USHL 2026-27 Season Preview Sioux Falls defends the Clark Cup as the USHL opens the 2026-27 season in Chicago.

Joey Macrina ended last season with a double-overtime goal that delivered Sioux Falls its fourth Clark Cup. For Muskegon, it was the difference between consecutive championships and another summer preparing for a run at the Cup.

Youngstown won the Anderson Cup but could not carry its franchise-record regular season through the Eastern Conference playoffs. Green Bay and Cedar Rapids saw strong seasons end quickly, while sixth-seeded Madison reached the conference final and reminded everyone how much can change once the playoffs begin.

Sixteen teams begin a 62-game regular season at the Fall Classic in Chicago from September 16-20, playing two games each that count in the standings before the schedule runs through April 3, 2027. The event moves to Blackhawks Ice Center presented by Fifth Third Bank for the first time, with most games at USG Arena, the Chicago Steel's new home, giving fans a first look at returning veterans, new arrivals and reshaped rosters across the league. Those two games are only a starting point, separating offseason expectations from what teams can actually put on the ice, with April deciding which of them were truly contenders.

 

 

Cedar Rapids has plenty worth carrying forward from a 36-win season. The RoughRiders allowed a league-low 24.79 shots per game, averaged 3.79 goals, and assembled a 17-game point streak. Mark Carlson earned his fourth USHL Coach of the Year award, but Muskegon still ended Cedar Rapids' season in the first round.

Braiden Scuderi is back after a 35-point rookie year, David Bosco contributed 34 points, and Joseph Skidmore provides continuity in goal, while tendered newcomer Blake Wilichoski adds another offensive prospect after playing at Milton Academy. Cedar Rapids should expect more than simply making the playoffs this time, with its regular-season control now needing to hold up in a short series where mistakes become more expensive.

 

Chicago's new building supplies the setting, but the Steel still need their young roster to provide the progress after consecutive missed postseasons and a 27-win finish in 2025-26. Defenseman Jayden Kurtz returns after Anaheim selected him 45th overall in the NHL Draft. Incoming forward MJ Campbell brings a 101-point season from Mount St. Charles Academy 15U, while Nolan and Trevor Shorter have already sampled USHL competition. Joe Erickson arrives following a 64-point season at the Blake School.

The talent makes Chicago interesting, though producing consistently against older USHL competition is the harder part, and the Steel open USG Arena against Lincoln on September 18 with playoff hockey the larger goal for the new building.

 

A 40-win season gives Dubuque a strong starting point, even if a five-game conference semifinal loss to Muskegon left the Saints short of where they wanted to go. Captain Melvin Ekman returns after scoring 48 points, Gavin Lock comes back from a 20-goal campaign, and Luke Brierley adds experience on defense. Nathan Kydd, a first-round Phase II selection, brings 42 points in 29 games from Nova Scotia, while Luke Carrithers arrives in goal after two seasons with the NTDP.

How those additions fit around the returning group will determine whether Dubuque moves beyond last spring's finish, and after 40 wins, the conference final is a fair bar with the Clark Cup Final still beyond it.

 

Green Bay's 82 points and third-place conference finish offered no protection when Madison swept the Gamblers in the opening round, leaving a team coming off 38 wins to figure out whether the next strong regular season can lead somewhere further.

Andrew O'Sullivan gives Green Bay an established offensive presence on defense after finishing third among USHL blueliners with 46 points. Gunnar Conboy is back after a 21-point rookie year, and Oliver McKinney remains another important offensive piece. Tendered forwards Ben Slavick and Luke Pietila bring substantial production, with Pietila recording 98 points for Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 16U. Green Bay has shown it can win over a full schedule; now that production has to survive a difficult playoff series.

 

Madison supplied one of last spring's strongest arguments against judging a playoff team entirely by its seed. The sixth-place Capitols swept Green Bay and advanced to the Eastern Conference final, which changes how this season will be judged.

Defenseman Nolen Geerdes returns after adding 10 playoff points to a 29-point regular season. Caleb Pittsley contributed 27 regular-season points and three postseason goals, while Logan Lutner arrives with two years of NTDP experience. Trent Eigner takes over as head coach and general manager following Andy Brandt's move to an NCAA Division I coaching opportunity. Madison now has to turn last spring's run into a stronger full-season position, starting with the Capitols' debut at LEGACY20 Arena at DeForest Yards against Chicago on October 17.

 

Muskegon has reached consecutive Clark Cup Finals, winning in 2025 before falling to Sioux Falls last spring. Rudolfs Berzkalns returns after recording 25 regular-season points and 10 more in the playoffs before Edmonton selected him 58th overall. Nicholas Kosiba joins from Fargo, while tendered forward Zaac Charbonneau arrives after a 102-point season at Mount St. Charles Academy 15U. Teddy Lechner and AJ Valenti are additional players to follow, with two straight trips to the Clark Cup Final setting the standard but guaranteeing nothing for this year's group.

 

The NTDP's 17-win USHL season tells only part of the story for a program whose schedule includes both U17 and U18 teams. Development and international competition remain central to its purpose, while the advancing 2009-born group gives the U18 team a more experienced base entering the season.

Nolan Fitzhenry led last season's U17 team with 21 goals and enters his NHL Draft year as a player to watch. Freddie Schneider recorded 24 points, while Rocco Pelosi and Diego Gutierrez are other names to follow. Defenseman Jake Prunty joins after leading USHL rookie blueliners with 37 points during Sioux Falls' championship season. A playoff berth would be notable, though progress against older opponents matters just as much, and Tri-City and Sioux Falls provide the first look at both.

 

Youngstown enters as the defending Anderson Cup champion with the frustration of a conference semifinal exit still attached to last season. Its franchise-record 43 wins made the Phantoms the regular-season standard, but Madison ended their postseason before they could turn that success into a Clark Cup run.

Malachi McKinnon returns after a 50-point breakout, Brody Berard provides continuity on defense, and Owen Lepak comes back in goal after posting a 2.32 goals-against average and .903 save percentage in 19 appearances. Lukas Zajic joins following a 31-point U18 season with the NTDP. New head coach Nathan Paetsch inherits a team with an established regular-season level to maintain and a playoff result to improve, with the real task being to stay near the top of the East and last longer once the postseason begins.

 

 

Returning to the playoffs gave Des Moines something to build on, although a first-round loss to Lincoln made clear that more work remains. Riley Zupfer offers an offensive foundation after a 41-point rookie season and All-Rookie recognition. Henry Major produced 26 points between Chicago and Des Moines, while newcomer Eli Bimmerle arrives after scoring 59 points for Dallas Stars Elite 16U. Becker Wenkus adds recent experience from the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Last year's return to the postseason still needs to prove itself as a genuine step forward, and Muskegon and Youngstown make for a demanding opening pair against clubs accustomed to higher expectations.

 

Fargo came within one victory of the Clark Cup Final, losing to Sioux Falls in Game 5 of the Western Conference final after 38 regular-season wins. Zac Zimmerman returns, and fellow Moorhead product Max Cullen arrives after finishing last season with Muskegon. Defenseman AJ Francisco brings a 41-point season across 58 NTDP games, while tendered newcomer Wilson Boumedienne adds another promising young player.

After getting within one win of the final, Fargo should expect another serious run in the West while working those additions into a proven group, and Cedar Rapids and Green Bay make for a demanding Fall Classic to open against.

 

Lincoln gave its season a stronger ending than its 28-win regular season suggested. The Stars eliminated Des Moines and took eventual champion Sioux Falls to five games, showing that their ceiling was higher than the regular-season record indicated.

Goaltender William Prowse returns after winning 19 games, giving new head coach Artt Brey an experienced piece in an important position. Brey takes over after five years on the staff. Casey Vandertop joins full-time after his career at Edina, while Michael Kotora returns after missing last season. Brady Sloper and Brady Cunningham are also players to track, and improving its regular-season position would give Lincoln a better playoff starting point while making last spring's run look more repeatable.

 

Omaha's 19-win season leaves considerable room for improvement, and its younger players will have a prominent role in determining how quickly that happens. Thaddeus McMahon, the first overall pick in the 2025 Phase I Draft, returns after injury limited his debut to 13 games. Tendered forward Matthew Lynn brings 64 points from the 15U level, Yegor Kim adds another young offensive prospect, and defenseman Nathaniel Celski arrives in a trade from Muskegon.

Potential alone will not close the standings gap, so staying in the playoff race deeper into the season would represent real improvement, with Chicago and Madison providing the first tests.

 

Sioux City won 30 games and swept Tri-City before Fargo ended its postseason in the conference semifinals. Max Anderson returns after a 27-point season. Incoming forward Brock Stevenson recorded 85 points in 53 games last year, while Maksim Yakub adds a new defensive option after playing for the Nor'Easters and Avon Old Farms. William Keane arrives from Muskegon in goal.

Closing the gap on the West's leading teams is the challenge in front of Sioux City, and a better regular-season finish would strengthen another playoff run, with Green Bay and Cedar Rapids providing early tests.

 

The defending champions begin with both the Cup and a returning group that helped win it after Sioux Falls matched Youngstown's 43 regular-season victories and then finished the job against Muskegon in the final.

Macrina is back after producing 41 regular-season points and the championship-winning goal. USHL Rookie of the Year Cooper Soller and Anthony Bongo provide additional established talent. Tendered forward Dylan Delgado arrives after a 115-point season in 82 national 15U AAA games with Honeybaked, while Ethan Sung joins from Shattuck-St. Mary's. With Macrina, Soller and Bongo returning, Sioux Falls has enough continuity to remain among the West's leaders, leaving the biggest unknown as how quickly the newcomers replace the pieces the championship roster lost.

 

Tri-City needs more offensive support and a dependable answer in goal after a 26-win season ended in a first-round sweep by Sioux City. Replacing Michal Pradel, a USHL Goaltender of the Year finalist, is one of the major issues facing the Storm.

Luca Cannata recorded 51 points for Bishop Kearney Selects 18U before a brief introduction with Chicago, Aleksandr Sokolov produced 72 points at South Kent, and Trevor Hill earned Manitoba Junior Hockey League Rookie of the Year honors after scoring 40 goals. John Torchetti returns for his second season as head coach, and it will take that production translating into enough offense to move Tri-City upward while the club finds a reliable answer in goal.

 

Waterloo begins with the most ground to recover after finishing with a league-low 16 wins. New head coach Brett Olson, a former Black Hawks player and four-year member of the staff, takes over a group with some useful returning experience.

Salvatore Viviano scored 40 points in his first USHL season, and Hayden Russell produced 34 between Dubuque and Waterloo. Defensemen Caleb Deanovich and Rian Marquardt both gained league experience as 16-year-olds, giving the blue line players with room to grow, and if that experience produces more consistent team play, Waterloo has a path back into the playoff conversation, with Muskegon and Youngstown providing an immediate measure of the ground made up.

 

The East opens with several legitimate contenders, while Sioux Falls and Fargo provide the clearest starting points in the West. Madison and Lincoln showed how quickly the picture can change once the playoffs arrive, and the teams that missed out last spring have a fresh opportunity to change where they fit.

September won't settle the Clark Cup race on its own, but the Fall Classic starts shaping the standings right away, with every club leaving Chicago having played two games that turn preseason projections into actual results. Contenders, rebuilding teams and prospects making their first USHL impression will all walk away from those two games with the first real evidence of which offseason expectations were justified.