2020–21 USHL season

The 2020–21 USHL season was the 42nd season of the United States Hockey League as an all-junior league.

2020–21 USHL Season
League	United States Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	November 6, 2020 – April 24, 2021
Number of games	49–54
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Anderson Cup	Chicago Steel
Season MVP	Sean Farrell (Chicago Steel)
Clark Cup Playoffs
Clark Cup Playoffs MVP	Adam Fantilli[1] (Steel)
Finals champions	Chicago Steel
Runners-up	Fargo Force

Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous season was curtailed on March 12, 2020, without holding a playoff or awarding a Clark Cup champion.^[2][3] As pandemic-related restrictions were still in effect, the start of the 2020–21 season was delayed to November 2020.^[4]

During the offseason, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders' home arena was damaged during the August 10 derecho, forcing the team to suspend operations for at least the 2020–21 season. The Madison Capitols chose to not participate due to pandemic restrictions in Madison, Wisconsin.^[4]

The regular season ran from November 6, 2020, to April 24, 2021, with a 54-game schedule for each team.^[5] Due to pandemic safety protocols, several games were postponed or cancelled, with six of the fourteen teams completing all 54 games. For the second consecutive season, the Chicago Steel were awarded the Anderson Cup for accumulating 81 points in 54 games for a 0.750 points percentage. The Steel also won the Clark Cup playoff championship.^[1]

Regular season

Due to the unbalanced schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, the league ranked teams on points percentage.

Final standings:^[6]

Eastern Conference Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA z – Chicago Steel 54 38 11 3 2 81 0.750 265 185 x – Muskegon Lumberjacks 54 34 16 2 2 72 0.667 241 209 x – Green Bay Gamblers 51 30 17 2 2 64 0.627 190 182 x – Dubuque Fighting Saints 52 24 23 4 1 53 0.510 199 212 Team USA 54 22 24 4 4 52 0.481 226 245 Youngstown Phantoms 49 12 30 5 2 31 0.316 145 218

Western Conference Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA y – Tri-City Storm 52 30 18 3 1 64 0.615 178 137 x – Omaha Lancers 53 30 20 2 1 63 0.594 169 156 x – Sioux City Musketeers 53 31 21 1 0 63 0.594 160 125 x – Fargo Force 54 31 21 3 0 63 0.583 169 148 Des Moines Buccaneers 51 26 21 4 0 56 0.549 158 152 Lincoln Stars 54 22 28 3 1 48 0.444 160 204 Waterloo Black Hawks 53 22 30 1 0 45 0.425 165 202 Sioux Falls Stampede 54 18 32 3 1 40 0.370 163 213

x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched conference title; z = clinched regular season title

Statistical leaders

Scoring leaders

Players are listed by points, then goals.

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts. = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Sean Farrell	Chicago Steel	53	29	72	101	54
Matthew Coronato	Chicago Steel	51	48	37	85	57
Josh Doan	Chicago Steel	53	31	39	70	45
Erik Middendorf	Chicago Steel	53	32	36	68	19
Danil Gushchin	Muskegon Lumberjacks	46	32	32	64	42
Mason Lohrei	Green Bay Gamblers	48	19	40	59	74
Cameron Berg	Muskegon Lumberjacks	51	27	31	58	18
Ayrton Martino	Omaha Lancers	38	18	38	56	12
Cristophe Tellier	Muskegon Lumberjacks	53	22	32	54	34
Robert Cronin	Dubuque Fighting Saints	48	28	25	53	54

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; SOL = Shootout losses; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage

Player	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	OTL	SOL	SO	GAA	SV%
Akira Schmid	Sioux City Musketeers	36	2147	22	13	1	0	3	2.01	0.921
Todd Scott	Tri-City Storm	39	2181	22	10	2	1	2	2.37	0.910
Brennan Boynton	Fargo Force	46	2540	26	16	1	0	3	2.43	0.901
Jakub Dobeš	Omaha Lancers	47	2588	26	16	2	1	2	2.48	0.908
Remington Keopple	Des Moines Buccaneers	25	1350	11	9	3	0	1	2.76	0.900

Clark Cup playoffs

Final results:^[7]

Conference Semifinals (Best-of-3)

Conference Finals (Best-of-3)

Clark Cup Championship (Best-of-5)

E1

Chicago

2

E4

Dubuque

0

E1

Chicago

2

Eastern Conference

E2

Muskegon

0

E2

Muskegon

2

E3

Green Bay

0

E1

Chicago

3

W4

Fargo

1

W1

Tri-City

1

W4

Fargo

2

W3

Sioux City

0

Western Conference

W4

Fargo

2

W2

Omaha

0

W3

Sioux City

2

Conference Semifinals

Eastern Conference

(E1) Chicago Steel vs. (E4) Dubuque Fighting Saints

April 30	Chicago Steel		2 – 1		Dubuque Fighting Saints	Fox Valley Ice Arena
No scoring		First period			Braden Doyle (1) - 1:18
10:04 - Erik Middendorf (1) 19:51 - Matthew Coronato (1)		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Simon Latkoczy (29 saves / 30 shots)		Goalie stats			Lukáš Pařík (27 saves / 29 shots)

May 1	Chicago Steel		6 – 1		Dubuque Fighting Saints	Fox Valley Ice Arena
13:50 - pp - Mackie Samoskevich (1) 18:45 - Ryan Ufko (1)		First period			No scoring
1:45 - Matthew Coronato (2) 9:08 - pp - Sean Farrell (1) 17:52 - Adam Fantilli (1)		Second period			Kenny Connors (1) - pp - 5:26
4:46 - pp - Matthew Coronato (3)		Third period			No scoring
Simon Latkoczy (24 saves / 25 shots)		Goalie stats			Lukáš Pařík (40 saves / 46 shots)

Chicago wins series 2 – 0

(E2) Muskegon Lumberjacks vs. (E3) Green Bay Gamblers

April 30	Muskegon Lumberjacks		3 – 2		Green Bay Gamblers	Mercy Health Arena
1:54 - Cristophe Tellier (1) 8:29 - Cameron Berg (1)		First period			Jackson Hallum (1) - 8:48
No scoring		Second period			Jesse Tucker (1) - pp - 12:50
19:22 - Bradley Marek (1)		Third period			No scoring
Jan Škorpík (21 saves / 23 shots)		Goalie stats			Matt Davis (28 saves / 31 shots)

May 1	Muskegon Lumberjacks		3 – 1		Green Bay Gamblers	Mercy Health Arena
No scoring		First period			No scoring
6:24 - Danil Gushchin (1)		Second period			No scoring
15:05 - Cristophe Tellier (2) 19:15 - en - Cameron Berg (2)		Third period			Mason Lohrei (1) - 5:27
Jan Škorpík (26 saves / 27 shots)		Goalie stats			Matt Davis (31 saves / 33 shots)

Muskegon wins series 2 – 0

Western Conference

(W1) Tri-City Storm vs. (W4) Fargo Force

April 30	Tri-City Storm		3 – 2		Fargo Force	Viaero Center
10:12 - pp - Cole McWard (1)		First period			Jack Peart (1) - pp - 17:40
No scoring		Second period			Bear Hughes (1) - 7:03
11:30 - pp - Hunter Strand (1) 15:31 - pp - Mark Estapa (1)		Third period			No scoring
Todd Scott (13 saves / 15 shots)		Goalie stats			Brennan Boynton (20 saves / 23 shots)

May 1	Tri-City Storm		4 – 5	OT	Fargo Force	Viaero Center
13:33 - Matthew Knies (1)		First period			Cody Monds (1) - 15:23
5:24 - Gavin Brindley (1) 9:03 - pp - Conner Hutchison (1)		Second period			Austin Wong (1) - sh - 8:10
10:37 - Drew Montgomery (1)		Third period			Tristan Broz (1) - pp - 5:11
No scoring		First overtime period			Cody Monds (2) - 2:52
Todd Scott (30 saves / 35 shots)		Goalie stats			Brennan Boynton (29 saves/ 33 shots)

May 1	Tri-City Storm		2 – 3		Fargo Force	Viaero Center
Carter Mazur (1) - 1:11 Cole O'Hara (1) - 12:52		First period			6:44 - Tristan Broz (2)
No scoring		Second period			6:05 - pp - Mason Salquist (1) Jeremy Davidson (1) - 9:05
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Todd Scott (19 saves / 22 shots)		Goalie stats			Brennan Boynton (36 saves / 38 shots)

Fargo wins series 2 – 1

(W2) Omaha Lancers vs. (W3) Sioux City Musketeers

May 1	Omaha Lancers		0 – 2		Sioux City Musketeers	Ralston Arena
No scoring		First period			Ben Doran (1) - 12:01
No scoring		Second period			Shai Buium (1) - 3:04
No scoring		Third period			No scoring
Jakub Dobeš (17 saves / 19 shots)		Goalie stats			Akira Schmid (25 saves / 25 shots)

May 2	Omaha Lancers		1 – 2		Sioux City Musketeers	Ralston Arena
No scoring		First period			Chase Bradley (1) - pp - 2:12
12:05 - Cam Mitchell (1)		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			Justin Hryckowian (1) - sh - 11:50
Jakub Dobeš (31 saves / 33 shots)		Goalie stats			Akira Schmid (29 saves / 30 shots)

Sioux City wins series 2 – 0

Conference Finals

Eastern Conference

(E1) Chicago Steel vs. (E2) Muskegon Lumberjacks

May 7	Chicago Steel		3 – 2	OT	Muskegon Lumberjacks	Fox Valley Ice Arena
No scoring		First period			Cameron Berg (3) - 18:54
16:43 - pp - Josh Doan (1)		Second period			Bradley Marek (2) - 19:16
8:06 - Adam Fantilli (2)		Third period			No scoring
7:09 - Matthew Coronato (4)		First overtime period			No scoring
Simon Latkoczy (29 saves / 31 shots)		Goalie stats			Jan Škorpík (22 saves / 25 shots)

May 8	Muskegon Lumberjacks		4 – 5		Chicago Steel	Mercy Health Arena
18:08 - Danil Gushchin (2)		First period			Adam Fantilli (3) - 2:37
7:02 - Cameron Berg (4) 7:52 - Danil Gushchin (3) 15:14 - pp - Jacob Guevin (1)		Second period			Erik Middendorf (2) - 1:41 Matthew Coronato (5) - 8:24 Matthew Coronato (6) - 19:47
No scoring		Third period			Adam Fantilli (4) - 8:34
Jan Škorpík (25 saves / 30 shots)		Goalie stats			Simon Latkoczy (27 saves / 31 shots)

Chicago wins series 2 – 0

Western Conference

(W3) Sioux City Musketeers vs. (W4) Fargo Force

May 7	Sioux City Musketeers		1 – 6		Fargo Force	Tyson Events Center
No scoring		First period			Jacob Braccini (1) - 6:44 Cody Monds (3) - 9:37 Aaron Huglen (2) - 13:22
10:56 - Ethan Edwards (1)		Second period			Jacob Braccini (2) - 2:19 Jacob Braccini (3) - 18:03
No scoring		Third period			Bear Hughes (2) - pp - 15:56
Akira Schmid (21 saves / 27 shots)		Goalie stats			Brennan Boynton (13 saves / 13 shots) Andrew Miller (18 saves / 19 shots)

May 8	Fargo Force		3 – 0		Sioux City Musketeers	Scheels Arena
No scoring		First period			No scoring
Tristan Broz (3) - 5:15		Second period			No scoring
Matt Crasa (1) - 2:59 Jeremy Davidson (2) - en - 19:58		Third period			No scoring
Andrew Miller (34 saves / 34 shots)		Goalie stats			Akira Schmid (29 saves / 31 shots)

Fargo wins series 2 – 0

Clark Cup Finals

(E1) Chicago Steel vs. (W4) Fargo Force

May 14	Chicago Steel		0 – 3		Fargo Force	Fox Valley Ice Arena
No scoring		First period			Kyle Smolen (1) - 7:27 Jake Peart (2) - 15:01
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			Aaron Huglen (3) - 7:32
Simon Latkoczy (23 saves / 26 shots)		Goalie stats			Andrew Miller (20 saves / 20 shots)

May 15	Chicago Steel		4 – 1		Fargo Force	Fox Valley Ice Arena
1:01 - Adam Fantilli (5) 11:53 - Adam Robbins (1)		First period			Austin Wong (2) - pp - 8:32
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
18:49 - sh - en - Matthew Coronato (7) 19:27 - en - Erik Middendorf (3)		Third period			No scoring
Simon Latkoczy (29 saves / 30 shots)		Goalie stats			Andrew Miller (30 saves / 32 shots)

May 21	Fargo Force		1 – 7		Chicago Steel	Scheels Arena
12:42 - Cody Monds (4)		First period			Matthew Coronato (8) - pp - 12:29 Erik Middendorf (4) - 19:17
No scoring		Second period			Matthew Coronato (9) - 4:58 Josh Doan (2) - 10:44
No scoring		Third period			Sean Farrell (2) - 3:21 Adam Fantilli (6) - pp - 17:33 Sam Lipkin (1) - pp - 18:31
Brennan Boynton (13 saves / 17 shots) Andrew Miller (13 saves / 16 shots)		Goalie stats			Simon Latkoczy (22 saves / 23 shots)

May 22	Fargo Force		1 – 3		Chicago Steel	Scheels Arena
Cody Monds (5) - 12:40		First period			Adam Fantilli (7) - 11:08
No scoring		Second period			Jackson Blake (1) - 13:17
No scoring		Third period			Adam Fantilli (8) - 17:55
Andrew Miller (29 saves / 32 shots)		Goalie stats			Simon Latkoczy (27 saves / 28 shots)

Chicago wins series 3 – 1

Playoff scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Matthew Coronato	Chicago Steel	8	9	4	13	4
Tristan Broz	Fargo Force	9	3	8	11	16
Sean Farrell	Chicago Steel	8	2	8	10	2
Mackie Samoskevich	Chicago Steel	8	1	9	10	4
Adam Fantilli	Chicago Steel	8	8	1	9	2
Cody Monds	Fargo Force	7	5	3	8	2
Aaron Huglen	Fargo Force	9	3	5	8	4
Jack Peart	Fargo Force	9	2	5	7	2
Ryan Ufko	Chicago Steel	8	1	6	7	4
Erik Middendorf	Chicago Steel	8	4	1	5	4

Playoff leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Simon Latkoczy	Chicago Steel	8	486	7	1	14	0	.938	1.73
Andrew Miller	Fargo Force	6	302	2	2	9	2	.941	1.79
Jakub Dobeš	Omaha Lancers	2	114	0	2	4	0	.923	2.10
Akira Schmid	Sioux City Musketeers	4	237	2	2	9	1	.920	2.28
Matt Davis	Green Bay Gamblers	2	118	0	2	5	0	.922	2.53

Postseason awards

USHL awards

Main article: List of USHL award winners

Award	Name	Team
Player of the Year	Sean Farrell	Chicago Steel[8]
Forward of the Year	Matthew Coronato	Chicago Steel[9]
Defenseman of the Year	Mason Lohrei	Green Bay Gamblers[10]
Rookie of the Year	Cole Sillinger	Sioux Falls Stampede[11]
Goaltender of the Year	Akira Schmid	Sioux City Musketeers[12]
Coach of the Year	Mike Hamilton	Muskegon Lumberjacks[13]
Scholar-Athlete	Connor Kurth	Dubuque Fighting Saints[14]
Curt Hammer	Will Dineen	Sioux Falls Stampede[15]
General Manager of the Year	Ryan Hardy	Chicago Steel[16]
Executive of the Year	Jeff Mitchell	Green Bay Gamblers[17]
Organization of the Year	All member organizations[18]

All-USHL First Team

Pos	Name	Team
G	Akira Schmid	Sioux City
D	Mason Lohrei	Green Bay
D	Ryan Ufko	Chicago
F	Matthew Coronato	Chicago
F	Sean Farrell	Chicago
F	Danil Gushchin	Muskegon

Source^[19]

All-USHL Second Team

Pos	Name	Team
G	Jakub Dobeš	Omaha
D	Brent Johnson	Sioux Falls
D	Cole McWard	Tri-City
F	Josh Doan	Chicago
F	Ayrton Martino	Omaha
F	Cole Sillinger	Sioux Falls

Source^[19]

All-USHL Third Team

Pos	Name	Team
G	Brennan Boynton	Fargo
D	Alex Gagne	Muskegon
D	Henry Thrun	Dubuque
F	Cameron Berg	Muskegon
F	Robert Cronin	Dubuque
F	Jake Schmaltz	Green Bay

Source^[19]

USHL All-Rookie Team

Pos	Name	Team
G	Jack Stark	Chicago
D	Jacob Guevin	Muskegon
D	Brent Johnson	Sioux Falls
F	Ayrton Martino	Omaha
F	Matthew Savoie	Dubuque
F	Cole Sillinger	Sioux Falls

Source^[20]

All-Rookie Second Team

Pos	Name	Team
G	Emmett Croteau	Waterloo
D	Shai Buium	Sioux City
D	Jack Peart	Fargo
F	Gavin Brindley	Tri-City
F	Adam Fantilli	Chicago
F	Connor Kurth	Dubuque

Source^[20]