Former NTDP player (2002-04) Chad Kolarik will be part of the U.S. National Under-17 Staff for the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach, his second on the bench with the NTDP.

Kolarik spent the 2022-23 campaign as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Under-18 team, helping Team USA to a gold medal at the 2023 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship. Additionally, the Abington, Pennsylvania, native served on staff for the 2022 Under-18 Five Nations Championship, where he helped the team to a first-place finish.

Prior to joining USA Hockey, he began his coaching career with the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 campaign.

Kolarik played 12 seasons of professional hockey in the U.S. and Europe. He suited up for the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers at the game’s highest level, in addition to stops in the AHL, and finished his career with seven seasons in Europe throughout Sweden, France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. He skated collegiately at the University of Michigan, where he produced 174 points (78g-96a) in 163 games for the Wolverines.

Kolarik has extensive international experience representing the United States, most recently as a member of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team that competed in PyeongChang, South Korea. In addition, Kolarik skated in two Deutschland Cups as a member of the U.S. Men's Select Team, helping Team USA earn a first-place finish in 2013, and was a member of the 2004 U.S. Under-18 Men’s World Championship team, helping the U.S. win a silver medal.