COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Cary Eades (Fargo, N.D.), head coach and general manager of the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force, has been named head coach of the 2015 U.S. Junior Select Team that will compete at the 2015 World Junior A Challenge, it was announced today by USA Hockey. Additionally, Brian Kaufman (Shoreview, Minn./Omaha Lancers) and Dallas Steward (Chippewa Falls, Wis./Chicago Steel) have been selected as assistant coaches.
The 2015 World Junior A Challenge is set for Dec. 13-19 in Cobourg and Whitby, Ontario. The U.S. has won the tournament six of the last seven years, and has gone 11-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in its last three appearances.
Eades is in his first season at the helm of the Fargo Force. Previously, he spent time as head coach and general manager of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and Sioux Falls Stampede, earning USHL Coach of the Year honors in 2012-13. Eades guided the Stampede to the Clark Cup title in 2014-15.
He also was an assistant coach for the University of North Dakota men’s ice hockey program on two separate occasions and helped the Fighting Sioux to the 1987 NCAA national championship.
Additionally, Eades earned Minnesota State High School Coach of the Year honors in 1996 as head coach of Warroad High School, a program he led to three Minnesota State Class A Championships in 11 years.
As a player, Eades competed for the University of North Dakota from 1978-1982 before spending two seasons in the Central Hockey League.
Kaufman, who played four seasons of NCAA Division I hockey at Miami University, currently serves as head coach and general manager of the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Before joining the Lancers as an assistant coach in 2012, he spent 2011-12 as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater. Upon graduation, Kaufman played two seasons in the ECHL and one in the CHL.
Steward recently joined the Chicago Steel of the USHL as associate head coach. Previously, he was an assistant coach and scouting director of the Sioux Falls Stampede and played four years at the University of Alaska-Anchorage before a seven-year professional career in the CHL and ECHL.
USA Hockey also named members of its support staff for the 2015 U.S. Junior Select Team, including Phil Faught (Fargo, N.D./Fargo Force), trainer; Jason Smits (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon Lumberjacks), equipment manager; and Dr. Alan Ashare (Boston, Mass.), team doctor.
NOTES: For more information on the U.S. Junior Select Team that will compete at the 2015 World Junior A Challenge, click here … USA Hockey’s international council, chaired by Gavin Regan (Potsdam, N.Y.), vice president of USA Hockey, has oversight responsibilities for all U.S. teams that compete internationally.
