USA Hockey

Don Granato enters his second season at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program and will serve as the head coach for the U.S. National Under-18 Team.

During the 2011-12 campaign, Granato guided the U.S. National Under-17 Team to first-place finishes at the 2011 Four Nations Cup in Balishikha, Russia and the 2012 Vlad Dzurilla Under-18 Tournament in Piestany, Slovakia. The Under-17 Team also placed second at the 2012 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Windsor, Ont. Overall the Under-17 Team claimed a 12-0-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record in international play.

Domestically, Team USA earned a spot in the United States Hockey League Clark Cup playoffs, due in part to the combined regular-season success of the Under-17 and Under-18 Teams. This was the second straight year Team USA qualified for the postseason.

Granato’s coaching career began in 1993 when he was named interim coach of the USHL’s Madison (Wis.) Capitals. He went on to become the first-ever head coach and general manager of the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers for three seasons (1994-97). There, he led the Gamblers to Anderson Cup titles as the USHL regular-season champion on two occasions (1996, 1997) and, in 1996, helped the franchise capture its first Clark Cup as the league's playoff champion.

?Granato's next challenge came in the East Coast Hockey League, where he led the Columbus Chill for two years (1997-99). He then moved on to serve as head coach of the Peoria Rivermen of the ECHL for one season and guided the team to the Kelly Cup as the ECHL's playoff champion. He was inducted into the Peoria Hall of Fame in 2009.

??Granato spent 2000-05 as head coach of the Worcester IceCats, the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues. During that span, he became the winningest coach in franchise history with a 191-130-45-14 (W-L-T-OTL) record, while leading the IceCats to the Calder Cup playoffs in four consecutive seasons (2000-04). Granato received the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award in 2001 as the AHL coach of the year.

?Granato spent the 2010-11 season as a scout for the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Prior to that campaign, he served as head coach of the Chicago Wolves, the AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers (2008-10), and was also an assistant coach for the NHL's St. Louis Blues (2005-06).

?As a player, the Downers Grove, Ill., native played high school hockey in Minnesota for Burnsville, where he helped his team win the Minnesota State High School League championship in 1985. Granato then skated for the University of Wisconsin from 1987-91. While a Badger, he helped Wisconsin to the 1990 NCAA title and graduated with a degree in history. Granato went on to compete professionally for two seasons with the ECHL's Columbus Chill (1991-93).