DENVER – University of Denver Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle is returning as the head coach of the United States National Junior Team for the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships, USA Hockey announced on Tuesday.
 
Carle will guide the Americans for the second consecutive under-20 tournament after leading USA to the gold medal at the 2024 event in Gothenburg, Sweden. The United States went unbeaten in its seven games en route to its sixth championship in the past 20 years, and the country's win in the final on Jan. 5 came on the exact day as the country's first gold in 2004 that featured Denver defenseman and Carle's brother, Matt, on the roster.
 
"I'm beyond honored to be asked to represent our country again," said Carle. "We have a terrific staff and we're all excited about the chance to work with the top players in our country, with the goal of winning back-to-back gold medals in the World Juniors for the first time in our nation's history."
 
The 2024 World Junior Championship marked Carle's first time coaching the Americans at any level, and he was the second Denver coach to guide Team USA at the World Juniors behind Marshall Johnston at the 1977 tournament.
 
Carle was the third NCHC head coach to lead the U.S. to gold at the World Junior Championship, joining former St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko (2017) and North Dakota and Omaha coach Dean Blais (2010 with Omaha).
 
The Anchorage, Alaska, native is heading into his seventh season at the helm of the Denver hockey program in 2024-25 and has guided the Pioneers to two Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions, the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship, three Frozen Four berths and two national championships. DU won its NCAA-record 10th national title by defeating Boston University and Boston College on April 11-13 in the 2024 Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 
He owns a 148-62-16 all-time record and his .690 winning percentage is presently the best all-time among Denver hockey coaches. He surpassed his predecessor, Jim Montgomery (125), for sole possession of fourth place on the school's all-time wins list on Nov. 25 and earned his 125th career victory in 13 fewer games than Montgomery.
 
Carle coached his 200th contest on Dec. 9 at Western Michigan, becoming the fifth DU bench boss to reach the milestone. His .675 winning percentage was the second-highest among Pioneer coaches through the first 200 games, with only the legendary Murray Armstrong having a better mark at .735, which included winning three national championships in his first six-plus years at the helm of the program.
 
Carle's entire coaching staff from 2024 will return next year, with Denver Director of Hockey Operations Travis Culhane serving as the video coach, while former DU assistants Steve Miller (University of Minnesota) and David Lassonde (USA Hockey) as well as St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson and Augustana head coach Garrett Raboin back as USA assistant coaches. Last year's U.S. World Junior squad also featured freshman defenseman Zeev Buium and equipment manager Nick Meldrum.
 
Team USA will play in the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship from Dec. 26, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025, in Ottawa, Ontario. The U.S. is in Group A alongside Finland, Canada, Latvia and Germany and will play its preliminary round games at the Canadian Tire Centre. Group B includes Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, with those preliminary-round contests taking place at TD Place Arena.