before moving into coaching, Caruso spent four seasons as a goaltender for the Ohio State University men’s ice hockey team from 2002-06 and played six seasons of professional hockey in the AHL and ECHL from 2006-12.
NOTES: To follow Team USA throughout the Youth Winter Olympic Games click HERE. The official home of the Youth Winter Olympic Games can be found HERE.
