By Kevin Scott
DALLAS, TX., January 30, 2026 — The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) have announced the rosters and tournament schedule for the 2026 Top Prospects Tournament that will be held on Monday and Tuesday, February 16-17, 2026 at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
The two-day annual Top Prospects Tournament (TPT) in conjunction with the North American Hockey League (NAHL) Top Prospects Tournament, returns to Michigan’s USA Hockey Arena and features the best uncommitted 80 players (four teams with 20 players each) in the NA3HL. Each team is represented by all six divisions (Central, East, Frontier, South, Southeast, West) and features 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and two goaltenders on each of the four teams. The four TPT teams (Team Red, Team Gold, Team Black, and Team White) will play one game each day. The selected players must have been nominated by their respective head coaches.
The NA3HL standings were frozen on Sunday, January 18th with teams seeded within their divisions based on win percentage. The number of players that each NA3HL squad will send to the tournament is determined by their winning percentage within their respective division.
The NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament, one of the most highly scouted events with many junior and college scouts in attendance, is another great example of the cooperative relationship and ladder of development between the NA3HL and NAHL. The fact remains that when it comes to Tier III junior leagues, no other league has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the NAHL than the NA3HL. Through the NAHL’s vast resources for development and exposure, like the annual Top Prospects Tournament, the NA3HL provides a worthy path for players to grow on and off the ice, while being highlighted in front of the entire junior, college, and professional scouting community.
The NA3HL is in its 16th season in 2025-26 and serves as one of the top training grounds in the country by providing the best coaching, exposure, and developmental vehicles available for student-athletes in Tier III junior hockey. It is one of only two USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior leagues. No other league of its kind has had more movement and advanced more players onto play in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) than the NA3HL. Thanks to additional and enhanced initiatives in cooperation with the NAHL put in place several years ago, more players from the NA3HL play, practice, and earn NCAA Division I scholarships with the NAHL than any other league.
Fisher Hannesson
Cooper Clouse
The Great Falls Americans will be represented by defenseman Fisher Hannesson and forward Cooper Clouse playing on Team White with other Frontier Division members and three players from the East Division’s Binghamton (NY) Buzz. Hannesson and Clouse are both from Fargo, North Dakota and are in their second season with Great Falls.
“We are excited that Cooper and Fisher will be representing us at our Top Prospect event,” said Great Falls Americans Head Coach Greg Sears. “Both guys are having excellent seasons and have had a huge impact in our success the last two seasons.”
The Frontier Division will have a total of 17 players (and three from the East Division’s Binghamton (NY) Buzz) competing in the ‘all-star like” event. In addition to Hannesson and Clouse from the Americans, the Sheridan (WY) Hawks (Dante Hunziker, Vincent Leaf, and Deagan Watson) and the Helena Bighorns (Chase Berg, Austin Uecker, and Cade Feinstein) each had three selections each. The Bozeman Ice Dogs (Devin Bruns and Andrew Kaunas), Yellowstone (WY) Quake (Shayne Smith and Tagen Stout), Gillette (WY) Wild (Riley Schmidt, Andrew Knox) and Badlands (SD) Sabres (Dayton Niedert and Gaven Marx) each had two selections while the Butte Irish had one selection in Jack Whitelaw.
The Binghamton (NY) Buzz players will be playing with the Team White, and they include Theo Fritz and Keegan and Dalton Elliott.
The coaches for the TPT teams will be announced at a later date.
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To view the rosters/stats for each team, please click here.
NATV will be streaming all four games of the Top Prospects Tournament.
2026 Top Prospects Tourney Schedule: (All Times converted to Mountain Standard Time)
Monday, February 16
8:00AM: Team Black vs. Team Gold
9:30AM: Team Red vs. Team White
Tuesday, February 17
8:30AM: Team Gold vs. Team Red
10:45AM: Team White vs. Team Black
To view more information about the 2026 Top Prospects Tournament, please visit the tournament webpage: http://na3hl.com/tpt/
Story Courtesy: North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL): 2026 Top Prospects Rosters: Officially Unveiled (January 30, 2026)