The 2026 OHL Cup takes place from Mar. 30 to Apr. 4, 2026. It will be held at its usual venue, Scotiabank Pond in North York, Ontario, with the Championship game taking place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. 

With the OHL set to begin its weekly OHL Cup Top 10 Rankings list on Tuesday, Nov. 25, the league made an exciting announcement on Friday, detailing that the 2026 event will be expanded to 25 teams. 

This is an incredible win for the prospects and the OHL. Showcasing more talent on the big stage will bring more eyes and potential sponsors to the event. 

The OHL Cup showcase has featured incredible young talent coming out of Ontario like Connor McDavid, Shane Wright, Michael Misa, and Matthew Schaefer. North Bay Battalion 2025 sixth overall pick, Camryn Warren, is the reigning MVP of the tournament, taking home the championship as a member of the Toronto Jr. Canadiens in 2025. 

Every year, three wildcard games take place, allowing some top OHL prospects — whom scouts are eager to watch — to compete in a win-or-go-home scenario. For instance, Kitchener Rangers prospect Alex Forrest was part of a highly skilled Oakville Rangers team last year. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the wildcard round by the Niagara North Stars, and the scouts weren’t able to see more of Forrest. 

This expansion of the tournament provides more opportunities for players to impress the hundreds of scouts in attendance. It also allows those scouts to gain additional live viewing of the players before finalizing their draft lists.

The expansion details are as follows:

Tournament FormatThe 2026 OHL Cup will feature an expanded format to accommodate the increased field:

• Wildcard Play-In Games: Four games on Monday, Mar. 30 (expanded from three in previous years)
• Round Robin: Monday, Mar. 30 through Wednesday, Apr. 1 at Scotiabank Pond
• Playoffs: Quarterfinal and Semifinal games on Thursday, Apr. 2 at Scotiabank Pond
• Championship Final: Saturday, Apr. 4 at 2 pm at the Mattamy Athletic Centre 

Qualification ChangesThe expanded field introduces several new pathways for team qualification:

• The addition of a fifth division featuring five teams
• The addition of a fourth wild card entry team
• Return of an automatic Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) representative entry
• Expansion from two to three guaranteed spots for American entries
• Introduction of two guaranteed OHL Cup Selection Committee spots based on team record, OHL Cup ranking, tournament performance, and playoff success

With the new junior hockey landscape, allowing players to play in the CHL with NCAA commitments, expanding to three American team entries for the tournament makes a lot of sense, especially since we saw a record-high amount of Americans drafted in 2025 (79). 

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