Fargo Force

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Fargo Force is a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the United States Hockey League (USHL). Based in Fargo, North Dakota, they play in the Western Conference at Scheels Arena and wear black, blue and white. The team was founded in 2008 and is owned by Brandt Holdings, with minority stakes held by Matt Cullen and Bell Bank. Cary Eades is the general manager and Brett Skinner is the head coach.

Fargo has won two playoff championships, in 2018 and 2024, and was named USHL Organization of the Year in 2008–09 and 2012–13. The Force captured their first Clark Cup in 2018 by defeating the Youngstown Phantoms.

Fargo’s USHL entry came in 2007 as the anchor tenant for the new Urban Plains Center. Dean Blais, a former North Dakota coach, was hired as the franchise’s first head coach and GM. After a name-the-team contest, Fargo Force was chosen. The new team helped prompt the departure of the area’s previous junior team, the Fargo-Moorhead Jets, which folded in 2008.

Coaching and leadership changed over the years. After the 2014–15 season, longtime coach Marks retired and Cary Eades became GM and, later, head coach, having previously led the Sioux Falls Stampede to the Clark Cup in 2015. Eades stepped down from coaching after the 2018–19 season but remained GM, with Pierre-Paul Lamoureux taking over as head coach. Lamoureux left after the 2020–21 season and was replaced by Scott Langer. On October 16, 2021, owner Ace Brandt died of cancer.

Several Fargo Force players have gone on to be drafted by NHL teams.