Sandelin to coach United States at 2020 World Juniors

Scott Sandelin was named coach of the 2020 United States National Junior Team on Tuesday.

The announcement, in conjunction with USA Hockey, was made on NHL Network.
Sandelin guided the University of Minnesota Duluth to its second straight NCAA Division I men's national championship and third (2011) in his 19 seasons as coach. Minnesota Duluth (29-11-2) defeated the University of Massachusetts 3-0 in the Frozen Four Final at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Saturday, becoming the ninth school to successfully defend a championship and first since the University of Denver in 2004 and '05.
"The World Junior Championship is one of the greatest hockey tournaments on the calendar each year and it's an honor to represent our country as head coach," Sandelin said. "Last year, we fell just short of our goal (a 3-2 loss against Finland in the gold medal game), so to have the opportunity to come back and get another chance at helping our country win a gold medal is exciting.
"The expectation for the United States in this tournament is to contend for gold and I'm excited to begin the process towards continuing the success those before us have established."

Sandelin has been a part of the U.S. coaching staff three other times. He was coach in 2005 (fourth place), and an assistant in 2012 (seventh place) and 2019 (second place).
The 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship will take place Dec. 26, 2019 through Jan. 5, 2020 in Ostrava and Trinec, Czech Republic. The U.S. will play Group B preliminary-round games against Canada, Czech Republic, Germany and Russia in Ostrava.
"We're extremely pleased to have Scott leading our national junior team this coming year," said John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. "He is a proven winner who takes great pride in representing our country and we look forward to building another team capable of winning a gold medal."
The United States has won a medal at four straight WJC events and 12 overall, including four gold medals (2004, 2010, 2014, 2017), two silvers (1997, 2019) and six bronze (1986, 1992, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2018).