The Fargo Force is a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Force have won two league championships in 2018 and 2024 and was awarded USHL Organization of the Year for 2008–09 and 2012–13.

History

In early 2007, Fargo was granted a USHL team, intended as an anchor tenant for the then-under-construction Urban Plains Center and owned by local businessman Ace Brandt. Dean Blais, former coach of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey program, was hired as the franchise's initial coach and general manager. After a name-the-team contest, the choices were narrowed to Fargo Force, Fargo Phantoms, and Fargo Fire. Twelve people submitted the Force name; as a result, they won a dinner with head coach Dean Blais and each received two season tickets to the Force's inaugural season. As a result of the Force's entry, the area's previous hockey team, the Fargo-Moorhead Jets of the North American Hockey League announced they were leaving the area in April 2008, and folded later that year. Marks retired following the 2014–15 season and was replaced by former University of North Dakota player/assistant coach Cary Eades, who had just led the Sioux Falls Stampede to the 2014–15 Clark Cup Championship. In 2018, Fargo won the Clark Cup Finals over the Youngstown Phantoms to win their first championship in team history. Following the 2018–19 season, Eades stepped down from his coaching position, retaining the general manager title, and associate coach Pierre-Paul Lamoureux was named head coach. Lamoureux left after the 2020–21 season and was replaced by Scott Langer who had spent the previous five seasons with the North American Hockey League's Aberdeen Wings. On October 16, 2021, owner Ace Brandt died of cancer.

Season-by-season records

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against

Notable players

NHL draft picks

Notable Fargo Force players picked in the NHL draft:

Awards and player recognition

Prospects games participants