USA Hockey announced on Monday that Providence coach Nate Leaman has been named to the staff of the 2021 U.S. Men’s National Team as an assistant coach.
Leaman joins a staff comprised of Jack Capuano (head coach), Adam Nightingale (assistant coach), Kevin Reiter (goaltending coach) and Mike King (video coach).
The U.S. Men’s National Team will take part in the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championship from May 21-June 6, 2021, in Riga, Latvia. Team USA will compete in Group B alongside Canada, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan and play at Arena Riga.
Most recently, the U.S. finished seventh of 16 teams in the 83rd edition of the IIHF Men’s World Championship in 2019 with wins in five of eight games (4-1-0-3) and has gone 19-7 over the last three world championships.
To date, the U.S. has earned 12 podium finishes, including one gold medal (1933), four silver medals (1950, 1939, 1934, 1931) and seven bronze medals (2018, 2015, 2013, 2004, 1996, 1952, 1949).
Leaman has been a part of three previous staffs on the international stage – all U.S. National Junior Team coaching staffs, including his first stint as head coach in 2021, winning Team USA’s fifth gold medal in tournament history. Leaman will return to the 2022 U.S. National Junior Team staff as head coach.
He also served as an assistant coach for the bronze medal-winning 2007 squad that competed in Leksand and Mora, Sweden. Additionally, he served as an assistant coach for the 2009 team that played in Ottawa, Ontario. Leaman made his USA Hockey coaching debut as an assistant coach in 2005 at the IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship, where the U.S. won gold in Ceske Budejorke and Plzen, Czech Republic.
The 2020-21 campaign was Leaman’s tenth as head coach at Providence, where he has led the Friars to NCAA tournament berths in six of the past eight campaigns, including the school’s first-ever NCAA title in 2015.
