The 2025–26 MHL season was the 58th season of the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL).
The Truro Bearcats won their won their fifth league championship. Truro and the Summerside Western Capitals both competed for the national championship Centennial Cup in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Summerside eliminated Truro in the quarterfinal and went on to lose in the final against the Niverville Nighthawks of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL).
Summerside defenceman Simon Mullen was named Defenceman of the Year by the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
The Edmundston Blizzard appointed Michael Ward as Head Coach. The Miramichi Timberwolves appointed Shawn Evans as Head Coach. The Chaleur Lightning appointed Matt Wright as Head Coach, replacing Kyle McAllister, and George MacIntyre as General Manager.
The MHL and Hockey Canada launched the Aligned Rules pilot project, according to which the league adopted the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) rule book and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Rule 202 on facial protection.
Regular season
The regular season ran from 11 September 2025 through 8 March 2026. Each of the twelve teams played 52 regular season games, including eight against teams in the same division and two against teams in the other division. The top four teams in each division advanced to the playoffs.
|+ style="background:#003277; border-top:#63ADE4 5px solid; border-bottom:#63ADE4 5px solid"| ! style=width:2.2em | Rank ! style=width:15em | Team ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Games Played">GP</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Wins">W</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Losses">L</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Losses">OTL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Shootout losses">SOL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Points">Pts</abbr title> |- align=right | 1 || align=left|Summerside Western Capitals || 52 || 32 || 12 || 5 || 3 || 72 |- align=right | 2 || align=left|Truro Bearcats || 52 || 34 || 14 || 3 || 1 || 72 |- align=right | 3 || align=left|Pictou County Crushers || 52 || 31 || 16 || 4 || 1 || 67 |- align=right | 4 || align=left|Amherst Ramblers || 52 || 32 || 19 || 1 || 0 || 65 |- align=right | 5 || align=left|Yarmouth Mariners || 52 || 19 || 25 || 4 || 4 || 46 |- align=right | 6 || align=left|Valley Wildcats || 52 || 12 || 38 || 2 || 0 || 26
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|+ style="background:#003277; border-top:#63ADE4 5px solid; border-bottom:#63ADE4 5px solid"| ! style=width:2.2em | Rank ! style=width:15em | Team ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Games Played">GP</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Wins">W</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Losses">L</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Overtime Losses">OTL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Shootout losses">SOL</abbr title> ! style=width:2.2em | <abbr title="Points">Pts</abbr title> |- align=right | 1 || align=left|Grand Falls Rapids || 52 || 31 || 15 || 5 || 1 || 68 |- align=right | 2 || align=left|West Kent Steamers || 52 || 30 || 14 || 5 || 3 || 68 |- align=right | 3 || align=left|Edmundston Blizzard || 52 || 30 || 16 || 3 || 3 || 66 |- align=right | 4 || align=left|Chaleur Lightning || 52 || 31 || 18 || 2 || 1 || 65 |- align=right | 5 || align=left|Campbellton Tigers || 52 || 15 || 29 || 6 || 2 || 38 |- align=right | 6 || align=left|Miramichi Timberwolves || 52 || 15 || 33 || 3 || 1 || 34
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Post-season
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Quarterfinal: Grand Falls Rapids v. Chaleur Lightning The Chaleur Lightning, having finished the regular season 4th in the South division, eliminated the 1st-place Grand Falls Rapids in 5 games.
Quarterfinal: West Kent Steamers v. Edmundston Blizzard The 3rd-place Edmundston Blizzard swept the 2nd-place Edmundston Blizzard in 4 straight games.
Quarterfinal: Truro Bearcats v. Pictou County Crushers The 2nd-place Truro Bearcats defeated the 3rd-place Pictou County Crushers in 4 games to 1.
Quarterfinal: Summerside Western Capitals v. Amherst Ramblers The 1st-place Summerside Western Capitals defeated the 4th-place Amherst Ramblers in 4 games to 3.
Semifinal: Chaleur Lightning v. Edmundston Blizzard The Edmundston Blizzard defeated the Chaleur Lightning 4 games to 2 to advance to the final round.
Semifinal: Truro Bearcats v. Summerside Western Capitals The Truro Bearcats defeated the Summerside Western Capitals 4 games to 3 to advance to the final round.
Final: Edmundston Blizzard v. Truro Bearcats The Truro Bearcats defeated the Edmundston Blizzard in 4 games to 1 to win the league championship.
National championship
The MHL championship Truro Bearcats advanced to 2026 Centennial Cup national championship tournament. The Summerside Western Capitals, as the host team, also advanced despite having lost to the Bearcats in the MHL semifinal. The Western Capitals defeated the Bearcats in the national quarterfinal round. The Western Capitals subsequently defeated the Collège Français de Longueuil of the Quebec Junior Hockey League in the national semifinal. The Western Capitals lost to the Niverville Nighthawks of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in the national championship final.
Preliminary round robin
Teams were randomly assigned to Group A or Group B. During the preliminary round robin phase, each team played each other team in their group once. Three points were awarded for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in overtime or shootout, one point for a loss in overtime or shootout, and no points were awarded for a loss in regulation time.
The Niverville Nighthawks and Collège Français de Longueuil advanced to the semifinals after placing first in their respective groups. The Summerside Western Capitals, Canmore Eagles, Toronto Patriots and Truro Bearcats advanced to the quarterfinals.
Playoffs
The Niverville Nighthawks and Collège Français de Longueuil each had a bye in the quarterfinal round. The Summerside Western Capitals defeated the Truro Bearcats, and the Toronto Patriots defeated the Canmore Eagles. In the semifinals, Summerside defeated Longueuil, and Niverville defeated Toronto.
References
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