When a reporter asked if he was comfortable being a favorite in Sweden, David Carle’s smile said it all.
“Yeah, I’m used to having a target on our backs here (with the Pios),” Carle, the venerated DU hockey coach, said Tuesday when asked about his debut as the coach of Team USA at the 2024 IIHF World Juniors later this month in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“And all of our players that are coming to this event, I think that we’re probably (used to it). And at the same time, it’s not getting concerned with the outside noise. No one’s expectations on the outside are higher than ours internally. And this group has a lot to prove and they want to get over there and get to work and get after it.”
Team USA begins pool play in Group B against Sweden on Dec. 26 at 9 a.m. Denver time. Carle’s squad is the second-highest seeded team in Group B behind the Czech Republic and the No. 3 seed in the overall field behind the Czechs (No. 2) and Canada (No. 1).
The eight teams that advance out of the group stage start quarterfinal play on Jan. 2. The gold-medal and bronze-medal tilts are slated for Jan. 5. Canada is the reigning champ, while the U.S. won bronze at the 2023 World Juniors by defeating Sweden, 8-7, in overtime. Team USA has won a medal in six of the last eight World Juniors.
Carle will be joined by one of his own players, DU defenseman Zeev Buium, at Team USA’s training camp in Plymouth, Michigan, this week. The freshman has 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) in 18 games as a breakout star for the Pios this season. After turning 18 last week, he will be among a group of 29 on the team’s preliminary roster.
Carle is the second DU coach to lead Team USA at the World Juniors, following in the footsteps of Marshall Johnston in 1977. Former DU assists coaches Steve Miller (Minnesota) and David Lassonde (USA Hockey) will also be on the bench alongside Carle, as well as St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson.
“I think the biggest thing that I’ve heard (about the event), and I agree with, is that it’s the players’ tournament, it’s their event,” Carle said. “And I think our job as coaches is to make things (that) assist them and get them on the same page, structurally. And then ultimately putting them into positions to have success.
“And it’s a very motivated group of kids, you know. And it’s just trying to empower them to be in those positions to have the success and do what we want to do as a group.”
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