Coach Gwozdecky Becomes An American Citizen

University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky revealed on his radio show on Tuesday evening that he became an American citizen earlier in the day. He mentioned that he had been diligently studying his U.S. Citizenship Handbook at home to prepare for his test.

9 comments:

du78 said...

Congratulations to the coach!!

dggoddard said...

Congrats to the Coach.

Would be great if he was offered the coaching job for the World Junior USA Team at some point in the future.

There's no question best one of the best coaches in college hockey.

Boonetown said...

Welcome to America George! Well done!

puck swami said...

Congrats, Gwoz.

Green Hornet said...

Since, he used to be Canadian he likely will never be offered the USA World Junior coaching job.

dggoddard said...

Many great players over the years, including Paul Stastny, were born overseas, had dual citizenship or foreign parents and decided to play for the USA. So I'd hope the same standard would apply for coaches.

Gwozdecky went to college in the US, spent a majority of his life in the US and has done an incredible job of helping USA hockey develop in Colorado through his camps, coaching and time.

The most interesting development at this year's WJT so far is that four NHL teams have released some of their brightest prospects for this year's tourney. This and the fact that the Buffalo Sabres are throwing their weight behind the Tournament show how important it has become.

du78 said...

Green Hornet, Marshall Johnston, who was the first Team USA WJC coach was Canadian. So the precedent has already been set. It is a very time consuming job these days and Gwoz's schedule may not exactly mesh with the time need of Team USA.

Swami mentioned Paul Stastny as a Team USA player with dual citizenship. Another was Brett Hull who didn't exactly endear himself to Canada when he chose to play for Team USA in interntaional tourneys and Olympics.

Anonymous said...

Great; with that behind him, now let's work on making sure he and his wife stay as residents of Colorado......

puck swami said...

Stastny could have played for three countires - Canada, where he was born, the USA, where he was mostly raised, or Slovakia, where his father starred and is currently a member of the European Parliament. Thankfully, he chose the USA.

Hull wanted to play for Canada first (he was born there to a Canadian father and an American mother) and was raised in both the USA and Canada. (Chigago, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Duluth)

Canadian coach Dave King turned Hull down for the 1986 World Championships. Fortunately, US coach Dave Peterson wanted Hull for the USA in that tourney. Hull rewarded the USA by playing for it in all international tounreys as a sign of gratitude for taking him in 1986 when Canada didn't want him.