THE U REPORT Your Weekly USHL Briefing, Covering October 15 Through October 21

Four weeks into the USHL season, the standings are starting to separate the teams that have found their footing from the ones still searching for answers. Fargo has turned a 1-3 start into a six-game winning streak, Waterloo has yet to lose in regulation, and Des Moines has dropped five straight after opening with five wins. Elsewhere, Cedar Rapids rebounded before giving up seven goals to Sioux Falls, Muskegon’s 16-year-old Zaac Charbonneau kept scoring, Madison continued its recovery, and Tri-City won twice before an unexpected postponement. The more interesting question now is which organizations are building the consistency to sustain their success over a 62-game season.

A week ago, much of Fargo’s recovery centered on Samuel Hrenak’s goaltending, including back-to-back wins over defending Clark Cup champion Sioux Falls. This week, the offense took over. Thursday’s 10-2 win over Green Bay was an extraordinary offensive performance, highlighted by six second-period goals and a stretch in which the Force scored five times in 2 minutes and 52 seconds, with Lauri Kouhia and Hayden Reierson finding the net just 10 seconds apart. Nine different Fargo players scored, Melker Sigurd was the only one to get two, Caz Carlson added three assists, and the Force outshot Green Bay 43-17, showing the Force did not need one dominant scoring line.

Friday’s rematch brought another convincing result, a 5-1 win in which Bryce Mattern recorded two goals and an assist. Fargo has now won six straight after opening 1-3, a run that includes two victories over Sioux Falls and 15 combined goals against Green Bay. The next test is sustaining that balance against stronger defensive opponents.

Both organizations started strong but have since moved in opposite directions. Waterloo entered the weekend 5-0-1 and added two wins; Des Moines arrived on a three-game skid and lost twice more.

Friday’s 5-0 Waterloo victory showed what the Black Hawks can do defensively. Charlie Menard stopped all 22 shots he faced for the team’s first shutout since December 27, 2025, with goals from Cody Sokol, Sal Viviano, Camden Langfeld, Dylan Nolan and Trevor O’Donohue, and Waterloo held Des Moines to four third-period shots. Saturday called for a different approach, as the Black Hawks won 2-1 at Young Arena even though Des Moines outshot them 13-4 in the final period. Sebastian Charvat stopped 32 of 33 shots, and Sokol and Troy Hunka supplied the offense. Waterloo is now 7-0-1 with 15 of a possible 16 standings points, and its seven straight wins are the organization’s longest streak since a similar run during the 2022-23 season.

Des Moines opened 5-0 by converting chances and winning close games, but five straight losses have exposed inconsistent offense. Saturday’s stronger third period offered encouragement without a result, and the formula behind those first five wins remains elusive.

Sioux Falls and Cedar Rapids produced two very different games. Friday went to the RoughRiders, who ended a two-game losing streak with a 5-3 win behind a David Bosco hat trick. His opening power-play goal carried added weight because Sioux Falls had successfully killed its first 28 penalties of the season. The Stampede rallied from a 2-0 deficit on two goals from rookie Matthew Portz, the first two of his USHL career, but Bosco restored the lead late in the second period and completed the hat trick early in the third.

Saturday belonged almost entirely to Sioux Falls, which scored five times in the opening period on the way to a 7-4 win. Cooper Soller recorded his first USHL hat trick with goals at even strength, on the power play and shorthanded, captain Anthony Bongo opened the scoring just 1:41 in, and Max Davis added his first USHL goal. In net, Ryan Cameron faced his former organization for the first time since being acquired from Cedar Rapids in May and stopped 28 of 32 shots. Sioux Falls followed with a 4-1 win over Lincoln on Tuesday, getting two goals from Gavin Clark and a shorthanded breakaway from Davis 1:06 into the game.

Cedar Rapids has a different issue to address. After allowing only 11 goals in its first seven games, the RoughRiders have surrendered 18 over their last four, making defensive consistency a growing concern.

Muskegon has been inconsistent, but 16-year-old Zaac Charbonneau keeps producing. The 2010-born forward delivered the first hat trick of his USHL career Saturday in a 5-2 win over Youngstown, bringing his season total to nine goals through 10 games. He opened his scoring on the power play, added a goal off a breakaway created by Louis Jonerheim, and finished with an empty-netter late in the third period, while Maxim Šimko scored twice and Oscar Westman stopped 31 of 33 shots.

The win followed a frustrating 3-2 shootout loss on Friday that took eight rounds before Youngstown’s Jesse Orlowsky scored the decider. Muskegon had forced overtime when captain Rudolfs Berzkalns redirected a Charbonneau shot into the net with 2:30 left in regulation, and the Lumberjacks finished the weekend with three of four possible standings points. Nine goals in 10 games is an impressive introduction for a 2010-born player against older junior competition, particularly given the variety of ways Charbonneau has scored.

Madison’s difficult opening looks quite different after the Capitols won their third game in four outings, a 6-2 decision over Chicago in Saturday’s home opener. Braeden Waller scored the first two goals of his USHL career, Caleb Pittsley added two more, and Nolen Geerdes and Eero Butella also scored as Madison built a 6-0 lead before Chicago answered twice in the third period. The turnaround also includes a victory over then-unbeaten Cedar Rapids the previous weekend.

The home opener also came with an unusual backdrop. Madison had planned to begin the season at its new LEGACY20 Arena at DeForest Yards, but construction delays forced the organization to move its first four home games to Bob Suter’s LEGACY20 Arena in Middleton, with the dates falling on October 17, 23, 24 and 30. The new facility’s opening date remains unconfirmed.

Tri-City kept its strong start going with consecutive victories over Omaha, though its three-game weekend ended earlier than planned. Friday’s 5-2 win featured the first USHL goals for Danick St. Pierre, Nathan Garski and Patrik Rusznyak, with Garski and Rusznyak both scoring into an empty net from inside Tri-City’s defensive zone, and Quinn Beumer stopped 35 of 37 shots. Saturday took overtime after Omaha erased a 2-0 deficit with two third-period goals, and Samuel Courtemanche ended it on a breakaway just over a minute into the extra period for a 3-2 win that gave him two goals on the night.

The Storm were scheduled to return home Sunday to face Sioux City, but the game was postponed because of unplayable ice conditions at Viaero Center. The organization identified a mechanical issue but did not specify the failure or announce a replacement date.

Upcoming matchups should test that momentum. Fargo welcomes Cedar Rapids for games on October 22 and 23, pairing the Force’s six-game winning streak against a RoughRiders team trying to recover its defensive consistency, and Thursday’s game belongs to the next reporting period. Waterloo visits Madison on October 23 and 24, a test for Madison’s recent momentum, while Muskegon visits Lincoln on the same dates and offers another test for Charbonneau. Des Moines also travels to Green Bay for a two-game series between two clubs trying to work through difficult stretches, with the Buccaneers carrying a five-game losing streak and the Gamblers coming off a weekend in which Fargo scored 15 goals against them.

The season is still young, but the gap between a promising start and sustained success is becoming easier to see. Fargo and Waterloo keep building momentum, Sioux Falls has shown it can respond, and Madison is moving past its early struggles, while Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are learning that even an exceptional start offers little protection against what follows. Consistency, rather than the first few results, will matter most as autumn advances.

---