The Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league under Hockey Canada, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It consists of six teams from New Brunswick, which make up the EastLink North Division, five teams from Nova Scotia, and one team from Prince Edward Island which make up the Eastlink South Division. The winner of the MHL playoffs competes for the Centennial Cup against the winners of the 8 other tier 2 junior A leagues across Canada. Prior to the pandemic the MHL champions would participate in the Fred Page Cup. This tournament involved the Bogart Cup champions from the CCHL(Ontario), the Kent Cup champions from the MHL(Maritimes) and the winner of the La Coupe Napa of the QJHL(Québec) as well as a pre determined host. The winner would move on to compete for the Canadian National Junior A Championship. However with the departure of the BCHL whom ended affiliation with the CJHL in March 2021 as well as Hockey Canada in June 2023 becoming an independent league. No Centennial Cup qualifying tournaments such as the Kent Cup have been played since 2022 and instead all the league champions have directly advanced to the Centennial Cup.

Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 15- to 20-year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from the 2024 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.