page_title: Minor ice hockey
section_title: Canada
hierarchical_section_title: Minor ice hockey / Canada
caption_attribution_description: The Little Britain Merchants celebrate their third goal of a game against the Uxbridge Bruins in Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League action at the Woodville/Eldon Community Centre on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011. The Merchants won the game 4-1.
context_page_description: Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from class to class. In North America, the rules are governed by the national bodies, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey, while local hockey associations administer players and leagues for their region. Many provinces and states organize regional and provincial championship tournaments, and the highest age groups in Canada and USA also participate in national championships.
  Minor hockey is not to be confused with minor league professional hockey.
context_section_description: In Canada, the age categories are designated by each provincial hockey governing body based on Hockey Canada's guidelines, and each category may have multiple tiers based on skill.
  In November 2019, Hockey Canada announced that beginning in 2020 (officially taking effect in the 2020–21 season), it would refer to its age categories by their age limits (with "midget" being renamed "U18", for example) rather than by names. It stated that the new names would be more concise, while there had also been concerns over use of the term "midget" in this context—as the word is now considered a pejorative towards dwarfism.
caption: Minor hockey players in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario celebrate the third goal of the game in Central Ontario Junior C Hockey League action
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