Matt Smaby, who is currently in his third season as head coach of the Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL), will serve as head coach of the U.S. Junior Select Team for the first time in 2023 after serving in an assistant coach capacity in 2022. 

The Minnesota native began his coaching career during the 2019-20 season with EC Salzburg in Austria after serving as a team manager for the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team from 2017-19. Smaby returned to North Dakota in 2020 to coach 14U hockey in Grand Forks before taking on the role of head coach for Waterloo in 2021. He guided the team to the USHL Western Conference finals his first season at the helm. 

Smaby, who was selected 41st overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, skated three seasons (2003-06) for the University of North Dakota men’s ice hockey team and served as captain his junior season. He then embarked on a professional career (2006-17), including parts of four seasons with the Lightning in the NHL, in the AHL, and with Munich in the DEL.