The Cwench All Canadian Games are a pair of annual

all-star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games, each featuring rosters composed of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's top

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

players for that

school year An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classes and do rel ...

. Both games are played as a doubleheader; the first game featuring the top senior girls, followed by the second game featuring the top senior boys.

History

The All Canadian basketball game was founded in 2015 by CEO of "Bounce Elite" (a premier boys basketball program) Tom McIntyre, Athlete Institute CEO Jesse Tipping, & BioSteel Sports Nutrition CEO & co-founder John Celenza. The first four editions of the game only featured a boys game, but the event was later expanded to include a girls game in 2019. The games feature the top 24

male and female high school basketball players either born in Canada or playing in the country. The Canadian game has drawn comparisons to America's

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

. The first boys game was attended by upwards of 60 executives and scouts from the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

Title sponsorship

The game was initially branded as the BioSteel All Canadian Game when BioSteel was its title sponsor until 2023, when the company filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

late that year. The Games' co-founder John Celenza who was also the CEO and co-founder of BioSteel had left the company earlier in the year. In 2024, the games were played without a title sponsor & were branded as the All Canadian Basketball Games. On March 20, 2025, Celenza's new company that he co-founded as its new CEO, Cizzle Brands, signed a 5-year title sponsorship deal for its flagship brand Cwench Hydration to rebrand the game as the Cwench All Canadian Games.

Broadcasts

Between 2015–23, the games were carried on

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

(TSN); the inaugural event was broadcast on tape delay before they were subsequently presented live the following year. In 2024, after the game lost Biosteel as its title sponsor, the event was livestreamed via their official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. In 2025, Cizzle Brands' newly signed branding deal also included a new partnership with TSN that restored the network's broadcast rights after a one year absence.

Locations

The inaugural game in 2015 was held at the

Mattamy Athletic Centre Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was originally constructed in 1931 as an indoor arena to host ice hockey games. Consider ...

in downtown Toronto. Between 2016–23, the games were held annually at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on the campus of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

with the exception of 2020–21 when the games were not played due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2024, the games were held at the Athlete Institute in

Mono, Ontario Mono is a town situated in south-central Ontario, Canada, at the south-east corner of Dufferin County. It stretches from Highway 9 along its southern border to Highway 89 along its northern border. Its border to the west is with the Township o ...

. In 2025, the games were held at

Humber Polytechnic The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three main campuses and locations: the Humber North camp ...

's north campus in northwest Toronto.

Game MVPs

Following are the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

s (MVP) from each year:

Basketball Player of the Year

Following are the basketball player of the year (BPOY) from each year:https://www.cwenchallcanadian.com/awards

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.cwenchallcanadian.com/ Basketball all-star games Basketball competitions in Canada High school basketball in Canada Recurring sporting events established in 2015