COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than 530 coaches from various levels of the hockey world descended upon the Grand Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio, to join together to learn, listen, network and grow at the 2025 USA Hockey Long Drink Level 5 Coaches Symposium.

Presentations, panels, breakout sessions and late-night conversations consumed the four days of the Level 5 Coaches Symposium, which offers the opportunity for coaches to explore innovative approaches to coaching, connect with other coaches in-person, and engage in hands-on learning from some of the greatest hockey minds in the country.

However, even the presenters themselves were in Columbus ready to learn from each other.

Don Granato, who was the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres for the last three seasons, admitted that he was compiling his own stack of notes in his phone Saturday and Sunday while listening to fellow guest speakers Ryan Warsofsky, Jeff Blashill, Derek Lalonde and Greg Moore.

“So much this weekend was thrown at you, and honestly thrown at me,” Granato said during his presentation on My Experiences Playing and Coaching Hockey. “I sat up there and was taking notes.”

But that is only one part of the step, Granato explained.

“At some point, you have to take all of this new knowledge and thoughts and get a focus,” Granato said. “That is a challenge.”

Mike Trimboli, president of USA Hockey, attended his first USA Hockey coaching clinic in February of 1982 when he was still in high school and is now a Level 5 certified coach.

“Taking all the information in can sometimes feel like drinking from a fire hose,” Trimboli said. “There is so much coming at you at once. You are trying to write it all down. You are trying to take pictures of what’s on the screen and you will get home trying to make sense of all it. Just relax. Continue to create your library of information and take that information and determine how it best fits your team’s specific needs.”

To get that process started, USA Hockey’s Ken Martel and Heather Mannix concluded the Coaches Symposium with a workshop to let the coaches in attendance continue to analyze, reflect and think through how they can start to apply what they learned in Columbus when they return home.

Trimboli commended the group of coaches for taking time out of their schedules this weekend to come to Columbus for USA Hockey’s “highest standard of coaching education.”

“Thank you for believing in the power of the game, thank you for investing your time, your energy and your heart in helping others grow on and off the ice. Reaching this level is no small feat. It is not just about logging hours, checking boxes completing modules, background checks and SafeSport. It is about commitment. A commitment to being a better coach, a better mento and a better leader to the players and communities you serve.

“As a fellow coach, I encourage you to keep pushing, keep growing and to keep connecting and to keep remembering why you started coaching in the first place,” Trimboli concluded. “When you light that spark in a player, when you inspire them to love the game, to trust a team, to chase excellence you have done something powerful and that is what this is all about.”