Scott Paluch is serving as head coach of the U.S. Under-17 Men’s Select Team for the second time in 2023. He was also the team’s head coach in 2001.
Paluch, who works full-time for USA Hockey as director of player development, was the head coach of the gold medal-winning 2016 U.S. Youth Olympic Men’s Hockey Team and also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Under-18 Select Team that competed in the 2000 Under-18 Four Nations Tournament.
Paluch joined USA Hockey as a regional manager of the American Development Model in June 2009 and assumed his current role in 2022. He works with local associations and programs across 16 states as a leading resource for age-appropriate training, competition and long-term athlete development.
The Bowling Green State University graduate spent seven seasons (2002-09) as a head men’s ice hockey coach for his alma mater, leading the Falcons to their most wins in 13 years in 2007-08. Prior to his time at Bowling Green, Paluch served as an assistant men’s ice hockey coach at Boston College from 1994-2002 where he helped the Eagles to four consecutive NCAA Men’s Frozen Four appearances from 1997-2001, including the 2001 NCAA Division I National Championship.
The 2008 Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame inductee began his coaching career as an assistant at Bowling Green from 1990-94, during which time he also served as an assistant golf coach and athletic administration intern.
As a player, Paluch patrolled the blue line for Bowling Green from 1984-88, earning All-America and All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association First Team honors his senior season. He graduated as the Falcons’ all-time leader in goals and points among defensemen. Following his collegiate career, Paluch signed a professional contract with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, and played two seasons (1988-90) for Peoria, their International Hockey League affiliate.
On the international stage, Paluch played for the U.S. National Junior Team that won the bronze medal at the 1986 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Hamilton, Ont.
Kevin Patrick will serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Junior Team for the first time.
He is entering his third season as an assistant coach for the University of Vermont men's ice hockey team. In 2013-14, he helped the Catamounts reach the NCAA Tournament.
Patrick served as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin from 2005-10. The Badgers won the 2006 NCAA Frozen Four national title and reached the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four national title game.
He also had assistant coaching positions at Bowling Green State University (2002-05) and Union College (1998-2002).
Patrick was a head coach for the United States Hockey League's Muskegon Lumberjacks from 2010-12.
He played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame (1988-92), captaining the team his last two seasons. He spent a season in professional hockey in 1992-93.
Josh Penn is serving on a U.S. National Junior Team for the first time.
Penn enters his 13th season as the equipment manager for the University of Massachusetts Minutemen hockey team. Named Director of Equipment Operations for all of UMass Athletics in August 2016, he is involved with all athletic equipment purchasing, reconditioning, uniform sizing, maintenance and inventory control. In addition, he oversees all game day preparations for equipment and locker room facilities for all home and away contests. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Hockey Equipment Manager (SPHEM).
Prior to UMass, Penn was the assistant equipment manager for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils from 2003 to 2005. He has been the head equipment manager for the Lowell Lock Monsters of the American Hockey League (2001-03), the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League (2000-01) and the Florida Everblades of the ECHL (1998-2000).
Penn is a 1998 graduate of Union College and resides in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Christopher Pikosky will serve as a massage therapist for Team USA at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Most recently, Pikosky was selected by the United States Tennis Association to serve in the same role at the U.S. Open Tennis Grand Slam in August 2014.
Prior to working that event, he served as a massage therapist for the Los Angeles Kings from 2010-2014. His duties included daily massage therapy, physical treatment, and player recovery and rehabilitation, among other functions.
Before joining Los Angeles, Pikosky worked as a massage therapist for the Florida Everblades of the ECHL for over 500 games from 1998-2010.
A 1993 graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Pikosky has also provided massage therapy at Super Bowl XLIII for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Professional Golf Association’s 2003 Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout and various tennis tournaments since 1998.
David Poile is an original member of the U.S. Men’s National Team Advisory Group that was formed in February 2007 to assist USA Hockey with the selection of players and staff of U.S. Men’s National Teams, including the Olympic Team.
He served as the general manager of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team that competed in Sochi, Russia, where the U.S. earned its best finish (4th) in a non-North American Games since NHL players began participating in the Olympics in 1998.
At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Poile was associate general manager for the U.S. squad that surprised the hockey world by advancing to the gold-medal game in Vancouver, B.C. The U.S. settled for the silver medal after falling to heavily favored Canada in overtime of the gold-medal game.
In 2013, Poile helped assemble the U.S. Men’s National Team that captured the bronze medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship. It was just the third medal for the U.S. in the world championship since 1962.
Poile has also served as general manager of the U.S. Men’s National Team in 1998 and 1999 and as associate general manager in 2009 and 2010.
Poile has spent 17 seasons with the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators, where he is president of hockey operations, general manager and alternate governor. A three-time finalist (2010-12) for the NHL’s General Manager of the Year Award, Poile has ushered the Predators into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in seven of the last 10 seasons. His 32 consecutive years as an NHL general manager rank as the second-longest active streak in the league and third-longest stretch in NHL history.
Prior to joining Nashville, Poile led the NHL’s Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup Playoffs 14 times during his 15-year tenure (1982-97) as general manager.
He entered the 2014-15 season ranked second all-time in games by a general manager (2,376) and third in wins (1,151). In addition, he is the only general manager in NHL history to spend 1,000 games and win at least 500 with two franchises.
In 2005, Poile was selected as one of four NHL general managers for the first NHL Competition Committee. In this role, he helped usher in a new era of NHL hockey, featuring on-ice innovations such as the regular-season shootout and the elimination of the red line. Also, he was instrumental in the league's adoption of the instant replay rule in 1991. The Sporting News has recognized Poile as its Executive of the Year on three occasions (1982-83, 1983-84 and 2006-07).
A 1971 graduate of Northeastern University, Poile is a member of the Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He was the Huskies’ captain, leading scorer and most valuable player for two of his three seasons.
In 2001, Poile received the Lester Patrick Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to hockey in the United States.
He and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Nashville, Tenn. They have two children, Lauren and Brian, and two granddaughters, Ellie and Charlotte.
Grant Potulny is serving on the staff of his third U.S. National Junior Team and seeking his third gold medal after helping Team USA claim one last year at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, Canada, as well as at the 2013 event in Ufa, Russia.
Potulny is in his first season as head coach of Northern Michigan University’s men’s ice hockey team after being named to the position in April 2017. He spent the past eight seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, where he helped the Golden Gophers capture six regular-season conference titles, reach two NCAA Frozen Fours and appear in one NCAA national championship game.
A two-time NCAA and WCHA tournament champion during his playing career at Minnesota, Potulny was a three-year captain at Minnesota during his career from 2000-04. In 2002, he was an alternate captain as a sophomore and scored the overtime game-winning goal in Minnesota’s 4-3 victory against Maine in the 2002 national championship game. Potulny then captained the team the following two years, including the Gophers’ 2003 national title squad, and finished his career with 68 goals and 48 assists for 116 points in 146 outings.
Selected in the fifth round, 157th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators, the Grand Forks, North Dakota, native played three full seasons with the Ottawa Senator’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, from 2004-07. He then spent one season split between the Hershey Bears and Springfield Falcons before skating his final AHL season with the Norfolk Admirals in 2008-09.
A three-time North Dakota state champion with Red River High School, Potulny played two seasons in the United States Hockey League with the Lincoln Stars before playing collegiate hockey. With the Stars, he helped the squad claim the Anderson Cup regular-season championship as the team’s MVP in 1999-2000.
Grant and his wife, Melissa, have three children.
Brent Proulx has served as the Head Equipment Manager for the U.S. Women’s National Team since 2011 (participating in the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 World Championships as well as Four Nations Cups). He served on the equipment staff at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and currently is an equipment manager for the 2022 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team.
Prior to that he compiled over seven years of NHL experience as an Assistant Equipment Manager with the Minnesota Wild. His responsibilities included assisting the Wild’s equipment needs both at home and on the road, as well as locker room set-up and equipment repair.
Proulx, spent eight seasons (1993-2000) as Clubhouse Manager/Equipment Manager for the Saint Paul Saints baseball club of the independent Northern League prior to joining the Wild. He also served as the Assistant Equipment Manager for the Minnesota Moose of the International Hockey League (IHL) for two seasons (1994-96).
Proulx has also worked as an Equipment Manager for USA Hockey at international tournaments the past five summers, including the 2007 Under-17 Select Team that won a silver medal at the Five Nations Tournament in Prague, Czech Republic; the 2006 Under-18 Select Team that won a silver medal at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka Tournament in Breclav, Czech Republic; the 2005 Under-17 Select Team, the 2004 Under-18 Select Team and the 2003 Under-17 Select Team that won a gold medal at the Five Nations Tournament in Slovakia.
Rand Pecknold is serving as the head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team for the first time in 2023.
He has twice been part of U.S. coaching staffs, including for the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team which earned a silver medal in the 2018 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship and the U.S. Men’s National Team that competed in the 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
Pecknold is in his 29th season as head coach of the Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team in 2022-23 and has his team among the nation’s top teams headed into the holiday break.
He guided the 2021-22 Bobcats to a 32-7-3 overall record, as well as the school’s eighth NCAA tournament appearance and its sixth ECAC Hockey regular-season championship.
Pecknold, who was the Spencer Penrose Award recipient as the top coach in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey in 2016 and is a four-time finalist for the honor (2022, 2013, 2005, 2002), began the 2022-23 season with a record of 581-332-100 and currently ranks second among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories and 10th all-time. He coached his 1,000th career game on Feb. 6, 2022, becoming just the 19th coach in men's DI history to achieve the milestone.
A four-time Tim Taylor ECAC Coach of the Year recipient (2022, 2021, 2016, 2013), Pecknold previously served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Connecticut College, for three seasons.
As a player, Pecknold led Connecticut College to the 1990 ECAC South Championship and set school season records for goals (17) and points (47) by a defenseman his senior year. He earned First-Team All-ECAC South honors and a spot on the Division III All-England Team. Playing as a forward for two seasons, he led the Camels in goals as a junior (23) and sophomore (19).
This is Dr. Charles Popkin's first time serving as team physician for the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team.
Most recently, Popkin was on staff in the same capacity with the 2023 U.S. Men’s National Team, having previously been a member of the staff in 2018. Additionally, he was the team physician for the 2021 U.S. Junior Select Team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and for Team USA at various Five Nations Tournaments in 2018 and 2019.
The Medina, Minnesota, native is a member of the USA Hockey Safety and Protective Equipment Committee and pens a monthly "Ask Dr. Hockey" column for USA Hockey Magazine.
Popkin is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and specializes in sports medicine, arthroscopy, and complex knee surgery. He is part of the faculty at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and serves as the team physician for Fordham University, Mercy College and the Hackley School.
Popkin attended Colgate University where he played football for the Raiders as a defensive back. He received his medical training at Tulane University and completed his orthopedic residency at the University of Miami/ Jackson Memorial Hospital. He finished his orthopedic sports medicine fellowship at MOSMI (Minnesota Orthopedic Sports Medicine Institute) in Edina, Minnesota.
Brian Pothier is serving as an assistant coach for the 2022 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey team after serving in the same capacity for the 2021 U.S. Women's National Team. He served on the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship staff in Calgary, where the U.S. took silver.
He served in the same role for the first time at the 2018 Four Nations Cup in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where the U.S. won four games in a row on the way to winning its fourth consecutive tournament championship. He also helped lead the team to its fifth consecutive gold medal in the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship in Espoo, Finland.
Prior, Pother served as a camp coach at both the 2018 USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the 2018 U.S. Women's National Team Evaluation Camp in Biddeford, Maine.
A former NHL defenseman and U.S. Men's National Team alumnus (2007 IIHF Men's World Championship), Pothier went undrafted in the NHL before signing with the Atlanta Thrashers in his senior year of college. He spent his first year in Orlando with Atlanta's farm team, the Orlando Solar Bears and went on to win both the Turner Cup and Rookie of the Year and American-born Rookie of the Year honors in 2000-2001. Pothier also spent time with the Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes organizations before retiring from hockey in 2012. Pothier now coaches all ages at Pothier Blueline Hockey in Rochester, Mass.
Kyle Pettit is serving as video coordinator for the U.S. Women's National Team Evaluation Camp for the first time this year.
He currently serves as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey director of hockey operations, a role he has held since August 2017.
Pettit was previously the hockey operations coordinator for the men's hockey team at Robert Morris University during the 2016-17 season. He also worked for the Manchester Monarchs in varying capacities from 2011-2016 and was part of the staff for the team's Calder Cup run in 2014-15 where he worked with current Saints' head coach Mark Morris.
In addition to his Division I experience at Robert Morris, Pettit also served as the interim director of hockey operations at Northeastern University in the fall of 2015.
Pettit graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 2015 with a degree in sport management and was both an assistant and head coach for club ice hockey teams during his undergraduate studies.
Justin Penna is serving as the equipment manager for the 2019 Under-17 Select Team.
Penna has served as the equipment coordinator for the men’s hockey program at Western Michigan University since 2015, managing equipment inventory and purchasing needs among other duties.
Penna graduated from Western Michigan with a degree in athletic training before earning his Master of Business Administration from the university in 2017.
Adam Purner is serving as the team video coordinator for the U.S. Women's National Team during the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship. He served in the same role during the U.S. Women's National Festival in Buffalo, New York.
Purner most recently served as the video coach for the New Jersey Devils AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Devils (2021-22), after serving in the same capacity as the video coach and group events manager for the Portland Winterhawks Hockey Club in Portland, Oregon. He has also served as a hockey video coordinator and group account manager with the organization.
Purner has also spent time as a volunteer goaltending development coordinator with USA Hockey, working with local hockey associations to further develop goaltenders, and identify players for regional and national development camps.
Sis Paulsen is currently serving as the equipment manager for the U.S. Women's National Team, serving on the staff of four IIHF Women's World Championship teams and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
A three-year captain for the Wisconsin women's hockey team, Paulsen is the head equipment manager at PWHL Minnesota. Prior to PWHL Minnesota, Paulsen was the Badgers' director of hockey operations and equipment manager.
Paulsen arrived at UW from Morristown, New Jersey where she served as the Director of Girls Hockey for the New Jersey Colonials organization as well as a USA Hockey Girls/Women's Section Representative for the Atlantic District.
Paulsen also served as an assistant coach with the New York Riveters in Newark, New Jersey during the 2016-17 season, and a head coach for New England College from 2009 to 2013.
A member of UW's inaugural team in 1999, Paulsen is no stranger to the WCHA, as Paulsen served as an assistant coach at Minnesota State for a season following a three-year stint at Bemidji State.
During her UW career, Paulsen was a three-year team captain, the only player in program history to serve as the team's captain for three-straight years. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native was a member of the WCHA All-Rookie team in 2000 and an All-WCHA selection in 2003.
The blueliner ended her UW career with 130 points on 42 goals and 88 assists, a program best by a defenseman. In addition, her 130 points rank 15th in school history among all skaters.
Paulsen received a degree from Wisconsin in human development and family studies before earning a master of science in sports and recreation management from New England College in 2011.
Melissa Piacentini is serving as the video coach for the 2024 U.S. Women's National Team, after serving in the same capacity for the 2024 U.S. Under-18 Women's National Team.
Piacentini is currently the assistant coach for the Northeastern women's hockey team. She joined the Northeastern women's hockey staff as the Huskies' director of hockey operations in August 2018 and was elevated to assistant coach in August 2023.
The all-time leading scorer at Syracuse University, Piacentini brings a wealth of experience to the Northeastern family. From 2012-16, Piacentini racked up 112 career points and a plus-60 rating with the Orange, culminating in 2016 College Hockey America (CHA) Player of the Year honors. After graduating from Syracuse in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Piacentini went on to play professionally for the EV Bozen Eagles in Bolzano, Italy, helping the team capture the Italian league crown in 2017.
Prior to the 2017-18 season, Piacentini was named an assistant coach at RIT, where she was responsible for helping with recruiting, scouting and video analysis
Brett Peterson will serve as general manager of the U.S. Men's National Team at the IIHF Men's World Championship for the first time in 2024.
Peterson became the first Black assistant general manager in the NHL when he joined the Florida Panthers front office in 2020, and during his tenure, the team has made three playoff appearances, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.
Prior to joining the Panthers, Peterson served as the vice president of hockey for Wasserman Media Group and was a certified NHL player agent starting in 2009.
Peterson played four seasons of college hockey at Boston College and won a national championship with the Eagles in 2001. He graduated with a degree in communications in 2004 before playing five seasons of professionally in the AHL, ECHL, and IHL from 2004-09.
