Brett Skinner Named 2024 USHL Coach of the Year (original) (raw)

Fargo Force

The United States Hockey League (USHL) and the Fargo Force have announced that Brett Skinner has been named Coach of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

League awards are voted on by each member club's General Manager.

In his first season as head coach of the Force, Skinner led his club to a 50-10-2-0 record in capturing the Anderson Cup as USHL regular-season champions and establishing a League record for wins in a season.

Under his guidance, the Force scored a league-high 272 goals and allowed a league-low 143 goals. Fargo, which flourished in special teams in 2023-24, ranked second in the League with a 31.5% power play percentage and was first in penalty kill percentage with a 86.2% mark. The Force began the season by winning their first 10 games of the season and also had a 10-game winning streak from Jan. 26-Feb. 25.

Skinner had three players named All-USHL First Team in forward Mac Swanson, defenseman Leo Gruba and goaltender Hampton Slukynsky. Forward Zam Plante picked up All-USHL Second Team honors and defenseman Brason Boser was named All-USHL Third Team.

Skinner, a former Des Moines Buccaneer defenseman (2001-02) who served as an assistant coach for the Sioux Falls Stampede from 2017-22 where he helped the Stampede to a Clark Cup Championship in 2018-19, joins Nick Oliver (2023) and Dean Blais (2009) as Fargo Force coaches to be named the recipient of the USHL Coach of the Year award.

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