Troy, Michigan – Adrian College and the Adrian College Athletic Department Gary Astarothhead coach of the men’s ACHA Division I hockey team and assistant athletic director at Adrian College, is being congratulated on being named head coach of the U.S. men’s ice hockey team that will compete in the 32nd edition of the FISU World University Winter Games in January 2025 in Turin, Italy.
As announced by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) in late June, the ACHA has been selected by UniUSA to select all members of the U.S. men's and women's ice hockey teams to compete in international ice hockey tournaments. This marks the 11th time the ACHA will field an entire U.S. team for the men's and the sixth time for the women's at the World University Games.
Astalos has experience on the international stage, having led Team USA to a gold medal at the inaugural College Hockey World Cup in Romania in 2023, a team also fully run by the ACHA. A native of Monroe, Michigan, Astalos has been the coach of the Adrian MD1 Bulldogs for the past eight seasons and is highly regarded as one of the top coaches in college hockey outside of the NCAA. Twelve regular season conference wins, eight conference playoff wins, three national titles, and a record of 253 wins, 24 losses, and two ties have further solidified Astalos' illustrious resume and earned him the position he is today. This January, Astalos will lead a men's team made up of ACHA student-athletes from across the country to compete on the world stage.
Coach Astalos spoke about the honor of being selected as bench boss for his country and what it means for the ACHA to lead the United States on the international stage.
“It will be an honor to represent the United States at the World University Games.” Astaroth said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our players to compete on an international stage and I look forward to working with the staff to do our best to prepare for this tournament.”
The men's ice hockey tournament will feature 12 teams split into groups of six, with each team playing five games in a round-robin format. The top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals. The men's preliminaries will be played at the 2,370-seat Palagiaccio Olimpico in Torre Pelliche and the 3,500-seat Stadio Olimpico in Pinerolo, while the semi-finals and finals will be played at the 2,327-seat Turin Pala Tazzoli. International competition will be played from January 13 to 23, 2025, with ice hockey matches beginning two days earlier, on January 11. Team USA's roster will be announced at a later date.
