THE U REPORT Your Weekly USHL Briefing, Covering October 22 Through October 28

A month into the USHL season, the small-sample excuses are running out. Strong starts are beginning to either hold up or crack, struggling teams are finding ways out of trouble, and some games are changing direction so violently that the final score barely explains what happened. This week delivered all of it. Madison handed Waterloo an overtime loss Friday and its first regulation defeat Saturday, Chicago erased a three-goal third-period deficit against Youngstown and won while shorthanded in overtime, and Cedar Rapids built a five-goal lead over Fargo before nearly watching the whole thing disappear. Omaha shut out the defending Clark Cup champions behind a 43-save performance, and Dubuque and Muskegon both found new reasons for optimism. Who won mattered less than how quickly the assumptions around several teams changed.

Waterloo arrived in Madison at 7-0-1, holding 15 of a possible 16 standings points with no regulation losses, which made the weekend one of the Capitols’ best chances yet to find out whether their recovery from an 0-3 start was real. They answered emphatically.

Friday looked like another Waterloo win early, with Sal Viviano and Hayden Russell scoring inside the opening seven minutes. Madison worked its way back as former Black Hawk Rio Treharne cut the deficit and Harper Frey tied the game on the power play late in the second. Waterloo had a chance to retake control when Russell was awarded a third-period penalty shot, but Elliot Lennon made the save, and Gustavs Griva finished the comeback 1:20 into overtime for a 3-2 Madison victory.

Saturday strengthened the case that Madison’s turnaround was real. The Capitols scored four straight goals on their way to a 6-2 win, converting three of five power-play opportunities while Cash Cruitt stopped 40 of 42 shots. Defenseman Nolen Geerdes scored twice and added two assists, finishing the weekend with six points and earning USHL Defenseman of the Week honors. Madison has now collected points in six consecutive games, going 5-0-1 since that 0-3 start, and while Waterloo remains one of the strongest early stories in the league, the Capitols found answers for much of what had been working for the Black Hawks.

Youngstown’s recovery from an 0-5 start looked ready to continue Friday in Chicago. The Phantoms carried a 6-3 lead into the third period after scoring four times in the second, and what would have been their fourth win in five games turned into a fight to survive the final twenty minutes. Chicago outshot Youngstown 20-3 in the third, with Nolan Shorter making it 6-4, Dallas Vieau scoring on the power play and MJ Campbell tying it during a five-on-three, all helped along by six consecutive Youngstown penalties.

The ending was stranger still. Chicago took a late penalty, which meant Youngstown opened overtime on the power play, yet Jayden Kurtz blocked a shot, broke away from the Phantoms and scored shorthanded just 56 seconds in to complete a 7-6 Steel victory. Youngstown bounced back Saturday with a 3-2 shootout win, so the weekend was hardly a disaster, though Friday is the kind of game that tends to linger. Chicago erased a three-goal deficit while dominating the third period and then finished the job a man down.

Fargo entered Thursday on a six-game winning streak and made it seven by beating Cedar Rapids 5-2, with Bryce Mattern scoring twice, Lauri Kouhia adding a goal and two assists, and Samuel Hrenak stopping 27 of 29 shots. The rematch barely resembled it. Cedar Rapids scored twice in the first 3:38 Friday, watched Fargo tie it before the period ended and then exploded for four goals in the second, so when Matas Janulis made it 7-2 in the third, the game appeared finished.

It was not finished, though, because Fargo scored four consecutive goals, three of them in roughly two minutes, and a lead that had looked untouchable was suddenly 7-6. The RoughRiders hung on to end Fargo’s seven-game winning streak, but the result did little to ease the defensive concerns that have followed them since their 7-0 start. They surrendered 11 goals across the two games, and watching a five-goal advantage shrink to one is difficult to ignore even in a win.

Fargo steadied itself right away, going to Sioux Falls on Sunday and winning 4-1 behind 42 saves from Hrenak and two goals from A.J. Francisco. Mattern finished the week with four goals and was named USHL Forward of the Week, and the way the Force responded suggests the larger story is still intact.

Omaha entered Friday with two victories on the season, while Sioux Falls arrived as the defending Clark Cup champion and had recently put seven goals on Cedar Rapids. None of that mattered once the puck dropped. Anthony Sciere stopped all 43 shots he faced in a 6-0 Omaha win, including 19 in the second period alone, and the Stampede still could not solve him. Rylan Bydal scored twice for the first multigoal game of his USHL career, five different Lancers found the net, and each of Omaha’s four forward lines contributed an even-strength goal.

Omaha followed with a 3-0 loss to Tri-City on Saturday, but Sciere played well again, stopping 30 of 32 shots before an empty-net goal closed the scoring. Across the two games he stopped 73 of 75 shots and earned USHL Goaltender of the Week honors. For a team that has struggled to find consistent results, he provided something more meaningful than a routine win. Sciere gave the Lancers an exceptional goaltending performance despite substantial Sioux Falls pressure, and he did it against the defending champions.

Dubuque entered its weekend with Sioux City having finally created some momentum, and it found a way to add to it. Friday’s 5-3 win set the stage for a much wilder Saturday, when Caden Dabrowski scored 14 seconds into the game, added another before the first period ended and completed his first USHL hat trick midway through the second. Even that was not enough to make things comfortable, because Sioux City erased a 2-0 deficit and later came back from 4-2 down in the third period, with Jake Merens scoring twice, including the tying goal, to force overtime.

Olle Därth ended it for Dubuque with the winner in a 5-4 victory, extending the Saints’ winning streak to three. There was an important detail buried in that overtime sequence as well. Dubuque had acquired Cruz Martin from Green Bay one day earlier, and in his first game with the Saints he helped set up Därth’s winner. Between the hat trick, the winner and a newcomer contributing to the decisive play right away, Dubuque left the weekend with more than just offense to feel good about.

Muskegon’s week began with an unusual exchange of shutouts against Lincoln, a 3-0 loss Friday followed by a 4-0 win Saturday behind a 29-save shutout from Samuel Doyon-Cataquiz. Then the organization made a move, acquiring 19-year-old defenseman Josh Toll from Tri-City in exchange for affiliate players Landon Sampair and Zach Shirkey along with two 2027 Phase I draft selections. Head coach Colten St. Clair pointed specifically to Toll’s puck-moving and transition ability as important additions to the lineup, and there is a familiar connection as well, since Toll’s older brother, Jake, previously won a Clark Cup with Muskegon.

The younger Toll did not need long to make his own introduction. He debuted Wednesday against the NTDP Under-17 team and scored his first career USHL goal in a 5-1 Lumberjacks victory, with Louis Jonerheim and Drew Fox scoring in the first period and Lars Hutson finishing with three assists. Muskegon has spent much of the early season searching for consistency, and the week ended with consecutive wins and a new defenseman contributing right away.

Des Moines finally ended its six-game winless streak Saturday with a 4-1 win over Green Bay, generating 42 shots and scoring twice on the power play. That came one night after another 4-1 loss, so it would be premature to declare the Buccaneers fixed, but the offensive pressure that defined their 5-0 start finally resurfaced.

That may be the clearest summary of the league right now. Madison’s 0-3 start already feels distant, Waterloo finally looked human, Fargo had its seven-game streak snapped and immediately responded, and Chicago turned a game that looked lost into one of the most memorable wins of the young season. Omaha found a 43-save shutout from a goaltender who has given the Lancers reason for optimism, while Dubuque and Muskegon both received immediate contributions from new additions. By the time November arrives, some of these swings will look like meaningful trends and others will be remembered as temporary bursts, and for now the league keeps reminding us that one period, one weekend or one roster move can change the direction of a season much faster than expected.

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