Des Moines Buccaneers

The Buccaneers began USHL play during the 1980–81 season and have played all their home games at Buccaneer Arena located in Urbandale, Iowa, outside of Des Moines. The Buccaneers have won four Anderson Cup championships (1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98 and 1998–99) and four Clark Cup championships (1992, 1995, 1999 and 2006) in their history.

The Buccaneers also won three Gold Cups (in 1992, 1995, and 1998) for the Junior A National Championship awarded prior USA Hockey's 2001 realignment that shifted the USHL to Tier I status.

The Buccaneers have also had many players continue to play hockey after completing their USHL career in Des Moines. Many players have been given scholarships and move on to play NCAA Division I hockey, while others have gone on to play professional hockey. Most notably, Scott Clemmensen, a native of Des Moines, played for the Buccaneers before going to Boston College to play NCAA Division I hockey and then onto the New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers.

Clemmensen later became a co-owner of the Buccaneers as part of Orchard View Sports & Entertainment that purchased the team in 2017.[2] Kyle Okposo, who played on the 2005–06 Clark Cup championship team prior to playing for the University of Minnesota and is now playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

The Bucaneers played their home games at Buccaneer Arena since their inception. The arena, built in 1962, is nicknamed "The Madhouse on Hickman."[3] In 2020, the arena was damaged during the August 2020 Midwest derecho and the team was forced to start the 2020–21 season at Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines.[4] In November 2020, the team announced it would be replacing the old arena as part of a new development at Merle Hay Mall. The project will see a 3,500 seat main arena built in what was a Younkers department store, plus other disused sections of the mall turned into three additional community sheets of ice and a 150-room hotel.[5] Buccaneer Arena re-opened in January 2021, where the teams plans to play until the new center is complete.

As of September 21, 2022.[18]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	College commitment
1		Max Lundgren	G	6' 5"	229 lb	2002-11-03	Ängelholm, Sweden	Rögle J20 (J20 Nationell)	None
2		Aiden VanRooyan	D	6' 2"	196 lb	2003-04-20	Dakota Dunes, South Dakota	Bismarck (NAHL)	None
3		Chase Ramsay	D	6' 0"	182 lb	2003-06-10	Granite Springs, New York	Avon Old Farms (USHS–CT)	Quinnipiac
5		Gustav Stjernberg	D	6' 4"	205 lb	2002-10-12	Enebyberg, Sweden	Örebro J20 (J20 Nationell)	Bowling Green
6		Michael Bevilacqua	D	6' 2"	221 lb	2003-01-26	Buffalo, New York	Buffalo Jr. Sabres U18 (Midget AAA)	None
7		Henry Bartle	F	6' 2"	168 lb	2003-06-03	Blaine, Minnesota	Centennial (USHS–MN)	None
8		Ľubomír Kupčo	F	5' 11"	172 lb	2003-05-03	Košice, Slovakia	Energie Karlovy Vary U20 (Czech Extraliga U20)	None
9		Talon Sigurdson	F	6' 2"	181 lb	2002-01-11	Sartell, Minnesota	Anchorage (NAHL)	Arizona State
10		Ethan Fredericks	F	6' 1"	195 lb	2004-11-22	Atlanta, Georgia	Nashville Jr. Predators U18 (Midget AAA)	Northeastern
11		Dāvis Borozinskis	F	5' 10"	163 lb	2004-10-26	Des Moines, Iowa	Des Moines Buccaneers U18 (Midget AAA)	Western Michigan
13		Jak Vaarwerk	F	6' 0"	181 lb	2003-06-13	East Amherst, New York	Jamestown (NAHL)	UMass Lowell
14		Andrew Kuzma	F	6' 0"	185 lb	2005-01-29	Naperville, Illinois	Chicago Mission U16 (Midget AAA)	None
15		Owen West	D	5' 10"	161 lb	2004-06-01	Pittsboro, Indiana	Jamestown (NAHL)	Michigan State
16		Ģirts Silkalns	F	6' 2"	187 lb	2003-06-30	Talsi, Latvia	Riga (MHL)	UMass Lowell
17		Connor Pelc	F	6' 2"	195 lb	2003-04-28	Hamburg, New York	New Jersey (NAHL)	None
18		Joey Muldowney	F	5' 10"	155 lb	2004-06-05	Lake View, New York	Nichols (USHS–NY)	UConn
20		Jackson Anderson	D	6' 2"	170 lb	2004-02-26	Prior Lake, Minnesota	Prior Lake (USHS–MN)	None
21		Braedon Ford	F	5' 8"	150 lb	2004-01-19	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Johnstown (NAHL)	Miami
22		Alex Pineau	D	6' 2"	194 lb	2003-01-21	Thunder Bay, Ontario	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	None
23		Christian Kocsis	F	5' 11"	187 lb	2004-06-09	Middletown, New Jersey	Lincoln (USHL)	Providence
24		Michael Stenberg	F	6' 2"	181 lb	2004-09-22	Needham, Massachusetts	South Shore (NCDC)	Providence
25		Joe Gramer	D	6' 0"	182 lb	2005-07-14	Moorhead, Minnesota	Moorhead (USHS–MN)	Omaha
26		Braden Rourke	D	6' 0"	185 lb	2004-07-20	Urbandale, Iowa	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	None
27		Anthony Ruklic	F	5' 10"	170 lb	2004-10-18	Edwardsville, Illinois	St. Louis AAA Blues U18 (Midget AAA)	None
28		Frédéric Deschênes	D	6' 1"	170 lb	2005-10-23	Trois-Rivières, Quebec	Trois-Rivières Estacades (Midget AAA)	Michigan State
30		Jan Korec	G	6' 1"	185 lb	2004-09-28	Bratislava, Slovakia	Northwood (USHS–NY)	Boston College
31		Lucas Szyszka	G	6' 1"	183 lb	2004-04-23	Westmont, Illinois	Chicago Mission U18 (Midget AAA)	Maine

• Ivan Prediger (1980–1984) – Resigned during the 1984–85 season. Jeff Ulrich was then named interim head coach.
• Jim Wiley (1984–1990) – Replaced interim head coach Jeff Ulrich during the 1984–85 season.[19]
• Bob Ferguson (1990–1995, 2001–2004)
• Scott Owens (1995–1999)
• Tom Carroll (1999–2001)
• Regg Simon (2004–2008, 2010–2012) – Resigned during the 2007–08 season after 45 games. Replaced by interim Todd Knott. Rehired in 2010 to replace Guentzel, but was then fired towards the end of the 2011–12 season and replaced by interim Graham Johnson.
• J. P. Parisé (2008–2009) – Replaced interim head coach Knott but kept him on as an assistant. Became general manager of the Buccaneers in 2009 and vacated the coaching position.
• Mike Guentzel (2009–2010) – Dave Allison was originally hired for the 2009–10 season but then left the team prior to coaching a game due to immigration and work-visa concerns.[20]
• Jon Rogger (2012–2014) – Replaced interim head coach Graham Johnson.
• Dave Allison (2014–2018)[21]
• Gene Reilly (2018–2019)[22]
• Peter Mannino (2019–2021)[23]
• Matt Curley (2021–present)[24]

• Des Moines Buccaneers website
• Des Moines Buccaneers Cup Records
• Des Moines Buccaneers HockeyDB