The Twilight Zone because it's 10U and free from restrictions of mite hockey yet not recognized by USA Hockey as Tier 1 or AAA yet there are AAA leagues and tournies.

I think it's the best age to watch, if you could freeze time high level squirt hockey is the most fun to watch because it has the combination of some highly skilled players who are all basically the same size (no growth spurts yet) playing on the regulation surface. It makes for great hockey when you have small skilled players and a large surface to play on.

I agree. One of the best hockey games I have ever seen was a squirt team from Scottsdale vs a team from Las Vegas played on olympic ice. I'm not sure but I think they were AA level. It was super fast paced with all of the components you find in a good NHL game. Most of the kids had ridiculously good skills. I found out later that many of the kids played up on PeeWee teams as well.

Sorry to ask stupid questions but in the Uk we simply have Under 10's, 12's, 14's and 16's in kids hockey.

Would someone explain the AA / AAA terms etc (I assume its down to quality) and is your youngest offical age group under 10 (squirts?)

thanks for your help

USA Hockey Age groups:


20 = Junior "” "”
19 = Junior 19 & Under
18 = Midget (Midget Major)
17 = Midget (Midget Major)
16 = Midget (Midget Minor)
15 = Midget (Midget Minor)
14 = Bantam
13 = Bantam
12 = Pee Wee
11 = Pee Wee
10 = Squirt
9 = Squirt
8 and younger = Mites

Typically the letters designate skill levels of travel teams, but "A" in one area may or may not be comparable to "A" in another area.

Organizations will usually have "house" league teams as the starting point. The levels for travel teams usually go B, A, AA, AAA. Some areas may even break it down further withina letter group (A1, A2, A3)...

Confused yet?

Thanks for the information, very confusing!

I suppose the major difference is that you have house leagues which I assume are a number of 'clubs' within one rink. Unfortunately, we are not in the same position in the UK, where we have to work hard recruiting and training so we have enough to fill one team in each age group per rink and often players are required to play for the older age group as well as their own due to a shortage in numbers. It is something we are trying to address and hockey is becoming more popular but its an uphill struggle.

I cleaned up the table a bit, should be a little simpler. Yes, most rinks have house leagues that vary in size based on location. Typically kids play in house leagues when they first start and then move to "travel" or "select" teams which tend to have more skilled players, play more competitive schedules, have more practices & games. Not all kids leave house leagues as some plike to play other sports or simply cannot/choose not to play travel.

Best of luck in your efforts.