ADM Kids

A veteran hockey coach with over 20 years of coaching experience at the high school and collegiate levels, Roger Grillo joined USA Hockey as a regional manager of the American Development Model in June 2009, before being named to his current role of director of player development in November 2022. He helps provide a blueprint for optimal athlete development focusing on age-appropriate training utilizing long-term athlete development principles for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Grillo joined USA Hockey having spent the previous 12 years (1997-2009) as head coach of Brown University’s men’s ice hockey team. His tenure was highlighted by three straight winning seasons (2002-05) and a 2003 ECAC Hockey final four appearance, the first for Brown since 1994. He was named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year in 1997-98.

Previously, Grillo served seven seasons (1990-97) as assistant men’s hockey coach at the University of Vermont, where he helped coach the squad to the 1997 ECAC Hockey regular-season title and NCAA tournament appearances in 1996 and 1997. Prior to his stint at Vermont, Grillo was the top assistant at Norwich University for one year (1989-90) and the head coach at Yarmouth (Maine) High School for three seasons (1986-89). He also served as president of the American Hockey Coaches Association from 2003-05.

Grillo has been widely involved in USA Hockey initiatives over the course of his career, including serving as a coach at USA Hockey player development camps over the past 17 years and sharing his wealth of knowledge with up-and-coming coaches as a lecturer at USA Hockey coaching clinics. In addition, he was the head coach of the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Under-18 Select Teams that competed in the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka Tournament.

A 1983 NHL 10th round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks, Grillo was a member of the University of Maine hockey team for two seasons (1982-84) and was the Black Bears’ top-scoring defenseman as a freshman. During his junior and senior years at Maine, Grillo got his start in coaching, serving as an assistant at Old Town High School in Orono, Maine. He graduated from Maine in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in education and history.

Grillo and his wife, Wanda, reside in North Kingstown, R.I., and are parents of one son, Dominic.