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U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey & Wisconsin Coach, Tony Granato, Gives Advice to Athletes

By Kendall Shaw|Updated on June 27, 2023 (originally published on February 15, 2019)

Coach Tony Granato led the Wisconsin men's ice hockey team to a 20-15-1 record in his first season. The highlight of his career we think would have to have been that he was named the head coach of the U.S. Olympic Team which ended up finishing seventh in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. This is a pretty impressive feat for any coach. Some other highlights of Coach Granato's hockey career; named Named the 2017 Big Ten Coach of the Year and a finalist for national coach of the year. I'm sure he was proud to see his team reach the Big Ten Tournament championship game and finish second overall in the conference.

Granato's ice hockey team seems to take their academics very seriously hence six of his players received All-Big Ten honors, including Big Ten Freshman of the Year Trent Frederic, while sophomore captain Luke Kunin became a second-team All-American during his season under Granato's reign. (https://uwbadgers.com/coaches.aspx?rc=974)

Let's move onto talking a little bit more about Coach Granato, here are a few more of his accolades; he served as an assistant coach for the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team, where the team finished fourth. He was also a four-time 30-goal scorer in the NH. While playing in his first season with the NHL, during the 1988–89 campaign, Granato put up 36 goals. Granato to this day still holds New York's record for rookie goal scorer; this put him on the NHL All-Rookie Team. During his 13 years on the ice, he played for Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, and the New York Rangers. Another impressive feat is in 1993 while playing for the Kings he played alongside Wayne Gretzky and where they reached the Stanley Cup Final. His record for this was six goals and 17 points in 24 playoff games during the run to the Cup Final. That same year, he recorded a career-high with 82 points (37 goals, 45 assists), one season after posting a career-high 39 goals.

Coach Granato sat down with 2aDays to talk about how to get on a coach's radar, advice on playing DI hockey, a funny moment on the ice and how being a U.S. Olympic Hockey coach has affected him as a college coach?