Chicago Steel Claim Championship in Unprecedented Season

“I think the ending of last season was really tough for all of us,” Sean Farrell, Steel forward and 2021 USHL Player of the Year, said. “I think, coming into this season, we had a good group of returning guys who kind of knew what we needed to do to win in the league. I think, after having our season cut short last year, we wanted to go out and win not only for everyone that’s here this year, but also for everyone that was a part of it for the year before.

“It was definitely some added motivation.”

Chicago has now won the last three available titles, the first USHL team to do so since the Green Bay Gamblers won both titles in 1996 and came back with the Anderson Cup title in 1997.

Green Bay is also the last team to repeat as Anderson Cup champions, leading the league during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 regular seasons.

The Dubuque Fighting Saints, in 2013, were the last team to claim the Anderson and Clark Cups in the same season.

Chicago surrendered 10 goals to Muskegon while losing the season opener, and had an unimpressive .500 record four games into the season, a far cry from the success they would achieve over the rest of the year.

“We started off this season not as well as we’d like to,” Steel defenseman Jake Livanavage said. “But, we picked it up and wound up being the No. 1 seed in the East.”

By the time the regular season was over, the Steel were alone in first in the Eastern Conference by nine standings points and at least 17 points ahead of all but one team in the league with a 38-11-3-2 record. They followed that up by winning seven of eight Clark Cup Playoffs games.

“We were just keeping a narrow focus on what we needed to do and how we were going to come out of there with a championship,” Livanavage said, pointing out that although the team did its due diligence with scouting reports, the approach was to force opponents into playing the Steel’s style of game.

The Steel have won two of the last four Clark Cups, including in 2017 when Livanavage’s brother, Johnny Walker, was part of the championship.

Walker’s title carried a bit more suspense.