Ryan Warsofsky (born October 26, 1987) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

coach and former player who is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). Following a brief playing career, he entered coaching in 2012. He has previously served as a coach with the Curry Colonels,

South Carolina Stingrays The South Carolina Stingrays are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Stingrays play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at the North Charleston ...

Charlotte Checkers The Charlotte Checkers are a professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affiliate of the ...

and

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team based in Rosemont, Illinois. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena ...

Early life

Warsofsky was born in

Marshfield, Massachusetts Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It includes the census-designated places ...

, to Dawn and Mark Warsofsky, and is Jewish. He is the older brother of defenseman David Warsofsky, who has played in the NHL for the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

, and

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

. Warsofsky and his wife have one child.

Playing career

Warsofsky played

as a

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

at Marshfield High School in Massachusetts, where he was team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and was named All-Scholastic by ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. History The paper was founded on , as the weekly ''Quincy Patriot'' by John Adams Green and Edmund Butl ...

''. After four years at Marshfield, he transferred and attended

Cushing Academy Cushing Academy is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, United States. It serves approximately 400 students in grades 9–12 and a postgraduate year. History Cushing ...

, in

Ashburnham, Massachusetts Ashburnham () is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 6,315. It is home to Cushing Academy, a private preparatory boarding school. Ashburnham contains the census-designated place ...

, for one year. He then played for

Sacred Heart University Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Roman Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholi ...

in Connecticut for two seasons, playing 20 games with one goal and an assist in the 2008–09 season and then recording two assists in seven games in the 2009–10 season. Warsofsky transferred to

Curry College Curry College is a private college in Milton, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded as the School of Elocution and Expression by Anna Baright in 1879. In 1885, it was taken over and renamed by Samuel Silas Curry. History Curry College ...

and played two seasons for the Curry Colonels, scoring 16 points in his first season. In his second year, he played 27 games and recorded a team-leading 27 points, with nine goals and 18 assists. He was the team's assistant captain as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

and was chosen the school's Male Athlete of the Year, first-team All- ECAC Northeast and to the Division II/III All-Start Team by the New England Hockey Writers Association. He graduated with a degree in management in 2011. Warsofsky played one season professionally, splitting the 2011–12 season with the Belgian

White Caps Turnhout The White Caps Turnhout were an ice hockey team in Turnhout, Belgium. The White Caps played in the Belgian Hockey League and North Sea Cup. They played their home games in Kempisch Ijsstadion. History The club was founded in 1981, and won their ...

of the

North Sea Cup The North Sea Cup was a short-lived hockey league that temporarily succeeded the Dutch Eredivisie (ice hockey), Eredivisie from 2010-2012. It was the only professional ice hockey league in the Netherlands and the highest level of competition sanct ...

, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

(CHL) and the

Cape Cod Bluefins A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used thr ...

of the

Federal Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. ...

(FHL). He appeared in 14 games for the White Caps, recording six goals and eight assists for 14 points, three games for the Killer Bees, and one game for the Bluefins. After the season, he decided to enter coaching.

Coaching career

Warsofsky began his coaching career at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, Curry, serving as assistant coach for the 2012–13 season. He then joined the

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

in 2013, being named assistant coach and manager of hockey operations. Working with the defense and special teams, he helped the Stingrays have some of their most successful seasons in the ECHL, including a league-record 23-consecutive wins with a

Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. Th ...

appearance in the 2014–15 season. He was promoted to head coach and director of hockey operations in 2016, becoming, at age 28, the youngest active coach in the ECHL and the fifth-youngest in history. He served two years in the position and led them to the Kelly Cup Finals in the 2016–17 season, while compiling an overall record of 88–44–10–2 with the Stingrays. He was the second-youngest coach ever to lead his team to the Kelly Cup. In 2018, Warsofsky became an assistant coach for the

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL). In his first season, he helped the team's defense place second in the AHL in goals allowed per game while winning the

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League (AHL). It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In it ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. The following year, he was announced as the new head coach to succeed

Mike Vellucci Michael George Vellucci (born August 11, 1966) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He is currently an assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in the National Hockey League. Previously, he was an assistant coach for the Pittsbu ...

, becoming the youngest AHL head coach since Bill Armstrong in 2000 as well as the youngest in Checkers history. As head coach in the 2019–20 season, he led them to a record of 34–22–5–0, while the Checkers were top three in the AHL for both power-play and penalty kill percentage. Following his single season as head coach of the Checkers, Warsofsky became the head coach for the AHL's

. He led the team to a 21–9–1–2 record, third-best in the league, in the 2020–21 season, before the playoffs were canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Wolves then had a league-best 50–16–5–5 record in 2021–22 and won the Calder Cup. In 2022, Warsofsky became an assistant coach for the

of the

(NHL). He worked with the defense and penalty kill, helping defenseman

Erik Karlsson Erik Sven Gunnar Karlsson (; born 31 May 1990) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Karlsson was drafted in the first round, 15th overall, by the Ottawa Senators at th ...

win the

James Norris Memorial Trophy The James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top " defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". It is named after Ja ...

in the 2022–23 season. Across two years with Warsofsky as assistant coach, the Sharks ranked 18th in the NHL in penalty kill. On June 13, 2024, he was promoted as Sharks' head coach, becoming the youngest in the NHL at 36 years. He also became the first Jewish NHL head coach since

Bob Plager Robert Bryant Plager (March 11, 1943 – March 24, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 14 seasons from 1964 until 1978, primarily for the St. Louis Blues. Plager spent over ha ...

coached the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

in the 1992–93 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warsofsky, Ryan 1987 births Living people American expatriate ice hockey players in Belgium American ice hockey defensemen Charlotte Checkers Chicago Wolves coaches College men's ice hockey coaches in the United States Curry Colonels Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Jewish American sportspeople People from Marshfield, Massachusetts Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees players Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey players San Jose Sharks coaches South Carolina Stingrays coaches Ice hockey people from Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Early life

Playing career

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links