Weekend Preview Oct. 24-26: Action in Hockey Hotbeds Heats Up as Temps Cool Down
As the fall temperatures cool down, the hockey action really starts to heat up in the sport’s North American hotbeds
For this ninth weekend of the 2025-26 North American youth hockey season, hundreds of boys youth hockey teams are swarming New England for two of the fall’s biggest and most-anticipated events, while Midwest Elite Leauge Playoffs are contested in Minnesota and the U17 Bauer Elite Invite unfolds in British Columbia.
The Eastern Exposure Cup is underway at rinks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with nearly 200 teams competing at the 9U through 15O age levels. The tournament includes numerous teams ranked among the MHR Week 5 top 20 in each of the 12U through 15O age classifications.
For the older players, more than 100 teams in the 14U, 15O, 16u and 18U age groups are in Massachusetts for the Beantown Fall Classic, which attracts numerous NCAA college and junior scouts looking to watch some of the top prospects in the northeastern United States play in person. The tournament includes Tier 1, Tier 2, AAA and Prep Boys teams from the U.S. and Canada.
Heading west to another U.S. hockey hotbed, the 2025 Upper Midwest HS Elite League Boys Playoffs get underway Friday, Oct. 25, and run through Sunday, October. 26. The top eight teams are facing off for the coveted league title, with the champion to be determined at 1 p.m. ET Sunday in New Hope, Minn.
And finally, our trek west continues all the way to British Columbia for the 16-team Bauer U17 Elite Invite. The U17 Elite Invite includes U17 Boys teams from some of the top AAA programs in Western Canada as well as Tier 1 teams from the United States. Play got underway Thursday, Oct. 23 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 26.
Nearly 200 teams in the 9U through 15O age groups are in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island Oct. 24-26 to participate in the Eastern Exposure Cup. Games will be played in 14 rinks across the three states. Our focus is on the 12U-15O divisions, which feature more than 100 teams representing some of the top USA Tier 1 Boys programs.
Each team is guaranteed three or four round-robin games Oct. 24 and 25, with playoff and consolation games starting later in the day on Saturday, Oct. 25. Semifinals and championship games will be played Oct. 26. More than 400 games will be contested across all age groups.
Most of the Eastern Exposure Cup venues have LiveBarn feeds to provide streaming.
CLICK HERE to view the Eastern Exposure Cup venues
CLICK HERE for Eastern Exposure Cup schedules, scores and standings
Eastern Exposure Cup 15O Division
The 15O Division includes 14 teams, with six of them ranked among the MHR 15O Week 5 USA Boys Tier 1 top 43:
Top 15O Participating Teams
#22 Florida Alliance
#27 Mid-Fairfield Rangers
#30 Victory Honda
#34 Seacoast Performance Academy
#40 Boston Americans
#43 Yale Jr. Bulldogs
Eastern Exposure Cup 14U Division
There are 28 total 14U teams spread out among three divisions. The 2011 Elite Division includes three MHR Week 5 Tier 1 USA Boys teams as well as the Nos. 8 and 25 U15 AAA teams from Ontario. Eight of the USA’s top 40 teams are in this division.
Top 14U Participating Teams
#4 Dallas Stars Elite
#6 Mount St. Charles
#8 Boston Jr. Eagles
#8 Ontario North York Storm
#19 Palmyra Black Knights
#21 LA Jr. Kings
#25 Cape Cod Whalers
#25 Ontario Hill Academy
#33 Florida Alliance
#39 Seacoast Performance Academy
Eastern Exposure Cup 13O Division
The 13O Division includes 30 teams competing in four divisions. The 2012 Elite Division features three MHR Week 5 top 20 Tier 1 USA Boys teams along with the third-ranked U14 team from Ontario. Nine of the USA’s top 36 teams are participating at the 13O level.
Top 13O Participating Teams
#3 Ontario Toronto Marlboros
#6 NJ Rockets
#17 Florida Alliance
#19 Seacoast Performance Academy
#24 New Jersey Colonials
#32 East Coast Militia
#33 Little Flyers
#34 Islanders Hockey Club
#36 Philadelphia Hockey Club
Eastern Exposure Cup 12U Division
There are 31 12U teams competing in four divisions. The two 2013 Elite pools include three USA Boys Tier 1 top 20 teams, according to the MHR Week 5 rankings, along with Ontario’s No. 12 U13 team. There are 13 of the USA’s top 40 12U teams competing in the event. Kuper Academy from Quebec also is in the field.
Top 12U Participating Teams
#10 Islanders Hockey Club
#12 Ontario Markham Majors
#19 Florida Alliance
#20 Northern CT Nor’easters
#21 Minuteman Flames
#23 Bay State Breakers
#25 South Shore Kings
#29 PAL Jr. Islanders
#31 Little Flyers
#34 Victory Honda
#36 Mid-Fairfield Rangers
#38 Long Island Royals
#39 Springfield Thunderbirds
#40 Top Gun
One of the most well-known and highly scouted events of the fall showcase season in the Northeast is the Beantown Fall Classic, which began on Thursday, Oct. 23, and features more than 100 USA and Canada Tier 1, AAA, Prep and Tier 2 Boys teams competing from Oct. 23-26 at the 114U, 15O, 16U and 18U age levels at seven Massachusetts venues.
The event got underway Thursday, Oct. 23, with the USA’s ninth-ranked 15U Bishop Kearney Selects taking on Ontario’s fourth-ranked U16 Markham Majors. Games continued the morning of Oct. 24 and continue through 4:30 p.m. Oct. 26.
Most games should be available for viewing on LiveBarn.
CLICK HERE for a list of Beantown Fall Classic venues.
CLICK HERE for the Beantown Fall Classic Schedule and real-time results.
Beantown Fall Classic 15O Division
There are 26 USA and Canada Boys teams participating in the 15O Division. Five of the teams are ranked among the USA Boys Tier 1 top 10, according to the Week 5 MHR Rankings. Ontario’s fourth-ranked U16 Markham Majors also are participating, and there are eight USA top 30 clubs at the showcase.
Top 15O Participating Teams
#1 Little Caesars
#4 Minuteman Flames
#4 Ontario Markham Majors
#8 Mount St. Charles
#9 Bishop Kearney Selects
#10 Neponset Valley River Rats
#20 Islanders Hockey Club
#27 Mid-Fairfield Rangers
#28 East Coast Militia
Beantown Fall Classic 16U Division
The 16U Division features nearly 40 USA and Canada Boys teams. Eight of the teams are ranked among top 50 in the USA Boys 16U MHR Week 5 Rankings.
Top 16U Participating Teams
#15 Neponset Valley River Rats
#16 Bishop’s College (Canada Independent Prep)
#20 Boston Jr. Eagles
#21 Providence Capitals
#23 Yale Jr. Bulldogs
#33 Cape Cod Whalers
#37 Islanders Hockey Club
#46 East Coast Militia
#55 Springfield Jr. Thunderbirds
Beantown Fall Classic 18U Division
There are 55 teams competing in the 18U Division of the Beantown Fall Classic. Four of the teams are ranked among either the USA or Canada Independent Prep top 22, according to the latest MHR Rankings.
Top 18U Participating Teams
#11 Islanders Hockey Club
#12 Boston Little Bruins
#13 East Coast Militia
#22 Bishop’s College (Canada Independent Prep)
#56 East Coast Wizards
#60 Blazers National
#61 Hartford Jr. Wolfpack
#63 (ALL) Elite Academy
#66 New York Dynamo
#70 Assabet Valley Patriots
#71 GBL Junior Bruins
#74 South Shore Kings
Upper Midwest HS Elite League Hockey Playoffs
The Upper Midwest High School Elite League was founded in 2002 and has since served as a developmental league for the top high school players in Minnesota and neighboring Midwest states, providing a high level of competition, more games and exposure to scouts from higher-level leagues as the participants prepare for their school seasons.
It provides additional development opportunities through competitive games and is completely separate from the traditional and highly competitive Minnesota high school season, offering a high level of competition that fosters player development and provides additional exposure. The league was created in hopes of prompting more players to remain with their school programs instead of making an early jump to junior hockey.
With most Minnesota high schools allowed to play around 25 games, the Elite League allows players to participate in 50 or more structured, competitive contests by the time both seasons conclude. That’s nearly equivalent to the number of games played in the top junior leagues.
For this year’s playoffs, regular-season champion APX (10-6-2) earned the top seed and opens play at 9 p.m. ET Oct. 24 in a quarterfinal matchup with eighth-seeded Team North Dakota (1-2-0) at New Hope Ice Arena. All four quarterfinal games are scheduled for Friday evening in New Hope, with second-seeded The Base (10-7-1) facing seventh-seeded Team Wisconsin (4-12-2) at 7 p.m. ET, No. 3 seed MSP Magazine (8-6-4) taking on No. 6 seed Twin Cities Orthopedics (5-12-1) at 8:30 p.m. ET and fourth-seeded TDS Transportation (8-8-2) facing off against No. 5 seed Spade Hockey (5-9-4) at 6:30 p.m. ET.
All games are being played at New Hope Ice Arena, and the action is being streamed live on MNHockey.TV. The semifinals are set for 1:30 and 4 p.m. ET Saturday, with the third-place game to face off at 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday and the championship clash scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. ET.
Team APX poured in 97 goals during the regular season and boasts two of the top three scorers in the league. Gavin McNeil led the league with 30 points, while Sam Wooten contributed 23. MSP Magazine was the top defensive team, allowing 67 goals, while The Base scored 94 times and enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak.
The Elite League playoff champion receives the Founder’s Cup in recognition of John Russo, who passed away in 2023 and was the driving force behind the creation of the league.
CLICK HERE for the Upper Midwest Elite League Playoff bracket.
The Bauer U17 Elite Invite features 16 Canada AAA and USA Tier 1 Boys teams competing in four pools in Abbotsford, British Columbia. It is open to 2009 and 2010 birth years and got underway Thursday, Oct. 23. Pool play concludes the evening of Oct. 24, with quarterfinals, semifinals and consolation games scheduled for Oct. 25 and 26. The bronze-medal game will start at 6:30 p.m. ET Oct. 26, with the puck dropping for the gold-medal game at 6:45 p.m ET.
All games are being played at the Rinks at Summit Centre in Abbotsford and should be available for live and on-demand viewing on LiveBarn.
This year’s event includes teams representing many of Western Canada’s traditional top Bantam and Midget AAA Boys programs, along with the San Jose Jr. Sharks and Seattle Jr. Kraken 16U Tier 1 teams from the United States. Those two teams were ranked 99th and 82nd, respectively, in the Week 5 MHR USA Boys Tier 1 16U Rankings.
There have not been quite enough games to have representative Western Canada U17 AAA Boys Rankings yet, but some of the competing teams include St. George’s School, the Okanagan Rockets, Burnaby Winter Club Academy, Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna, Shawnigan Lake School, Okanagan Hockey Academy, Yale Hockey Academy, Pacific Coast Hockey Academy, the Sherwood Park Kings and the North East Vancouver Chiefs.
CLICK HERE for access to the Bauer U17 Elite Invite schedules, standings, scores and stats.
Bauer U17 Elite Nexus Division
Okanagan Hockey Academy
Sherwood Park Kings
Yale Hockey Academy
Pacific Coast Hockey Academy
Bauer U17 Elite Prodigy Division
St. George’s School
Okanagan Rockets
North Shore Warriors
San Jose Jr. Sharks
Bauer U17 Elite Supreme Division
Burnaby Winter Club Academy
STAR Academy
NE Vancouver Chiefs
St. Mary’s
Bauer U17 Elite Vapor Division
RHA Kelowna
Seattle Jr. Kraken
Shawnigan Lake School
South Shore Athletic Club
