Penn State men’s hockey Director of Operations Alex Dawes will head to Beijing in February to serve as the video coach for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey team, as announced by the team Thursday morning.

“It is an honor to be invited to work with the men’s national team on the Olympic stage,” Dawes said in a release. “I can’t thank Coach Gadowsky and the Penn State administration enough for supporting me in this opportunity.”

As video coach, Dawes will be responsible for putting together scouting reports and assisting in almost all areas of hockey technology for the team.

This isn’t his first rodeo with USA Hockey, though, as he was also the video coach of the 2015-16 U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team, which won a gold medal at the 2016 IIHF World Championships. Most recently, Dawes had the same role with the 2019 Men’s U.S. National Junior Team, which earned a silver medal at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championships.

Dawes is in the middle of his sixth season as the Nittany Lions’ Director of Operations and ninth overall with Penn State Athletics. Since starting with the team, he has helped lead Penn State’s data-driven approach to the game and has consistently received high praise from head coach Guy Gadowsky, who is excited about Dawes’ new opportunity with Team USA.

“This incredible privilege and the honor is extremely well earned,” Gadowsky said. “[Alex] is a high-quality individual that is highly regarded in the hockey community and has been a consistent example of the premier standard of work ethic and commitment over the years. All of us involved with Penn State hockey are extremely proud of Alex and wish him and Team USA the very best of luck at the Olympics.”

Team USA, whose roster has yet to be announced since the NHL opted out of participating in the Olympics, is led by former New York Rangers and Boston University head coach David Quinn. Minnesota State head coach Mike Hastings, St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson, Pittsburgh Penguins director of player development Scott Young, and USA Hockey national goaltending coach David Lassonde will serve as assistants in Beijing.

The team will play its first game at 8:10 A.M. EST on Thursday, February 10 against China.