General | 5/1/2025 12:00:00 PM

Lincoln Stars Head Coach Rocky Russo has been named United States Hockey League (USHL) Coach of the Year, the league announced Thursday. He is Lincoln's first Coach of the Year in the USHL Tier-1 era and third in team history.

All end-of-season league awards were nominated and voted upon by team general managers.

Russo guided the Stars to the league's best regular-season record in his fourth season in Lincoln. The Stars earned their second Anderson Cup in Tier-1 team history with a 44-15-3-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) mark. In addition to setting a team benchmark for wins in the regular season, the Youngstown, Ohio native steered his squad to a 32-point turnaround from the 2023-24 season when the Stars finished 27-30-3-2 and sixth in the Western Conference. Lincoln set the record for longest winning streak this season with 12 straight wins from Jan. 10 through Feb. 14.
 
USHL goalie of the year Yan Shostak, forward Jack Pechar, and defenseman Etienne Lessard were named to the All-USHL Teams for the 2024-25 season, and goaltender William Prowse was named to the All-USHL Rookie Team.
 
About the USHL

The United States Hockey League and its 16 member clubs are committed to being the leading 16–20-year-old junior hockey league in the world. More than half of Division I men’s hockey roster spots are held by USHL alumni and more than 195 alumni were listed on NHL rosters at the start of the 2024-25 season.

The league's player-first approach, including a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and a schedule with 92% of games played on weekends, provides its players with the optimal environment for athletic and personal growth, creating pathways for the next generation of stars like Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms), Macklin Celebrini (Chicago Steel), Cole Caufield (NTDP), Adam Fantilli (Chicago Steel) and Jeremy Swayman (Sioux Falls Stampede). More.