This is Dan Jablonic's first time serving as head coach for the U.S. Under-17 Men's Select Team.
Jablonic is currently USA Hockey's ADM Regional Manager and serves youth hockey associations in Illinois, where he is a leading resource for age-appropriate programming, training, competition and long-term athlete development.
In addition to his duties at the ADM Regional Manager, Jablonic has also served as a USA Hockey National Player Development Camp coach on multiple occasions. A USA Hockey Level 4-certified coach, he attended the North American Rink Conference and Expo (NARCE) in 2013 and gained his hockey director certification.
Jablonic's coaching career officially began with Skelleftea in 2005, where he served as an assistant coach for the club’s Under-18 team. He later served in the same capacity with the Skelleftea Under-20 team and as an assistant coach for the club’s Swedish Hockey League professional team before moving to Timra IK, where he was head coach of the club’s Under-20 team in 2007-08. He then moved on to Frolunda in Sweden’s top professional league, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach before returning stateside to lead the youth program at Kettler. During his time coaching in Sweden, Jablonic assisted in the development of seven first-round NHL draft picks.
Previously, Jablonic served as hockey director at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va., leading the in-house Rooftop program and Caps Academy. Additionally, Jablonic served as hockey director for the Washington Little Caps youth hockey program, which experienced unprecedented growth and success as a USA Hockey Model Association. During his years at Kettler, the Little Caps 14U and 15-only teams qualified for the 2017 USA Hockey Youth Tier I National Championships as district champions.
As a player, Jablonic skated with Blaine (Minn.) High School and then in the United States Hockey League (USHL) before enrolling at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he played NCAA Division I hockey with the Bulldogs from 1993-97. Jablonic earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMD in 1997. He then played professionally in the ECHL before finishing his playing career with Skelleftea AIK in Sweden.