Welcome to Martin Luther King Day Weekend, which probably is the biggest weekend of youth and minor hockey tournaments in North America every year. To get an idea of the scope of this weekend’s tournament activity, our partners at MYHockey Tournaments alone have more than 850 teams playing nearly 1,900 games in 16 different United States cities.

That’s just one tournament organizer, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

For our Week 16 MHR/LiveBarn Games of the Week, we are bringing you great matchups from both sides of the border.

The Mid-Atlantic Showcase Series continues this weekend near Philadelphia, welcoming many of the top 14U and 16U Tier 2 teams in the U.S., as well as a top-10 14U AA team from Ontario, for its Winter Showcase. Two of our featured Week 16 contests come from that tourney, while we also head north for the Kingston Jr. Gaels Taylor Hall Invitational Classic, which includes some of Ontario’s top U10, U11, U12 and U13 AAA teams. Our final highlighted event is the North American Prospects Hockey League Showcase in Michigan, which includes NAPHL Tier 1 Division teams competing at the 16U and 18U levels.

This weekend there are 20 teams in the 14U and 16U AA boys’ categories competing in the Mid-Atlantic Showcase Series Winter Showcase in Hatfield, Pa. The 16U division is stacked and includes the Nos. 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 19, 20, 50 and 56 Tier 2 teams in the United States. Meanwhile, the 14U division boasts four USA top-25 teams as well as Ontario’s No. 8 London Jr. Knights. The tournament starts Saturday and runs through Monday, with each team playing five games and the top-two preliminary-round finishers facing off for the championship.

The Taylor Hall Invitational Classic features a total of 38 teams competing across the four age groups. We are highlighting a matchup of top-15 Ontario U12 Boys AAA teams. The U12 division includes five of Ontario’s top-25 clubs.

The NAPHL Showcase in Ann Arbor Michigan allows 16U and 18U Tier 1 players to compete at USA Hockey Arena and other venues in front of scouts from its parent organization, the North American Hockey League. The NAHL is the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier 2 tuition-free junior league in the United States and is one of the top producers of NCAA Division I hockey players in North America.

Our featured game from the NAPHL Showcase includes a pair of top-13 USA Boys 18U Tier 1 teams, both of whom had yet to drop a league game in regulation enterting the weekend and are looking to move closer to the top of the standing. No. 12 CarShield enters the event with a 7-0-0-1 record in NAPHL play (shootout loss), while the No. 13 Esmark Stars are 8-0-0-0. Both teams have 22 standings points, which leaves them nine points behind the league-leading Philadelphia Little Flyers, but they have played four fewer games than Philly.

Week 14 MHR/LiveBarn Featured Games of the Week  

#3 Littleton Hawks vs. #7 Atlanta Mad Hatters

Level: USA Boys 16U Tier 2

Date: Saturday, January 14

Time: 2:10 p.m. ET

Location: Hatfield Ice Arena – Hatfield, Pa.

Event: Mid-Atlantic Showcase Series Winter Showcase

Stream: LiveBarn 

Littleton plays in the Central States Developmental Hockey League, one of the top Tier 2 circuits in the United States, and the Hawks bring a 37-5-2 record into this weekend’s Mid-Atlantic Winter Showcase. Four of MHR’s current top-10 16U Tier 2 teams compete in the CSDHL. Atlanta is 27-7-4 and has outscored its opponents, 203-67, while allowing fewer than two goals per contest. Littleton, which is based in Colorado, has outscored its opponents, 202-78, and also has allowed fewer than two tallies per outing. The Hawks have recorded seven shutouts on the season and have permitted zero or one goal 20 times. Atlanta also has posted seven clean sheets while permitting zero or one goal on 22 occasions. Littleton owns a victory over the Tier 1 Colorado Thunderbirds and enters the showcase in the midst of a 18-game winning streak that dates to a pair of losses to the No. 2 Chicago Bulldogs Oct. 30. The Hawks have outscored their last 11 opponents, 82-13. The Mad Hatters are 4-0-1 in their last five contests, outscoring their foes, 30-3, in those games. They skated to a 1-1 draw against the No. 17 Atlanta Fire during that stretch, which was preceded by a 4-0 loss to No. 19 Team Philadelphia. Atlanta is 8-1-1 in its last 10 outings.

#8 (Ontario) London Jr. Knights vs. #18 (USA) North Jersey Avalanche

Level: USA Boys 14U Tier 2

Date: Saturday, January 14

Time: 9:15 a.m.

Location: Hatfield Ice Arena – Hatfield, Pa.

Event: Mid-Atlantic Showcase Series Winter Showcase

Stream: LiveBarn 

We love the border battles, and this should be a great one at the 14U Tier 2 level from the Mid-Atlantic Winter Showcase. London carries a 20-7-3 record through Customs for this weekend’s tourney, and the Knights have outscored their opponents, 118-51. They have allowed just 1.7 goals per game, recording eight shutouts and allowing zero or one goal 14 times. London opened the season by going 1-3, but the Knights are 19-4-3 since. They are 7-1-1 in their last nine outings, with the loss coming against Ontario’s No. 39 Brantford 99ers and the tie vs. the No. 23 Kitchener Jr. Rangers. North Jersey is 39-7-0 entering the weekend and has won four straight games, outscoring its opponents, 24-5, during that span, dating to a 3-2 loss to USA’s No. 22 Red Ban Generals Dec. 17. For the season, the Avs have outscored their opponents, 247-68, allowing 1.48 goals per game while recording 10 shutouts. They have permitted zero or one goal on 26 occasions and are 14-2-0 in their last 16 contests.

#10 Upper Canada Cyclones vs. #15 Myers Automotive AAA

Level: Ontario Boys U12 AAA

Date: Saturday, December 14

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Location: INVISTA Centre Arena – Kingston, Ontario

Event: Kingston Jr. Gales Taylor Hall Invitational Classic

A pair of top-15 Ontario U12 AAA teams clash in pool play at the Taylor Hall Invitational in Kingston. These two teams have met six times previously, with Myers holding a 3-2-1 advantage and a scoring edge of 23-20 in those contests. They tied, 4-4, on Sept. 25 but Myers won the next two contests by a total of three goals and also took the most recent outing Jan. 8 by a 7-3 margin. Upper Canada won the other two matchups, 5-2 and 2-1. Upper Canada enters the tournament with a 23-12-5 record and having outscored its opponents, 162-111. The Cyclones are 6-2-1 in their last nine outings, with one of those setbacks coming against Myers and the other being a 4-3 loss to the No. 22 Ottawa Valley Titans. They lost four straight games, including contests vs. the USA’s Nos. 1 and 3 teams, and five of eight at one point, but have gone 21-7-4 otherwise this season. Myers comes to Kingston with a 22-12-5 mark and holding a 121-97 scoring advantage over their opponents. They are 7-1-1 in their last nine contests, with a 3-2 setback vs. the No. 17 Eastern Ontario Wild and the tie vs. the No. 33 Mississauga Rebels. Prior to that stretch, Myers had dropped three straight games, with two of the losses coming against the Cyclones and one vs. Ottawa Valley. They also beat Ottawa Valley, 4-0, to snap that skid and have beaten Ontario’s Nos. 13 and 14 teams recently.   

#12 CarShield vs. #13 Esmark Stars

Level: USA Boys 18U Tier 1

Date: Saturday, December 14

Time: 11:00 a.m. ET

Location: Ann Arbor Ice Cube – Ann Arbor, Mich. 

Event: NAPHL Tier 1 Showcase

Stream: HockeyTV

The two highest-ranked NAPHL National Bound 18U teams square off at this weekend’s Tier 1 Showcase looking to make a leap forward in the league standings. Neither team has lost an NAPHL contest in regulation, but they are tied for sixth in standings points with 22. Esmark is 8-0-0-0 in league play, while CarShield is 7-0-0-1 with a shootout loss. All five teams above them in the standings have played either four or five more games, however, so this weekend presents a big opportunity for them. They are one point out of fourth place, two out of third, four out of second and nine out of first. CarShield enters the weekend with an impressive 28-10-0 record and holding a 160-71 scoring advantage over its opponents. They have allowed just 1.87 goals per game and recorded five shutouts while permitting zero or one goal 16 times. CarShield has won its last six games, outscoring its opponents, 35-4, in the process. Esmark is 31-8-2 on the year and has outscored its opponents, 200-72. The Stars have permitted just 1.76 goals per game and recorded 11 shutouts. Their goalies posted six consecutive clean sheets from Sept. 10-18, going 6-0-0 in the process and rolling to a 39-0 scoring advantage in those contests. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games since a tough stretch that included an overtime win and two shootout losses and saw them go 2-4-0.