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	We felt that it was necessary to shed some light on this sometimes confusing subject. The truth is that levelling systems for North American Hockey tend to vary somewhat from state to state, province to province, and from town to town. With that said, PlayYourGame.com is excited to bring to you a general outline of minor hockey classifications throughout North America. Firstly, dependent on age, there are various age groupings (Peewee, Bantam, Midget, etc.) at work within the minor hockey system. At any given age level (we'll use Midget), there are different calibres of play based upon skill and commitment. Generally speaking, travel teams are tiered by skill and age using the AAA/AA/A classification as well as the Minor/Major classification. In a given city or town, there may be AAA, AA, and A teams. If so, AAA would be the highest calibre, AA the second highest, etc. In many cases, a town's travel team will fall under only one of these classifications (AAA, AA, or A). Quite often, a team's classification will be based upon the town's size and the respective pool of players that they have to draw from. For instance, in a city like Detroit, there are teams at the AAA level, while some of the smaller areas surrounding the city might have teams classified at the AA level. In some cases, a hockey association might have a large enough pool to field a team at all travel levels (AAA, AA, and A). In the end, your own team's classification is probably based upon the pool size that your community has to draw from. On top of the AAA/AA classifications, many communities also use the Major/Minor classification. In most cases, the Major/Minor classification is used to denote a team made mostly of first or second year players in a given age level. So, at the Midget level, first year Midgets would most likely make up the core of the Minor AAA/AA team, while second year Midget players would make up the core of the Major AAA/AA team. Although this isn't always the case, most players will follow this sort of a path. In some cases, players will play "up" to the major level in hopes of stronger competition. With that said, there aren't always enough teams in a given region to make a league at both the minor and major level, so some associations will field minor and major teams that compete in the same league. The system that is listed above pertains only to a player's minor hockey career. After a player has played out his years as a midget (or quite possibly a year or two before), a player will make the jump to a higher level of play - junior hockey. Junior hockey is comprised of two major routes, Major Junior (teams of the OHL, WHL, and the QMJHL) and Junior A/B/C. Major Junior is the route most often taken by those hoping to make a quick transition to the NHL and stand a better chance of being a top draft prospect as an 18 year old. On the other hand, Junior A is the route taken by those players that hope to gain a scholarship and play college hockey before going on to the professional ranks. Although many players at the Major Junior level also pursue school, they are not eligible to play in the NCAA, and so the two playing routes have evolved. In the case of Junior A, B, and C, Junior A is the highest calibre with lots of attention from college scouts. In addition to junior hockey, many players consider prep hockey. Prep hockey in the U.S is second only to the Junior A leagues in producing NCAA players. In fact, many great professional players like Brian Leetch have taken this route. The calibre falls in line closely with that of Junior A and Junior B. The above is a summary of the level classifications within the game of North American Hockey, if you happen to have a question on hockey level classifications that wasn't answered in this article, be sure to "Ask the Vet".
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