Men's Ice Hockey | 4/23/2026 10:00:00 AM

Mark Carlson of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders has been named United States Hockey League (USHL) Coach of the Year, the league announced Thursday.

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

In his 26th year behind the RoughRider bench, Carlson set the all-time wins record for a USHL coach en route to steering Cedar Rapids to a 36-17-3-6 (W-L-OTL-SOL) record and a .653 winning percentage. Despite playing the entire season without their captain and losing alternates to injuries down the final stretch, the RoughRiders tied for the fifth-most points in the USHL and had the league’s third-highest-scoring offense, averaging 3.79 goals per game. Carlson’s team allowed fewer shots per game than any team in the USHL (24.79). The RoughRiders had a 17-game point streak from Feb. 14 until the last weekend of the regular season, the longest point streak for any team in the league in three years. During the streak, Cedar Rapids went 15-0-1-1 to earn home-ice advantage for the first round of the Clark Cup Playoffs.

Recent winners of the USHL Coach of the Year include Rocky Russo (Lincoln Stars), Brett Skinner (Fargo Force), and Nick Oliver (Dubuque Fighting Saints). This marks Carlson’s fourth USHL Coach of the Year award, previously winning in 2016, 2011, 2005, and 1999. He ties P.K. O’Handley for most wins of any coach in league history.

About the USHL

The United States Hockey League (USHL) and its 16 teams are committed to being the world's leading junior hockey league. This season, more than 50% of NCAA Division I men's hockey players and nearly 25% of NHL players have USHL experience. The USHL has developed more than 285 direct NHL Draft picks since 2020, and nine of the last 10 Hobey Baker Award winners, including Macklin Celebrini (Chicago Steel).

Elevated through the recently announced Declaration of Excellence with the NHL and USA Hockey, the league's player-first approach, including a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and a schedule with 90% 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 Auston Matthews (NTDP), Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms), Jeremy Swayman (Sioux Falls Stampede), and Johnny Gaudreau (Dubuque Fighting Saints).