Minor hockey

Minor hockey is ice hockey as played by "minor league" teams, as opposed to "major league" or professional teams such as those in the American Hockey League or the National Hockey League, or even junior hockey teams in leagues like the Canadian Hockey League. There are minor hockey leagues all across Canada and Northern United States as well as most European countries.

Players are classified by age, and the rules (especially for checking) vary from class to class.

Generally, players under the age of 18 require a full cage-mask to participate, and this is a rule based on age rather than the level of play the player participate in.

Canada

In Canada, the divisions are designated by the Provincial hockey governing body based on [http://www.hockeycanada.ca Hockey Canada's] :

* Mite (ages 3-4)
* Tyke (ages 5-6)
* Novice (ages 7-8)
* Atom (ages 9-10)
* Peewee (ages 11-12)
* Bantam (ages 13-14)
* Midget (ages 15-17)
* Juvenile (ages 18-20)

Smaller communities will often combine the Mite and Tyke levels into a single Initiation (or Pre-Novice) level in order to form full teams.

Each of these Age Divisions may have multiple tiers based on skill.

Skill Progressions:

HL, or House League, is intra-city, and players may be of any skill level. Above HL, rosters are competitive, meaning that tryouts are held, and players cut from the roster depending upon skill level and fit.

"Select" teams will consist of better House League players who in addition to HL play, will play in additional games and practices which are organized on an ad hoc basis.

"Select Competitive" teams organize enough ad hoc games that the players will usually discontinue HL play.

Higher-skilled players will typically play on a "rep" team, also known as a 'travel team', as play is inter-city. Rep teams are themselves subclassified by skill, i.e. AE, A, AA, AAA. Not all cities will have teams at all skill levels, depending on size and the popularity of hockey, however even small communities may field multiple level. (For example: Orillia, ON, with a population of 30,000, has, even for 7-year olds, four distinct skill divisions).

AE, or "Additional Entry" is the introductory level of rep play

AAA is the highest caliber of minor hockey.

United States

In the United States, [http://www.usahockey.com USA Hockey] designates the following levels:
* Novice (ages 6 and under)
* Mite (ages 8 and under)
* Squirt (ages 9-10)
* Peewee (ages 11-12)
* Bantam (ages 13-14)
* Midget 16 and Under (ages 15-16)
* Midget 18 and Under (ages 17-18)

Some leagues also have a younger level referred to as 'Mosquitoes'.

The rankings of the various youth hockey league teams in the US and Canada can be found at the following website: http://www.nationalhockeyrankings.com/

Sweden

In Sweden, [http://www.swehockey.se Swedish Ice Hockey Federation] designates the following levels:
* U11 (ages 11 and under)
* U12 (ages 12 and under)
* U13 (ages 13 and under)
* U14 (ages 14 and under)
* U15 (ages 15 and under)
* U16 (ages 16 and under)
* J18 (Juniors 18 and under)
* J20 (Juniors 20 and under)

Some levels (especially J18 and J20) are directly administrated by the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation, while lower divisions of the Juniors and below are administrated by the respective sub-federation in each province (landskap).

Officials

Officials for youth hockey are often youth players themselves, calling games in lower levels than the one they participate in themselves. Just as players start out playing youth hockey, officials start their officiating career officiating youth hockey, making it up through the ranks as their officiating skill increases. USA Hockey defines certain [http://www.usahockey.com/Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=OF_05_01&id=20762 levels of their officials] and so does Hockey Canada and the [http://www.iihf.com International Ice Hockey Federation] .

Currently, many youth officials quit after a few games, mainly due to verbal abuse from parents, coaches and players. While a certain number quit due to other reasons, the most common reason is that. In the US and Canada, news stories pop up from now and then that describes physical abuse on youth officials, in addition to verbal abuse. This is very rarely reported in other countries, either because it's less prone to occur there, or that it won't get the same news attention. These problems were addressed in [http://www.hockeycanada.ca Hockey Canada's] [http://www.hockeycanada.ca/1/0/6/5/5/index1.shtml "Relax, it's just a game"] -campain, started in 2002.

A youth official can usually move up the ladder to juniors after about 2 years of officiating, and after a few years more up to senior hockey. This is of course, just as with players, different for each individual as their skill-curves are differently shaped.

Many current and former officials feel that their officiating career has aided them in their professional life as well, being more comfortable with handling critical decisions and upset individuals. The combinations of CEO or lower-level boss along with being an official and police officer along with officating is quite common in many countries.

External links

* [http://www.hockeycanada.ca Hockey Canada]