United States Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 USHL season
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| Sport | Ice Hockey |
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| Founded | 1947 |
| CEO | Bob Fallen |
| No. of teams | 17 |
| Country | USA |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Tri-City Storm |
| Most titles | (Clark Cup era) Omaha Lancers (7) (overall) Waterloo Black Hawks (9) |
| Official website | www.ushl.com |
The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league in the United States. The USHL has 17 member teams located in the Midwestern United States, consisting of players who are 20 years of age and younger. The USHL is strictly amateur, allowing former players to compete in NCAA college hockey.
The Tri-City Storm won the 2015–16 Clark Cup Championship, sweeping the Eastern Conference Champion Dubuque Fighting Saints 3-games-to-0.
The Cedar Rapids Roughriders won the Anderson Cup as the 2015–16 regular season champions, their 3rd Anderson Cup in franchise history.
The USHL is the country's top junior hockey league, classified as Tier I. Like comparable entities such as the Canadian Hockey League (CHL)'s three member leagues, the USHL offers a schedule of high-level, competitive games for top players aged 16 to 20. Unlike the CHL, it does not pay a stipend to its players, who thus retain amateur status and are eligible to play in the NCAA.
USHL teams, which are typically located in mid-sized cities (see map of team locations), 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.
One hockey analyst stated 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..
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