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By Ronald Quaroni

Division Names

Hockey Canada rebrands minor hockey

Nov 19, 2019 | 1:16 PM

As of this weekend, Hockey Canada is planning to scrap traditional division names in minor hockey in favour of age-specific classifications across the country.

The move was done in part, to simplify the different groups and to be more inclusive by removing titles of divisions that may have been insensitive.

“We believe everyone should feel welcome in the game and in our ongoing effort to make hockey more inclusive, the members at the Hockey Canada annual meeting determined that the names of our age divisions will change,” Michael Brind’Amour, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors, said in a release.

In the release, he noted the changes will be implemented in the 2020-21 season.

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James Mays, the technical director of Prince Albert Minor Hockey said he expected the change was coming.

He added the change clarifies age groups for different levels of hockey.

“You know that it’s U-14, U-12 or whatever. Which, I suppose is not a bad thing,” Mays said.

In the early stages of the announcement he explained there hasn’t been a lot of reaction so far from the local hockey community.

Under the new format the traditional names such including atom, bantam, peewee and midget will be scrapped in favour of names that are descriptive of age such as under-7 to under-18.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni