Weekend Preview: Tradition Girls NIT Headlines Oct. 17-19 With Motown, Senators & Canadian Prep Tourneys
The 2025-26 season is now more than two months old as we prepare for the campaign’s eighth weekend. And weekend No. 8 is a big one for North American Girls Tier 1 hockey as the 2025 Tradition NIT in Minnesota, run by the Midwest High School Elite League, got underway with exhibition games Oct. 16 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 19, at the National Sports Center and Fogerty Areana in Blaine.
The Tradition NIT is the largest 16U/19U Girls Tier I hockey tournament in North America; this year’s event features more than 100 teams from all over the continent.
With so many top Tier 1 USA and Canada Girls teams in action at the NIT, our other featured tournaments are for the boys.
CCM Motown for ages 9U through 18U offers Tier 1 and Tier 2 competition for American and Canadian teams. There are nearly 250 teams competing in the 12U-18U divisions from Oct. 17-19 in the Detroit area. Those are the age groups we focus on for our coverage.
In Ottawa, the Senators are welcoming 40 Canadian and American teams for the 20th annual Ottawa Senators U18 AAA Showcase. Play got underway Friday, Oct. 17, and runs through Oct. 19 at three Sensplex facilities in the Ottawa area.
Meanwhile, the North American Prep Hockey League is holding its first showcase of the 2025-26 season In Ontario at Brampton’s CAA Center and Etobicoke’s Westwood Arena.
This year, the NAPrepHL will hold six showcases and two tournaments between October and April. The season culminates with the league’s national championship tournament in Ottawa. The initial showcase features a Girls Division as well as competition at the U18, U16 and U14 age levels, with 45 teams from all over Canada participating.
Play got underway at the Tradition NIT, annually one of the premier Tier 1 Girls hockey showcases in North America, with exhibition games Thursday in Blaine, Minn. This year’s NIT features more than 100 top Tier 1 Girls 19U and 16U teams from the United States and Canada spread across nine divisions. Each team will play four games during the weekend, with scouts from more than 50 NCAA programs expected to attend.
The tournament is the final event on the calendar for the Minnesota Girls High School Elite League season, which began in September. The league includes teams from Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and those teams get to conclude their seasons by competing against top North American teams they normally wouldn’t face before turning their attention to the upcoming prep and high school campaigns.
Division winners will be determined by standings points, with goal differential and other tiebreakers applied as necessary.
Games are being played at the National Sports Center’s Super Rink and Fogerty Arena
CLICK HERE for the Tradition NIT game schedule
CLICK HERE for Tradition NIT scores, stats and standings
CLICK HERE for Tradition NIT streaming information
Tradition NIT 16U
The NIT 16U group is broken down into three divisions and includes a total of 45 teams. The 16U Blue Division is stacked with eight of the top 10 Girls USA Tier 1 teams, according to the Week 4 MHR rankings, and 10 of the 12 teams are ranked among the top 12.
Perennial national championship contenders such as Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Bishop Kearney Selects, Chicago Mission, Lovell Academy, Minnesota Elite, Philadelphia Jr. Flyers and Little Caesars are in 16U Blue. Lovell Academy currently is ranked No 1, and Minnesota Elite Silver is second.
Tradition NIT 19U
This year’s 18U group features more than 60 Tier 1 Girls teams from the United States and Canada competing in four divisions. The 19U Blue Division includes the top four USA Girls teams, according to the MHR Week 4 rankings, in Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Minnesota Elite Vegas, Chicago Mission and Bishop Kearney Selects. Seven of the USA’s top 10 are represented, and 10 of the 12 teams are ranked among the top 17. Calgary Edge school also is part of the 19U Blue group.
Some of Canada’s top teams such as the Calgary Fire, Saskatoon Stars, Red Deer Chiefs, Balmoral Hall, Winnipeg Ice, Northern Alberta Xtreme, Winnipeg Avros, Interlake Lightning, Pembina Valley Hawks and Central Plains Capitals also are participating at the 19U level.
More than 300 USA and Canada Boys Tier 1 and 2 teams are competing at all age levels from 9U through 18U are in the Detroit area competing in the CCM Motown event from Oct. 17-19.
Nearly 250 of the participating teams are competing in the 12U, 13O, 14U, 15O, 16U and 18U age groups, which is where we usually focus our attention.
The tournament offers round-robin pool play followed by quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games in most divisions. Games are being played at 19 different Michigan facilities.
CLICK HERE to see where each age group is playing
CLICK HERE for access to CCM Motown schedules, scores and standings
CCM Motown 18U Division
The CCM Motown 18U group consists of 28 teams placed in two pools. In the predominantly Tier 2 18U Jetspeed Division, six of the 22 teams are ranked among the MHR Week 4 USA Tier 2 top 18, with three of those landing in the top 10: the No. 3 Columbus Chill, No. 7 Armstrong Arrows and No. 10 Pittsburgh Vengeance.
CCM Motown 16U Division
There are a total of 26 16U teams competing in two divisions. The eight-team Tacks Division features the seventh-ranked Tier 1 Oakland Jr. Grizzlies as well as the Windsor Jr. Spitfires and Markham Majors from Ontario. Five USA top 25 Tier 2 teams are in the 16U Jetspeed Division, including the fourth-ranked St. Louis Sting and seventh-ranked Columbus Chill. The Clarence Mustangs and Allegheny Badgers also are ranked among the nation’s top 14.
CCM Motown 15O Division
At the 15O level, a total of 26 teams are participating at CCM Motown, with 12 of those entered in the Tier 1 Tacks Division. That group includes three teams ranked among the top 36 in the U.S. along with Ontario’s No. 27 U16 AAA Ottawa Valley Titans and the Vaughan Rangers, the province’s top-ranked AA team.
CCM Motown 14U Division
The 14U group is divided into three divisions, with 52 total teams competing. There are 12 teams in the Tier 1 14U Tacks Division, with six of them ranking among the USA’s top 60, according to the latest MHR rankings. Included among those six are the No. 15 Oakland Jr. Grizzlies, No. 30 Indiana Elite and No. 35 Belle Tire. The Tier 2 Jetspeed includes the fifth-ranked Chicago Jets, No. 8 Dallas Penguins, No. 9 Nashville Warriors and No. 20 Chicago Blues.
CCM Motown 13O & 12U Divisions
There are 56 13O teams in Michigan to compete at CCM Motown. They are divided into three divisions, similar to the 48 teams playing at the 12U level. The 18-team 12U Tier 1 Tacks Division features seven USA top 40 teams along with Ontario’s 12th-ranked U13 Grey Bruce Highlanders, No. 37 Windsor Jr. Spitfires, No. 41 North York Rangers and No. 44 Sun County Panthers. The top American teams are No. 18 HoneyBaked, No. 26 Ohio Blue Jackets, No. 29 Boulder Hockey Club and No. 32 Fox Motors.
Ottawa Senators U18 AAA Showcase
The 20th annual Ottawa Senators U18 AAA Showcase got underway Friday, Oct. 27, with a total of 40 USA Tier 1 and Canadian AAA teams competing. Teams traveled to Ottawa from as far away as the Maritimes in Eastern Canada and Pennsylvania in the United States.
The 40 participating teams are divided into 10 four-team pools for round-robin play, with round-of-16 playoff games and quarterfinals scheduled for Saturday followed by semifinals and finals on Sunday. Canadian Prep teams are competing along with the AAA teams and the Tier 1 Wilkes Barre-Scranton Jr. Knights from the U.S.
All games are being played at three SensPlex facilities in the Ottawa and can be viewed live or on-demand via LiveBarn.
Eight of Ontario’s top 10 teams, according to the MHR Week 4 Boys AAA rankings, are competing at the Senators Showcase. They are being joined by No. 17 Canada Independent Prep team Kuper Academy from Quebec, No. 32 Fort Erie Falcons Academy, No. 25 Bourget College (Quebec) and No. 30 Everest Prep as well as Eastern Canada AAA clubs such as the Halifax McDonald’s, East Coast Blizzard, St. John Vito’s, Dartmouth Majors, Pinnacle Growlers and Tri-Pen Osprey. The Gatineau Intrepid, a traditional Quebec AAA powerhouse, also are part of the field.
Senators Showcase Top Participating Ontario AAA Teams
#1 North Bay Trappers
#2 Too Jr. Greyhounds
#3 Waterloo Wolves
#6 Ottawa Jr. 67s
#7 North Shore Whitecaps
#8 Ottawa Myers Automotive
#9 Toronto Titans
#10 Burlington Eagles
#12 Barrie Colts
#13 Halton Hurricanes
#16 Markham Waxers
#17 Ontario Hockey Academy
#19 Vaughan Kings
#23 York-Simcoe Express
#24 Guelph Gryphons
#26 Upper Canada Cyclones
#27 Peterborough Petes
#28 Central Ontario Wolves
#29 Huron-Perth Lakers
CLICK HERE for the Senators U18 AAA Showcase full schedule with results
CLICK HERE for Senators U18 AAA Showcase standings
NAPrepHL Toronto Showcase
The first of six North American Prep Hockey League showcases to be held during the league’s 2025-26 season is taking place from Oct. 17-19 in the Toronto area. This initial event features a Girls Division as well as competition at the U18, U16 and U14 age levels, with 45 teams from all over Canada participating.
The NAPrepHL is an Independent Hockey League that that was established with the goal of providing prep hockey programs with a high level of competition along with exposure to Canadian and USA junior organizations as well as CIS and NCAA hockey programs.
The NAPrepHL provides a larger competition pool than having teams participate only in localized leagues and creates opportunities for North American Prep Schools to compete against a variety of opponents. The league provides its members with a series showcase and tournament weekends, culminating with the national-championship event in March..
Going forward, the Mestel Cup will be presented every year to the l winners of Varsity, U16, U14 and Girls national championships.
The Toronto Showcase is being held at CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario, and Westwood Arena in Etobicoke.
All games can be viewed live and on-demand via LiveBarn.
CLICK HERE for all Toronto Showcase rosters
CLICK HERE for the complete Toronto Showcase schedule with results
CLICK HERE for Toronto Showcase standings
CLICK HERE for Toronto Showcase statistics
