
Weekend Preview Sept. 5-7: Stoney Creek Girls & USA Boys Tier 1 Events Highlight the Weekend
The fourth weekend of the 2025-26 North American youth hockey season is here. After some top Canadian Girls AA teams crossed the border to take on strong USA Tier 1 clubs during Labor Day Weekend, this week a number of traditionally strong American teams return the favor as they head to Ontario for the first Stoney Creek Sabres Showcase of the month.
Stoney Creek’s annual U18 AA Showcase runs from Friday, Sept. 5, through Sunday, Sept. 7, and features 16U Girls Tier 1 teams from the U.S. competing against U18 AAA teams from Western Canada and U18 AA teams from Ontario and Quebec. The Stoney Creek U18 AA Showcase includes 68 teams broken down into eight divisions of either eight or 10 teams.
Stoney Creek also will host a University Showcase for U22 Canadian and 19U U.S. teams Sept. 12-14 and a U15/14U event Sept. 19-21. We will cover all of them.
That isn’t the only high-level event of the weekend, however.
The Northeast Pack, one of the top USA Boys Tier 1 in-season leagues, is holding its first regular-season showcase weekend Sept. 5-7 in Rhode Island. Hosted by perennial USA-powerhouse Mount St. Charles, the NE Pack’s opening weekend features it’s six Northeast-based 14U and 15O member clubs competing in one game each per day.
In addition, the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association launches its 2025-26 season with the annual MAHA Tier 1 Showcase at Buffalo Wild Wings Arena in Troy Sept. 5-7. This event features the National-bound teams from all of Michigan’s Tier 1 Boys organizations. The Michigan-based programs will be sending 14U, 15O, 16U and 18U teams to the event.
Always one of the highest-quality early-season events, the Stoney Creek U18 AA Showcase – the first of three high-level events the Sabres will host in September – attracts 68 teams from many of the top American 16U Tier 1 Girls programs along with U18 Western Canadian AAA teams and U18 AA teams from Ontario and Quebec.
The 68 teams are divided into eight divisions for pool play, with games starting Friday, Sept. 5, and running through Sunday, Sept. 7. Games are being played at Gateway Ice Arena, and Liuna! 4 Ice Centre.
Both venues are serviced by LiveBarn, with Liuna! 4 Ice Center listed on the website as Mohawk 4 Ice Centre.
Teams will be seeded for the playoffs based on round-robin points, with the top four No. 1 seeds competing for the Gold championship, while pool-winning seeds 5-8 will play for the Silver title
The second-place teams in each pool also will be seeded 1-8, with Nos. 1-4 playing for the Bronze championship and Nos. 5-8 playing in the Brass playoff bracket. Remaining teams will play in consolation games Sunday.
Browse and download showcase images here: U18 Showcase Photo Gallery
Follow @stoneycreekgirlshockey for daily recaps, player interviews, scout perspectives and family spotlights throughout the weekend
Find all tournament details at the U18 Home Page
CLICK HERE for the complete schedule and all game results
CLICK HERE for updated showcase standings
CLICK HERE for showcase rules, including playoff tiebreakers
The Carter Division includes traditionally strong programs such as Belle Tire, the Straford Aces and the Ottawa Lady Senators.
Little Caesars headlines the Cooper Division along with the Barrie Sharks, Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, Stoney Creek Sabres and Whitby Wolves.
The Durham West Lightning, Lovell Academy, Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, Toronto Leaside Wildcats and London Devilettes will be among the teams battling it out in the Fortino Division.
In the Jenner Division, the USA-powerhouse Chicago Mission are joined by Ontario’s Peterborough Ice Kats and Central York Panthers as well as Quebec’s l’Outaouais Olympiques.
Western Canada’s Eastman Selects will battle the Nepean Wildcats, Winnipeg Avros, Mississauga Hurricanes and Cambridge Roadrunners in the McKibbon Division.
Another USA powerhouse, the Bishop Kearney Selects will have a target on their backs in the 10-team Nelles Division and will have to hold off Western Canada’s Fraser Valley Rush as well as Ontario’s Etobicoke Dolphins and Waterloo Ravens.
Perennial Quebec contenders, the Laurentides-Lanaudiere Stars lead the way in the Nurse Division, with Ontario’s North York Storm and Oakville Hornets providing very stiff opposition to their playoff hopes.
And in the Vasko Division, another group with 10 teams, the Burlington Barracudas, Calgary Fire, Ottawa Senators and Hamilton Hawks from Canada will look to make HoneyBaked’s trip across the border as difficult as possible.
NE Pack’s 14U/15O Mount St. Charles Showcase
The Northeast Pack Hockey League is made up of six youth hockey organizations from the Northeast along with Little Caesars, which became a member at the 18U level for the 2025-26 season, from the Midwest. In addition, the Long Island Gulls have been replaced by the Woodbridge Wolfpack from New Jersey this year.
Joining Little Caesars and the Wolfpack are the New Jersey Rockets, Mid-Fairfield Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, Bishop Kearney Selects and Mount St. Charles. Most of those clubs regularly qualify teams that compete for USA Hockey national championships in multiple age groups.
These seven prominent organizations share a vision for player-focused development and are consistently some of the top youth hockey organizations in the United States. They all have successfully advanced countless players to the United States Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and the North American Hockey League as well as to the NCAA and professional levels.
The NE Pack season consists of six showcase weekends spaced out throughout the member teams’ regular seasons. Showcases are held in the Northeast and are easily accessible to high-level junior and college scouts. The playoffs take place at the Utica University Nexus Center in New York in February, and at least one league member has won a national championship each year since the league NE Pack was founded in 2019.
The season-opening showcase is being hosted by Mount St. Charles and held at three Rhode Island ice rinks: Adelard Arena, Providence College’s Schneider Arena and Rhode Island Sports Center. Only Schneider Arena is listed as a potential LiveBarn viewing option.
Michigan’s Tier 1 September season-opening event brings together all state National-bound Tier 1 Boys teams in the 14U, 15O, 16U and 18U age groups. Teams from each age division will compete in a three-game schedule over the course of the weekend at Buffalo Wild Wings Arena in Troy.
Games will be streamed online by MIHockey.TV – with single-game and full-showcase packages available.
“I think this event has become a source of pride for MAHA,” MAHA President Tom Berry said in a preview story on the organization’s website. “This is the sixth year holding this event at the beginning of the season, and every year the event gets better. There’s plenty of passion and pride displayed on the ice by the players, and that’s what scouts and spectators tune in to see. But I’m also proud of how this event has grown over the years – the technology, on-site activation and even adding a second event in December.”
First held in 2019, the MAHA Tier 1 Showcase returns to Buffalo Wild Wings Arena for the sixth time. A second MAHA Tier 1 Showcase has been added this year and will be played Dec. 5-7.
MAHA Tier 1 Showcase Competing Teams
Oakland Jr. Grizzlies, Little Caesars, HoneyBaked, Victory Honda, Biggby Coffee, Belle Tire, Fox Motors, Compuware, Chicago Mission (18U only), Soo Indians (18U only).
CLICK HERE for the MAHA Tier 1 Showcase complete schedule, scores and standings