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 Fox Valley Ice Arena, located in the Geneva, Illinois. The Steel play in the Eastern Division of the United States Hockey League. The GM and Head Coach of the Steel is former NHL'er Steve Poapst.

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.

In May 2015, the majority ownership of the Chicago Steel was purchased by Larry Robbins while current owners Bruce Liimatainen and Mike Greenberg remained involved but as minority owners. The announcement for change of owners was accompanied by the announcement for a change of leadership on ice as Ryan Bennett and Dan Muse were hired as the new General Manager and Coach respectively. On July 27, 2015 the team announced they were relocating to the Fox Valley Ice Arena in nearby Geneva, Illinois. The previous management had a strained relationship with the Edge Ice Arena and the city of Bensenville.

On May 22, 2017, the Steel defeated the Sioux City Musketeers 2–1 in overtime of game five, finishing a 3-games-to-2 series win to claim the franchise's first Clark Cup. Head coach Dan Muse would then be hired by the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators as an assistant coach and Mark Abalan would take over as head coach of the Steel.

On January 2, 2018, Abalan was let go and Ryan Cruthers was named the interim head coach and assistant general manager of the Steel. During the 2018 Clark Cup playoffs, the interim tag was removed and Cruthers was named the permanent head coach; however, Cruthers would leave the team in May 2018 when the Steel hired Ryan Hardy as general manager.

Greg Moore was then hired as the head coach for the 2018–19 season after previously serving as an assistant with Team USA. In 2019, he left to become head coach of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and Brock Sheahan was promoted to head coach.

The Steel then won the regular season championship, the Anderson Cup, in the pandemic-shortened 2019–20 season. They won a second-straight Anderson Cup in the shortened 2020–21 season and subsequently won their second Clark Cup as playoff champions.

Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime Losses, SL = Shoot out Losses GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

Notable alumni

 * Matt Clackson, currently in the Washington Capitals organization, son of Kim Clackson
 * Tom Gilbert, defenseman for the Florida Panthers
 * Joe Loprieno, San Jose Sharks prospect
 * John Moore, defenseman for the New York Rangers, and 2011 AHL All-Star
 * Travis Morin, Dallas Stars prospect
 * Danny Richmond, member of 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, defenseman for the Lahti Pelicans of the SM-liiga in Finland
 * Lee Sweatt, retired
 * Dean Chelios and Jake Chelios, currently playing for the Michigan State Spartans, sons of Chris Chelios
 * Philip Samuelsson, Defenseman for the Boston College Eagles, prospect for the Pittsburgh Penguins, son of Ulf Samuelsson
 * Drew LeBlanc, Forward for the 2012-2013 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks

Team Spirit
The team mascot is Rusty the Pooch.