HERNING, Denmark — To tell it to a 20-year-old Ryan Warsofky, a defenseman from Sacred Heart University relegated to exactly zero games as a freshman because of a rare disease known as Guillain-Barré syndrome, that he’d eventually find himself on the international stage with Team USA?
Might seem far-fetched.
But that’s where he finds himself now.
Front and center, from behind the bench.
“I was sick,” recalled Warsofsky, reflecting back on his collegiate days that he’d admit didn’t show enough promise to finds these heights from an on-ice perspective.
“It’s a virus that put me out for the whole year. I had a redshirt year and I obviously ended up transferring. It was a long year, tough year. As a young man you’re changing… you’re in your 20s, you’re in college and there’s a lot of pressure. I look back on all my years quite a bit.
“I’ve wanted to be a coach since I was 16, 17, 18 years old. Really fell in love with that part of it. I always knew in the back of my mind that’s what I wanted to do. I knew I probably didn’t have the skill set to make it to the National Hockey League, so really into college I started picking up from coaches what I liked, what I didn’t like, how I would do things. I always kind of thought like a coach when I was a player.
“Definitely to be here this soon… I’m humbled by it and very grateful to be here representing my country and USA Hockey.”
Warsofsky, skipper of the San Jose Sharks, became the youngest active head coach in the NHL when he was promoted from assistant to head coach on June 13.
Fast forward 11 months and he’s the youngest bench boss at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, tasked with guiding a United States squad in its quest to land gold for the first time in the tournament since 1933.
That’s 54 years before the pride of North Marshfield, MA was born.
It wasn’t a target destination for Warsofsky. Not this soon, anyway.
Instead, it’s a byproduct of a rising star amongst the coaching ranks whose humble start came as an assistant coach with Curry College, the Division III school he wrapped his collegiate playing career at two years prior.
“Did I have a list of ‘at 37 years old I want to be a head coach at the World Championship and be a head coach in the NHL?’ No. I just wanted to be where my feet were and work as hard as I possibly can and people maybe noticed. I’ve been very fortunate,” said Warsofsky, who is younger than six active players in the tournament.
“I think in this day and age we’re in such a hurry to get to the next best thing. I think you need to be where your feet are. Do the best possible job you can do where you are and what your role is and stay in your lane and when you do a good job people will do their homework and they’ll look around and ask questions. That’s always been my backbone of what my thought process is to get where I am today.”
Warsofsky worked his way from Curry College to the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL, first as an assistant and then the big boss. Next up? The Charlotte Checkers, again, first as an assistant and then to head coach. A pivot to the main chair with the Chicago Wolves landed him behind San Jose’s bench as — yes — an assistant.
From there, the main chair.
“I get asked this question a lot from younger coaches… I never looked for the next job,” Warsofsky advised. “I would always be where my feet were and be the best at whatever my job was in that situation. If I was running the penalty kill, do the best job I could do on the penalty kill and coach the defensemen and get them developed and help us win games. If I was running the power play, do that.
“You do it for the love of the game, and I truly believe what I was back then is exactly who I am now. It’s a lot of grind. It’s a lot of effort. It’s a lot of support for a lot of people.”
He now has the support of USA Hockey.
But, though he’s calling the shots at the World Championship, the development isn’t done.
Much like Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, two budding young players who pledged to represent their countries on the Worlds stage and who are poised to push the Sharks from rebuild to regular contender, Warsofsky understands the perks to be had by jumping into international waters for new experiences.
He knows what it can do for the games of Celebrini and Smith.
He understands how it’ll make him better, too.
And, in the end, rise San Jose up the Pacific Division ranks.
“I’m trying to learn,” said Warsofsky, unironically an assistant coach on Team USA’s entry at the 2023 World Championship.
“I think that’s another part of it, too. I don’t have all the answers. I’m trying to learn from John Vanbiesbrouck. I’m trying to learn from (assistant coaches) Kevin Dean and Mike Vellucci and Adam Nightingale. I’m trying to learn from our players. I’m trying to learn from Tage Thompson. It’s not just ‘my way or the highway.’ I’m not ruling here with an iron fist. There are philosophies that I think the game should be played with, but as a coach I’m trying to get better myself.
“I’ll do that after this tournament. I’ll take a break and get right back into it… digging into the NHL playoffs and how we want to tinker and change things in San Jose… talking to people around the league and talking to coaches in other sports. It’s a constant process I’ve had as trying to get better as a coach is learn from other people.
“That’s what it’s all about.”

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