Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky to coach U.S. Collegiate Select team at 2025 Spengler Cup

A man with a successful pedigree is set to lead his country into one of hockey’s more underappreciated events.

On Thursday, it was announced that Penn State Men’s Hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky has been tabbed to be the head coach of the U.S. Collegiate Select Team for the 2025 Spengler Cup.

Gadowsky is coming off a successful season with the Nittany Lions. After an incredible second-half surge, his team qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, punching its ticket to the Men’s Frozen Four for the first time in program history. Ultimately, Penn State fell in the national semifinals to the eventual runners-up, Boston University.

Gadowsky has been the coach of the program since it returned to the NCAA ranks in 2012. He has posted a record of 231-200-31, coaching the team to four national tournament appearances, a Big Ten Conference title in 2017 and a regular-season championship in 2019-20. Prior to his move to Hockey Valley, the Edmonton native was also the head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks for five seasons, before being the coach at Princeton from 2004 to 2011.

While serving as the bench boss for the Tigers, Gadowsky led his crew to two NCAA Tournaments, winning the ECAC Championship in 2007-08.

The U.S. Collegiate Select Team will be comprised of 25 NCAA D-I players, competing in the annual event held in Davos, Switzerland. The tournament goes from Dec. 26-31.

This will be just the second time a team from the United States will be competing in the tournament. In 1988, a select team comprised of Americans who were playing in Europe, including 1980 Olympic gold medalist Dave Silk, played in the tournament. The U.S. beat Canada in the final, making them the second non-European team to win the tournament.

Since Canada won the Spengler Cup in 2019, the last three tournaments have been won by teams from the Swiss National League – HC Ambri-Piotta, HC Davos, and HC Fribourg-Gottéron.