By Kevin Scott
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Team Black vs. Team Gold |
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Team Red vs. Team White |
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PLYMOUTH, MI., February 16, 2026 — The 2026 North American 3 Hockey League’s annual Top Prospects Tournament (TPT) took place on Monday, February 16 and Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
The ‘all-star’ like tournament is played in cooperation with the 2026 North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Top Prospects Tournament at the same facility.
Click here for the full two-day tournament schedule and results.
The NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament provides an opportunity for the NA3HL to showcase their best hockey players in front of coaches and scouts from the North American Hockey League (NAHL), the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and the NCAA college levels.
There will be four TPT teams (Team Black, Team Gold Team Red, and Team White) that will play two games each day. The teams will consist of 20 players (12 forwards, 6 defensemen and two goalies) and one head coach. Players considered for this prestigious event had to be nominated by their respective coaches.
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 have also been announced for the Top Prospects Tournament with Todd Sanden (Minnesota Moose) leading Team Black, Michael Rooney (Texas Brahmas) and Alec Sherman (El Paso Rhinos) coaching Team Gold, while Jason Woods (West Bend Power) will be guiding Team Red and Sheridan Hawks head coach, JJ Santagata and Binghamton Buzz head coach Anthony Carlier coaching Team White.
“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.”
Click here for the Americans press release with full rosters and schedule for each team.
Clouse and Hannesson earn assists on game-winning goal to lift Team White to a 5-4 win in final seconds
Dayton Niedert (Badlands Sabres) scored one goal and assisted on another while Great Falls Americans standouts Fisher Hannesson assisted on two of the five Team White scoring drives and Cooper Clouse added one assist as Team White downed Team Red, 5-4 in the final seconds of regulation at the NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament. Helena Bighorns’ Chase Berg scored the game-winning tally with 16 seconds to go.
The first twenty minutes produced 17 total shots-on-goal but neither Team White or Team Red provided any scoring opportunities.
Team Red outscored Team White, 4-2 during the second intermission. Brady Knutsen and Reece Beckwith (Carolina Rage), Lonnie Land (St. Louis Jr. Blues), and Nolan Mix (West Bend Power) each netted goals for Team Red. Eric Denny (St. Louis Jr. Blues) provided two assists for the Red squad. Riley Schmidt of the Gillette Wild and Badlands Sabres star Dayton Niedert both found the back of the net for Team While while Fisher Hannesson (Great Falls Americans) and Austin Uecker of the Helena Bighorns helped make the goals possible. Both teams attempted 19 shots-on-goal after two periods of play.
Team White’s offense would not give up and they scored three straight goals including the game winner with 16 seconds remaining. A trio of different players from different teams acquired the goals includign Dantae Hunziker (Sheridan Hawks), Jack Whitelaw (Butte Irish) and Chase Berg of the Helena Bighorns. Cooper Clouse and Fisher Hannesson, both of the Americans and Riley Schmidt (Gillette Wild), Caden Feinstein (Helena Bighorns) and Dayton Niedert (Badlands Sabres) picked up the assists.
Team White outshot Team Red, 10-7 in the third frame to finish with 29 shots while Team Red ended the game with 26.
Five power play chances went unanswered between these two TPT squads.
Dalton Elliott, one of three players representing the Binghamton Buzz, recorded nine saves in 25 minutes for Team White. Andrew Knox from the Gillette Wild also saw action stopping 13 of 15 shots. Lleyton Jaschke from the Wisconsin Woodsmen made 23 saves in the loss for Team Red.
Team Black overcomes slow start to defeat Team Gold, 7-2
Team Gold scored the first two goals of the first period but Team Black scored seven straight second periods goals to rout Team Gold during the first day of competition at the Top Prospects Tournament in Plymouth, Michigan.
John Scharf (Texas Brahmas) and Ethan Salter (Austin Ice Bats) put Team Gold out in front during the first period with Charlie Wilson (Texas Brahmas), Carter Gnau (Louisiana Drillers) and Joseph Izzo (Texas Roadrunners) assisting.
Jackson Dougherty (New Jersey Titans) scored twice and teammates Ethan Tierman (Bayou State Rougarou) and Caleb Waller (Alexandria Blizzard) provided one goal and one assist apiece for Team Black after the first intermission. Luca Salak, from the Minnesota Moose, assisted on two scoring drives. The other four goals went to Ty Smith (Granite City Lumberjacks), Elliot Domagala (Willmar WarHawks), Carsen Gause (Minnesota Moose) and Caleb Waller (Alexandria Blizzard). Seven other players earned assists for Team Black including Juno Ryu (New Jersey Titans), Matej Dvorsky (New Hampshire Jr. Mountain Kings), Max Jackson (Willmar WarHawks), Nathan Daniels (Bayou State Rougarou), Gavin Jensen (Minnesota Moose) and Eli Tiernan (Granite City Lumberjacks).
Both teams failed to find the back of the net in the final period.
Thanks to seven goals in the middle period that produced 15 shots, the winning squad accrued 27 shots while Team Gold took 24 during the sixty minute contest.
Jayden Serene (Alexandria Blizzard) and Norwich Sea Captains goalie Peter Alfano combined for 22 saves in the win for Team Black. Joshua Middleton (New Mexico Ice Wolves) and Brayden Macko (El Paso Rhinos) allowed seven goals and combined for 20 saves in the setback.
TOURNAMENT NOTES: Fans can also follow the action live at NATV of both games of the Top Prospects Tournament. and see the stats updated live on the NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament Scoreboard.
To view more information about the 2026 Top Prospects Tournament, please visit the tournament webpage: http://na3hl.com/tpt/
NEXT CONTEST: The 2026 Top Prospects Tournament concludes on Tuesday, February 17th. Team Gold will challenge Team Red at 8:30AM (MST) followed by Team White taking on Team Black at 10:45AM (MST).