Northern Maine schools will compete against Canadians in new basketball tourney
Posted on July 20, 2026 | News
by Larry MahoneyJuly 15, 2026
From 1969 to 1994, the CANUSA Games pitted youth and adults from Brewer against Canadian rivals from Riverview, New Brunswick, in numerous athletic competitions.
In the spirit of that former competition, Aroostook County will host the first CANUSA Showcase basketball tournament in Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield on July 24-25.
There will be five boys high school basketball teams from northern Maine along with three middle school girls teams squaring off against five boys and three girls teams from the Canadian Maritime provinces.
“Each of the five boys teams from Maine will play one game against each of the five boys teams from Canada, and it will be the same for the Canadian teams. It will also be the same for the three girls middle school teams from each country,” said tournament director and former Fort Fairfield High School boys and girls basketball head coach Larry Gardner, who has been inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame.
The games will be played at the Fort Fairfield High School and Fort Fairfield Community Center courts as well as the University of Maine-Presque Isle’s court.
“The idea behind the CANUSA showcase is to improve relationships between Canada and the United States,” said Gardner.
Participants will receive a T-shirt that reads “Basketball knows no borders.”
The high school boys teams will be from Caribou, Calais, Fort Kent, Madawaska and Fort Fairfield. Their Canadian opponents will involve teams from New Brunswick’s Carleton County, Fredericton, St. Stephen and Saint John/Moncton along with a Nova Scotia team from Yarmouth.
Each boys team will play at least one game on the bigger court at UMPI.
The girls middle school teams will feature teams from Fort Fairfield and Caribou along with one other that has yet to be determined against three New Brunswick teams from the Florenceville/Woodstock area.
They will play all of their games in Fort Fairfield.
Gardner said the original plan called for four high school boys teams and four high school girls teams from each country, but he said there weren’t any high school girls teams available from the Maritimes.
Gardner said there will be a separate tournament not affiliated with the CANUSA Showcase that will involve high school girls teams from northern Maine.
He said it will be a good time to have girls high school teams involved in their own event “because we have the officials and the courts and it will give the [CANUSA Showcase] teams a longer break between games. They won’t have to play back-to-back games.
“And maybe for another year, once the word gets out about what we’re doing, we will be able to bring in some Canadian girls high school teams,” said Gardner.
After all the round robin games are played, the country with the most victories will capture the CANUSA Cup.
There will also be a 3-point shooting competition for the boys, and all-tourney teams will be selected.
In the boys division, the top two finishers in each division will square off in the semifinals and that will be followed by a championship game. In the semifinals, the No. 1 team in Maine will face the No. 2 team from Canada, and the No. 1 team in Canada will take on the No. 2 team from Maine.
Gardner said they could also have playoffs in the middle school bracket, but that has yet to be decided.
The Maine Office of Tourism in the Department of Economic and Community Development approved a grant for $18,750 to finance the event, and the Eastern Maine Development Corporation is the fiscal agent that will manage the funds according to Lee Umphrey, president and CEO of EMDC.
Umphrey explained that the money was awarded because of the value provided by tourism, the relationship with Canada and the economic impact.
Umphrey said the relationship between Maine and New Brunswick is strong and the state saw this as an “extension of what Gov. [Janet] Mills did with her outreach previously to the province to demonstrate good relations with our neighbor.
“It’s good in every way. It’s good in a time where our federal government is contentious towards Canada. Maine is remaining strong and using basketball and young people is a great way to reinforce the connection between Maine and New Brunswick. We’re completely behind it,” said Umphrey.
University of Maine and Maine Basketball Hall of Famer Thomas “Skip” Chappelle, after whom the basketball court is named at the Memorial Gym on the UMaine campus, came up with the idea for the event, according to Gardner.
“He wanted to know how I got so many Canadians to attend my basketball camps. I told him I just advertised. And we did send out an email after COVID to offer them discounts,” said Gardner, a Fort Fairfield native. “He brought up the CANUSA Games from the 1960s. It piqued his interest.”
Umphrey said it was “pretty cool” that Chappelle still has the passion to promote basketball and wants kids to love the sport like he does.
Gardner said it’s all about basketball and camaraderie.
“You’re going to make new friends, meet new coaches, learn something. We just want it to be positive and something they will remember,” said Gardner.