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Shawn P. Roarke | NHL.com Senior Writer
Mar 27, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT

The USHL is “Buc-ing from tradition with its highly anticipated pre-season tournament next year, if you will excuse the pun.

For the past 17 years, the preseason tournament that kicks off the USHL season has been called the Buc Bowl and was hosted successfully by the Des Moines Bucaneers at their home rink in Des Moines Iowa.

Now, however, the tournament has been renamed the USHL Fall Classic and will be held in Sioux City, Iowa, home of the USHL’s Muskateers franchise. It will be held Sept. 27-29, 2007, utilizing two ice surfaces – the Tyson Events Center (home ice of the Musketeers) and the IBP Ice Center, the city’s primary youth hockey facility.

“This is an exciting time for the USHL as a whole, as we continue to see our preseason tournament evolve into a great event for players, fans and scouts,” Gino Gasparini, the USHL president, said in announcing the changes this week. “The USHL is thrilled that Sioux City has come forth and requested to host the event as we try to make it even bigger and better than ever. The Des Moines Buccaneers organization over the years has done a great job of growing the tournament and now the rest of the league is going to take turns in making it even bigger.”

Along with three days of top-flight hockey, the Sioux City organizers are hoping to hold a hockey trade show, as well as a score of other attractions for visitors, including a live concert Sept. 28.

Muskateers President Jim Kronschnabel is excited about the daunting task his franchise faces in topping the wildly successful Buc Bowl.

“This is an extremely large undertaking for the Musketeers organization as we expect to host well over 1,000 visitors per-day from outside the Sioux City area,” he said. “We expect to fill virtually every hotel room in Sioux City. The Fall Classic, along with our annual tryout camp and the new futures camp will have a huge economic impact on the city this summer and fall.”

The USHL Board of Governors recently approved the change in name and venue for the event. Sioux City won out as the best of several proposals.

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