Chicago Steel

Chicago Steel
City	Bensenville, Illinois
League	USHL
Division	East
Founded	1996
Home arena	Edge Ice Arena
Colors	Black, Red, Gray
Owner(s)	Bruce Liimatainen
General manager	Scott McConnell
Head coach	Scott McConnell
Franchise history
1996–2000	Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks
2000–present	Chicago Steel

The Chicago Steel is a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team formed in 2000. It plays all of its home games at the Edge Ice Arena, located in Bensenville, Illinois. The Steel play in the Eastern Division of the United States Hockey League. The current GM and Head Coach of the Steel is Scott McConnell. McConnell was promoted from assistant coach to his current role on the morning of Thursday, February 24, 2011, when Jon Waibel was relieved of his duties as head coach and GM, having led the injury-plagued team to a 9-27-7 record to that point. Before the 10/11 season, Waibel had spent five seasons as the assistant coach under former NHL'er Steve Poapst, who left late in the off-season to take a job with the AHL's Rockford IceHogs. McConnell was named full-time head coach and GM on May 16, 2011 - before this, he'd been the interim head coach and GM.

History

The Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks moved to Chicago, Illinois and became the Steel in 2000. For the most part, the team hovered around the .500 mark, until 2003-04. Under the direction of rookie Head Coach Wil Nichol, the Steel won their first-ever East Division title, besting the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders by one point.

The feat was remarkable considering the Steel didn’t have a scorer or a goaltender ranked among the league leaders. Danny Charleston led the team in scoring and Curt Hammer award winner Topher Scott also provided clutch goals. Shane Connolly and Adam D’Alba split the goaltending duties and Nichol claimed league coach of the year honors.

The division title didn’t bring post-season success, however, as the Steel fell to eventual Clark Cup champion Waterloo Black Hawks in a tight, five-game, first-round series.

Roster

As of October 6, 2011.

Forwards
#	St/Pr/Co	Player	Shoots	Height	Weight	Birthday	Hometown	College commitment
23		Aidan Cavallini	L	5' 11"	186 lbs.	Jan 1, 1992	St. Louis, Missouri	None
16		Theo DiPauli		5' 10"	180 lbs.	Feb 28, 1991	Woodridge, Illinois	Notre Dame
12		Jimmy Devito		5'11"	165 lbs.	Apr 2, 1994	Bloomingdale, Illinois	None
27		Michael Fallon		5' 11"	175 lbs.	Jul 8, 1991	Glenview, Illinois	None
13		Christian Heil	L	6' 2"	178 lbs.	Mar 25, 1994	Westminster, Colorado	Colorado College
18		Jeff Kubiak	L	6' 3"	205 lbs.	Jan 18, 1994	Tinley Park, Illinois	None
10		Daniel Kucerovy		5' 10"	165 lbs.	Jan 23, 1994	Bethel Park, Pennsylvania	None
9		Phillip Marinaccio		5' 11"	180 lbs.	Apr 14, 1993	Maple, Ontario	None
11		Andrew Miller	R	6' 1"	185 lbs.	Jun 18, 1991	West Dundee, Illinois	None
21		Charlie O'Connor		5' 11"	174 lbs.	Feb 23, 1993	Elk Grove Village, Illinois	None
24		Bo Pieper	L	5' 11"	177 lbs.	Dec 17, 1994	Roseville, Minnesota	None
14		Canon Pieper	L	5' 10"	178 lbs.	Dec 15, 1993	Roseville, Minnesota	None
17		Zach Saar	R	6' 5"	200 lbs.	Jun 22, 1993	Plainwell, Michigan	None
15		Ali Thomas	L	6' 3"	206 lbs.	Sep 22, 1992	Harlem, New York	None

Defensemen
#	St/Pr/Co	Player	Shoots	Height	Weight	Birthday	Hometown	College commitment
3		Joel Benson		6' 1"	195 lbs.	Apr 18, 1992	Marquette, Michigan	None
25		Kyle Buffardi		6' 2"	180 lbs.	Apr 22, 1993	Westminster, California	None
8		Ryan Fraser-Lee		6' 2"	195 lbs.	Feb 2, 1993	Grand Rapids, Michigan	None
5		Chris Joyaux		6' 1"	195 lbs.	Apr 19, 1992	Bloomingdale, Illinois	Miami
20		Christian Neumann		6' 0"	185 lbs.	Sep 1, 1993	Naperville, Illinois	None
7		Jaccob Slavin		6' 2"	170 lbs.	May 1, 1994	Erie, Colorado	Colorado College
2		Ryan Trenz		6' 0"	190 lbs.	Dec 27, 1991	St. Louis, Missouri	None

Goaltenders
#	St/Pr/Co	Player	Shoots	Height	Weight	Birthday	Hometown	College commitment
30		Mathias Dahlstrom	L	6' 0"	180 lbs.	Feb 26, 1991	Smedjebacken, Sweden	None
31		Adam Miller		5' 9"	161 lbs.	Mar 13, 1992	Long Grove, Illinois	None
1		Alex Sakellaropoulos		6' 2"	205 lbs.	May 2, 1994	Tinley Park, Illinois	None

Notable alumni

• Matt Clackson, Philadelphia Flyers prospect
• Tom Gilbert, defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers
• Joe Loprieno, San Jose Sharks prospect
• John Moore, defenseman for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and 2011 AHL All-Star
• Travis Morin, Dallas Stars prospect
• Danny Richmond, member of 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks
• Lee Sweatt, Vanouver Canucks prospect
• Philip Samuelsson, Defenseman for the Boston College Eagles, prospect for the Pittsburgh Penguins, son of Ulf Samuelsson

Team spirit

The team mascot is a dog named Rusty. Formerly also seen was a puppy named Rascal (a reference to a program through the team called Rusty's Rascals).

External links

• Chicago Steel Hockey Team Official site