Mississauga is one of the newest, most diverse, and fastest growing cities in Canada, and it's well-represented by the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League. The Steelheads are the third team to have represented the Toronto suburb in the OHL within the last quarter century, but they've already made inroads in the league, reaching the 2017 Robertson Cup finals where they lost to the Erie Otters. The Steelheads are considered a separate entity from the St. Michael's Majors, the second iteration of the legendary Toronto junior hockey team who played in Mississauga from 2007 until their sale in 2012. The Mississauga IceDogs, who moved to St. Catherines, Ontario, upon the arrival of the St. Michael's Majors, are now known as the Niagara IceDogs and compete alongside the Steelheads in the OHL's Central Division. The steelhead is a type of rainbow trout native to the Pacific Northwest but is also farmed in Ontario, and its presence makes for one of the more unique logos in the OHL.

The Mississauga Steelheads play out of the Paramount Fine Foods Centre, which opened as the Hershey Centre in 1998 and has a capacity of 5,612; it is also home to the 2017 NBA G-League champion Raptors 905. The Steelheads are in the Central Division of the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference, which includes the Sudbury Wolves, the North Bay Battalion, the Barrie Colts, and the Niagara IceDogs, who from 1996 to 2007 played in Mississauga before the St. Michael's Majors displaced them. The Ontario Junior Hockey League's Mississauga Chargers, who play out of the Port Credit Arena, are the Steelheads' Junior-A affiliate.