United States Hockey League


The United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly amateur, allowing former players to compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association college hockey.
The Lincoln Stars won the Anderson Cup as the 2024–25 regular season champions. The Muskegon Lumberjacks won the 2025 Clark Cup playoff championship, their first in franchise history.

Operations

The USHL is the country's top sanctioned junior hockey league, classified as Tier I. Like comparable entities such as the Canadian Hockey League's three member leagues, the USHL offers a schedule of high-level, competitive games for top players aged 16 to 20.
Teams are subject to strict roster rules. In 2017–18 they may have no more than four overage skaters and are limited to a maximum of five import players, three international players and two Canadian skaters. Starting in 2018–19, non-American goaltenders will count as two import players in a move designed to give more development time to American goalies, who are also exempt from the overage rule.
USHL teams, typically located in mid-sized cities, pay for all uniforms and equipment. Players live with local families, who receive a small stipend for food expenses, and either continue school or work part-time jobs. Due to their schedules, more than 90% of games are on weekends, which many NHL and college scouts attend. Average attendance at regular season games for the 2014–15 season was 2,715 with 1,384,820 fans attending games during the season.
Kyle Woodlief of Red Line Report stated in 2007 that the USHL's first line players are as good as their counterparts in the CHL—historically an important producer of NHL players—but that the Canadian-based league has better third and fourth lines. In 2006, Trevor Lewis, the 17th pick in the NHL Entry Draft, was the first USHL player to sign an NHL contract immediately after playing in the league.
At the conclusion of the 2014–15 regular season, the USHL has tallied 251 alumni that have played in the NHL and has 347 current players with NCAA college commitments. According to the league, approximately 95 percent of its players will eventually land a Division I college scholarship.
On March 18, 2020, the USHL cancelled the rest of 2019–20 season and playoffs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The start of the following season was delayed to November 2020 and some teams had to suspend operations for the 2020–21 season.

Draft

The USHL Draft is an annual event conducted in two "phases" during the second week of May. The first phase is an eight-round draft of U-17 players for the upcoming season. The second phase of the draft is open to all players eligible to play junior hockey who are not already protected by a USHL team. The number of players drafted varies, as each team will draft until they have filled the 45 spots available on their roster. Undrafted players are open to try out for any team as a try-out player. Each team must reduce their roster to 23 players for the start of the season, but may carry 18 additional players on an affiliate list.

Teams

Current teams

Defunct professional teams

Senior league timeline


DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/1961 till:12/31/1980
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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id:line value:black
id:in value:rgb # current member
id:Past value:rgb # former member
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:in from:07/01/1961 till:01/16/1962 text: Milwaukee Metros
bar:2 color:in from:07/01/1961 till:06/01/1962 text: Minneapolis Rebels
bar:3 color:in from:07/01/1961 till:06/01/1963 text: Des Moines Oak Leafs
bar:4 color:in from:07/01/1961 till:06/01/1970 text: Rochester Mustangs
bar:5 color:in from:07/01/1961 till:06/01/1979 text: Green Bay Bobcats
bar:6 color:in from:07/01/1962 till:06/01/1966 text: St. Paul Steers
bar:7 color:in from:07/01/1962 till:06/01/1969 text: Waterloo Black Hawks
bar:7 color:in from:07/01/1970 till:06/01/1979 text:
bar:8 color:in from:07/01/1964 till:06/01/1976 text: Marquette Iron Rangers
bar:9 color:in from:07/01/1965 till:06/01/1966 text: Fox Valley Astros
bar:10 color:in from:07/01/1966 till:06/01/1967 text: U.S. Nationals
bar:11 color:in from:07/01/1967 till:06/01/1968 text: Minnesota Nationals
bar:12 color:in from:07/01/1968 till:12/30/1968 text: Duluth Port Stars
bar:13 color:in from:07/01/1968 till:06/01/1972 text: Soo Canadians
bar:13 color:in from:07/01/1972 till:06/01/1973 text: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
bar:14 color:in from:12/30/1968 till:06/01/1969 text: Grand Rapids Bruins
bar:15 color:in from:07/01/1970 till:06/01/1975 text: Thunder Bay Twins
bar:16 color:in from:07/01/1972 till:06/01/1975 text: Chicago Warriors
bar:17 color:in from:07/01/1972 till:06/01/1973 shift:-100 text: Calumet-Houghton Chiefs / Copper Country Islanders / Copper Country Chiefs
bar:17 color:in from:07/01/1973 till:06/01/1974 text:
bar:17 color:in from:07/01/1974 till:12/30/1975 text:
bar:18 color:in from:07/01/1972 till:06/01/1979 text: Sioux City Musketeers
bar:19 color:in from:07/01/1973 till:06/01/1974 text: Madison Blues
bar:20 color:in from:07/01/1973 till:06/01/1977 text: Milwaukee Admirals
bar:21 color:in from:07/01/1974 till:06/01/1976 text: Central Wisconsin Flyers
bar:22 color:in from:07/01/1975 till:06/01/1977 text: Traverse City Bays
bar:23 color:in from:07/01/1976 till:06/01/1977 text: Grand Rapids Blades
bar:24 color:in from:07/01/1977 till:06/01/1979 text: Austin Mavericks
bar:25 color:in from:07/01/1977 till:06/01/1979 shift:-25 text: Bloomington Junior Stars
bar:26 color:in from:07/01/1977 till:06/01/1979 text: St. Paul Vulcans
bar:27 color:in from:07/01/1978 till:06/01/1979 shift:-50 text: Anoka Nordiques
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color:black layer:back
at:06/01/1979
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Junior league timeline


DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1500 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/1979 till:12/31/2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:10 left:5 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:line value:black
id:Now value:rgb # current member
id:Past value:rgb # former member
id:Future value:rgb # future member
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/1981 text: Green Bay Bobcats
bar:2 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/1985 text: Bloomington Junior Stars / Minneapolis Jr. Stars
bar:3 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/1985 text: Austin Mavericks
bar:3 color:Past from:07/01/1985 till:05/01/2002 text: Rochester Mustangs
bar:4 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/1980 text: Waterloo Black Hawks
bar:4 color:Past from:07/01/1980 till:05/01/2001 shift:200 text: Dubuque Fighting Saints
bar:4 color:Past from:07/01/2001 till:05/01/2002 text: Tulsa Crude
bar:5 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/1980 text: Hennepin Nordiques
bar:5 color:Now from:07/01/1980 till:end shift:200 text: Waterloo Black Hawks
bar:6 color:Past from:07/01/1979 till:05/01/2000 text: St. Paul/Twin City Vulcans
bar:6 color:Now from:07/01/2000 till:end text: Tri-City Storm
bar:7 color:Now from:07/01/1979 till:end text: Sioux City Musketeers
bar:8 color:Now from:07/01/1980 till:end text: Des Moines Buccaneers
bar:9 color:Past from:07/01/1983 till:05/01/1999 text: North Iowa Huskies
bar:9 color:Now from:07/01/1999 till:end text: Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
bar:10 color:Past from:07/01/1984 till:05/01/1995 text: Madison/Wisconsin Capitols
bar:11 color:Past from:07/01/1984 till:05/01/2000 text: Thunder Bay Flyers
bar:12 color:Now from:07/01/1986 till:end text: Omaha/River City Lancers
bar:13 color:Now from:07/01/1994 till:end text: Green Bay Gamblers
bar:14 color:Past from:07/01/1995 till:05/01/1996 text: Fargo-Moorhead Bears
bar:15 color:Past from:07/01/1996 till:05/01/2000 shift:-90 text: Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks
bar:15 color:Now from:07/01/2000 till:end text: Chicago Steel
bar:16 color:Now from:07/01/1996 till:end text: Lincoln Stars
bar:17 color:Now from:07/01/1997 till:05/01/2002 text: USA Hockey National Team Development Program
bar:17 color:Now from:07/01/2009 till:end text:
bar:18 color:Now from:07/01/1999 till:end text: Sioux Falls Stampede
bar:19 color:Past from:07/01/2001 till:05/01/2003 shift:-100 text: Topeka Scarecrows
bar:19 color:Past from:07/01/2003 till:05/01/2004 text: St. Louis Heartland Eagles
bar:20 color:Past from:07/01/2003 till:05/01/2004 shift:-110 text: Danville Wings
bar:20 color:Past from:07/01/2004 till:05/01/2014 text: Indiana Ice
bar:21 color:Past from:07/01/2006 till:05/01/2008 text: Ohio Junior Blue Jackets
bar:22 color:Now from:07/01/2008 till:end text: Fargo Force
bar:23 color:Now from:07/01/2009 till:end text: Youngstown Phantoms
bar:24 color:Now from:07/01/2010 till:end text: Muskegon Lumberjacks
bar:25 color:Now from:07/01/2010 till:end text: Dubuque Fighting Saints
bar:26 color:Past from:07/01/2014 till:05/01/2019 text: Bloomington Thunder / Central Illinois Flying Aces
bar:27 color:Now from:07/01/2014 till:end text: Madison Capitols
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1980

History

Precursors to this league were:
  • American Amateur Hockey League
  • Central Hockey League
  • Minnesota Hockey League
  • United States Central Hockey League