Stampede unveil 2026-27 schedule, open home slate with banner night

The Sioux Falls Stampede will raise their 2026 Clark Cup banner on Oct. 3, when the defending champions open their home schedule against rival Sioux City at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. That game lands at the center of a 62-game season that gives the Herd an early test, a packed October at home and a late-January rematch with Muskegon from the final that delivered the franchise its fourth title.

The schedule release arrived with the broader USHL calendar for its 25th season as USA Hockey’s only Tier-I junior league. All 16 teams will play a 62-game, cross-conference slate, the 11th annual USHL Fall Classic runs Sept. 16-20 in Chicago, and every club will finish on Saturday, April 3, 2027. Sioux Falls will play 30 home games, 30 road games and two games at the Fall Classic, with matchup details for Chicago to come later.

For a team coming off a 43-16-3 season and 89 points, the dates map out the first real measurement of whether Sioux Falls still looks like the league’s standard-bearer. The Stampede finished first in the Western Conference and second overall in the USHL last season, and the club’s championship core reached its peak on May 23, when Sioux Falls beat Muskegon 4-3 in double overtime to claim the Clark Cup. The home opener will bring that run back into focus before the first puck drops in Sioux Falls.

October already looks like the month that could set the tone for the repeat chase. The Stampede said they will play six home games that month, including the Oct. 3 opener, and the home calendar also includes a Thanksgiving weekend Saturday against Lincoln and the annual New Year’s Eve game against Waterloo. The regular season closes at home against Fargo on April 3, a fitting bookend against one of the Western Conference opponents the Herd will see most often.

Sioux Falls drew 10 games against Fargo and nine against Sioux City, a heavy Western Conference load that also leaves room for home dates with Cedar Rapids, Youngstown, Madison, Chicago and Dubuque. The club said 24 of its home games will fall on weekends, including 13 Saturdays, nine Fridays and two Sundays, a schedule built to keep the building busy through the winter stretch.

The timing fits a franchise that has spent the last year stacking accomplishments. General manager Tony Gasparini was named USHL General Manager of the Year on April 23, and Ryan Cruthers, hired in 2024, was a Coach of the Year finalist in 2025 and coached Team Blue at the Chipotle All-American Game on Jan. 15. After the championship celebration at the Birdcage, the Stampede now have the next roadmap in hand, and it starts with a banner night that turns a home opener into the first benchmark of their title defense.