Bob Motzko, who guided the U.S. National Junior Team to its fourth-ever gold medal at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, Canada, will return as head coach for the 2018 U.S. National Junior Team. Previously, he served as an assistant coach for the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team that finished fifth at the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden.

Entering his 13th season at the helm of St. Cloud State University’s men’s ice hockey team, the 2014 NCHC Coach of the Year and two-time WCHA Coach of the Year (2007, 2006) has guided his alma mater to a 251-183-43 overall record that includes seven 20 or more win seasons; seven NCAA tournament appearances; one NCAA Frozen Four appearance; two regular-season conference titles (one each: WCHA, NCHC); and one NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship.

Prior to his time at St. Cloud, Motzko served in multiple coaching capacities at four different schools, including a four-season span at the University of Minnesota (2001-05) that was highlighted by back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2002 and 2003. His other collegiate coaching stints were with Miami University (1991-93, ’94-98), the University of Denver (1993-94) and St. Cloud (1986-87).

Additionally, Motzko twice served as a general manager and head coach in the United States Hockey League, the only Tier I junior hockey league in the United States, where he was twice named USHL General Manager of the Year. In his first USHL stint, Motzko oversaw the North Iowa Huskies for four full seasons (187-91) that included a 1989 United States Junior A national championship and his first USHL General Manager of the Year honor. In 1999, Motzko returned to the USHL with the newly-founded Sioux Falls Stampede. Over the team’s first two seasons in the USHL, Motzko led the Stampede to a 77-31-6 (W-L-T) record that included a 40-14-14 (W-L-T) sophomore campaign to culminate in Motzko’s second USHL General Manager of the Year award.

A 1987 graduate of St. Cloud State University, Motzko was a two-year varsity letterwinner for the Huskies hockey program from 1984-86. He began his coaching career the following year as an assistant coach for the legendary Herb Brooks at St. Cloud.

A native of Austin, Minnesota, Bob and his wife, Shelley, have three children and reside in St. Cloud, Minnesota.