COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Mike Velucci (Northville, Mich./Pittsburgh Penguins), Kevin Dean (Madison, Wis./Chicago Blackhawks) and Adam Nightingale (Cheboygan, Mich./Michigan State University) have been named assistant coaches for the 2025 U.S. Men’s National Team it was announced today by USA Hockey. In addition, Thomas Speer (Janesville, Wis.) will serve as goaltending coach and Nick Gialdini (San Jose, Calif.) and Lawrence Feloney (Natick, Mass.) as video coaches.
Ryan Warsofsky (North Marshfield, Mass.), head coach of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, was previously named head coach of the 2025 U.S. Men's National Team.
Team USA will compete in the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship May 9-26 in Herning, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden. All U.S. games will be televised live by NHL Network.
ABOUT VELLUCCI
Mike Vellucci is serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team for the first time. For the past five seasons, Velucci has been an assistant coach for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
His coaching career began as head coach of the NAHL’s Compuware Ambassadors where he served for five campaigns (1994-99).
He moved on to the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers in 2001-02, and for the next 13 seasons was the team’s general manager and head coach. He then joined the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes for six seasons where he served as assistant general manager and director of hockey operations and added the role of head coach of the Charlotte Checkers his final two campaigns, which included leading the team to the Calder Cup championship and earning AHL Coach of the Year honors in 2018-19.
After one season (2019-20) as general manager and head coach of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, he assumed his current role with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Vellucci played professionally for parts of seven seasons, including stops in the ECHL, IHL, AHL and NHL.
ABOUT DEAN
Kevin Dean is serving on the staff of a U.S. Men’s National Team for the first time.
He represented the U.S. on the international stage as a player in the 1988 IIHF World Junior Championship and also in the 1998 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
Dean has spent the last eight campaigns as an assistant coach in the NHL, including the past three with the Chicago Blackhawks and the five previous with the Boston Bruins.
Dean’s coaching resume also features 10 seasons in the AHL, including four years (2006-10) as an assistant coach with the Lowell Devils and six campaigns with the Providence Bruins (2011-17) – the first five as assistant coach and his final year as head coach.
Dean also served one season (2010-11) as the head coach of the Trenton Devils in the ECHL.
The Madison, Wis., native played college hockey at the University of New Hampshire and went on to a 12-year professional playing career that included seven seasons in the NHL.
ABOUT NIGHTINGALE
Adam Nightingale is on the coaching staff of a U.S. Men’s National Team for the fifth time.
He served as an assistant coach for the 2021 bronze medal-winning squad and was also the team’s video coach for three consecutive years (2017-19), including the bronze medal-winning 2018 club.
The Cheboygan, Mich., native also served as the video coach of the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team.
Nightingale recently finished his third campaign as head men’s ice hockey coach at Michigan State University where in short order he has guided the Spartans back to the national stage, including NCAA tournament appearances in each of the past two campaigns.
Prior to arriving at MSU, Nightingale spent two seasons as a head coach at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, which included leading the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team to a silver medal in the 2022 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship.
Nightingale’s career has also included stops with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings (assistant coach, 2019-20; video coach, 2017-19) and Buffalo Sabres (video coach, 2016-17).
Nightingale’s first head coaching experience came at Shattuck St. Mary’s where he guided the Midget AA team from 2008-10 and then returned as bench boss of the Bantam team from 2014-16.
In between those stints he spent four seasons as the video coach and hockey operations manager for Michigan State. Nightingale played four seasons of professional hockey in the ECHL after a collegiate career that included two seasons at Lake Superior State and two campaigns at Michigan State.
ABOUT SPEER
Thomas Speer in his third season as the goaltending coach for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, and is serving as the goaltending coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team for the second time after making his initial appearance in 2023.
Prior to joining the Sharks, Speer worked three seasons (2019-22) for the NHL’s Calgary Flames as the team’s development goalie coach. Speer was USA Hockey’s national goaltending coach from 2017-19. He also served as the goaltending coach for the silver medal-winning U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team at the 2018 IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Championship.
Prior to joining USA Hockey, Speer worked as director of amateur goaltending for the Dallas Stars; as a goalie development coordinator for USA Hockey in Texas and Oklahoma; and as director of camp development and personnel for Elite Goalies in Allen, Texas. He also served as a goaltending coach for the Allen Americans of the ECHL for four seasons.
ABOUT GIALDINI
Nick Gialdini is serving for the second time as a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team coaching staff, having held the same role for Team USA in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
He is in his third season as video coach for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
Previously, Gaildini spent six campaigns with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL as video coach and in hockey operations.
Gialdini also served as a head coach at various youth hockey levels for the San Jose Jr. Sharks for nine seasons.
ABOUT FELONEY
Lawrence Feloney is serving as a video coach for the U.S. Men's National Team for the second time after serving in the same capacity in 2014.
He has been the video coach for the NHL’s Nashville Predators since the 2010-11 season.
Prior to joining the Predators, Feloney spent four seasons as the video coordinator for the American Hockey League's Lowell Devils (2006-10).
The Natick, Mass., native began his career with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst men’s hockey team as a manager and video coordinator from 2003 to 2005.
SUPPORT STAFF NAMED
USA Hockey also announced the following support staff for the 2025 U.S. Men’s National Team, including assistant general manager Brett Peterson (Northborough, Mass./Florida Panthers); hockey operations director John Vanbiesbrouck (Detroit, Mich./USA Hockey); team services manager Jessica Thibault (Guilford, Conn./University of Notre Dame); sports performance specialist Brian Galivan (Chicago, Ill.); athletic trainers Stan Wong (Boca Raton, Fla./USA Hockey) and Chad Walker (Irvine, Calif./Anaheim Ducks); equipment managers Pete Rogers (Franklin, Tenn./Nashville Predators) and Jeff Camelio (Rochester, N.Y./Seattle Kraken); physical therapist Daryl Moore (South Lyon, Mich.); team physician Dr. Doug Weiss (Bernardston, Mass.); massage therapist Peewee Willmann (Hannover, Germany); content manager Taylor Swierc (Colorado Springs, Colo./USA Hockey) and media officer Dave Fischer (Colorado Springs, Colo./USA Hockey). Jeff Kealty (Framingham, Mass./Nashville Predators) was previously named general manager of Team USA.
ABOUT THE 2025 IIHF MEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The IIHF Men’s World Championship includes two eight-team groups. Team USA is in Group B with Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Norway and Switzerland with group stage games being played in Herning. Group A, which will play its group stage games in Stockholm, includes Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. Each city will host two quarterfinal games, with both semifinals, along with the bronze and gold-medal games taking place in Stockholm.
Source: usahockey.com