Sioux Falls Stampede

The Sioux Falls Stampede is a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the West Division of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Stampede plays its home games at the Sioux Falls Arena.

In the 2005-2006 season, the Stampede won their first Anderson Cup for the best regular season record as well as their first division championship. The Stampede advanced in the playoffs, dispatching the Tri-City Storm in five games (best-of-five) and the Lincoln Stars in four games (best-of-five), earning the right to represent the West division in the Clark Cup Finals. They lost to the Des Moines Buccaneers in five games (best-of-five).

The 2006-07 season looked grim at the outset with the Stampede earning but a single point in their first six games. After bottom dwelling for the entire first half, the Stampede became one of the hottest teams during the second half of the season. They entered the playoffs as the four seed in the West and quickly dispatched the Lincoln Stars in four games for the second straight year (best-of-seven). After losing to Des Moines in the first game of the round robin, Sioux Falls defeated the Tri-City Storm in overtime to make it into the final four. The Indiana Ice were their next opponent and were undefeated in the playoffs until the Stampede prevailed over them, again in overtime, to advance to the championship game against the host team of the event, the Waterloo Black Hawks. The Stampede shutout the Black Hawks 3-0 to win their first Clark Cup.

Current NHLers Thomas Vanek (Buffalo Sabres), Andreas Nodl (Carolina Hurricanes), Chad LaRose (Carolina Hurricanes), T.J. Oshie (St. Louis Blues), Alex Goligoski (Dallas Stars), Dan Sexton (Anaheim Ducks), and Corey Tropp (Buffalo Sabers) have played for the Stampede. Vanek, from 1999 to 2002 and LaRose, from 1999 to 2001.