Category Overview
General Information
Minor Hockey players register in a category based on the age of the player as of December 31 of the current season. For the 2024-25 season, the category birth years are as follows:
Seasonal Play
U7 players are assigned to teams on which they will play for the season. If your player has friends they would like to play with, please indicate the friend names when registering and that request will be considered during team formation. The request is never guaranteed but we will make every effort to make this possible. The deadline for friend request is August 15th.
U9 through U13 players will go through a few rounds of evaluations in September to facilitate grouping together similarly skilled players on tiered teams for seasonal play. Millwoods tiered teams will be placed into the city wide tiering grid with teams from the other Edmonton area Minor Hockey Associations to start the season.
U9 through U13 teams can expect to play a set number of games for the tiering round (October – November), which will be evaluated for adjusting their position in the city tiering grid for the regular season (December – February). In mid January, the regular season takes a pause for Minor Hockey Week where teams participate within their tiering group in one of the world's largest hockey tournaments. Following the regular season in March, teams will play within their tiering group in city playoffs.
Teams in all categories are also allocated a standard number of practice ice times for the season. Teams can acquire additional ice for practices, exhibition games and tournaments if they so choose. Should teams pursue additional ice times or other team activities, the cost can be covered through seed money contributed by each family at the start of the season, and/or through team fundraising activities. Generally speaking, higher tier teams are more likely to request additional practices, exhibition games and tournaments.
Note: Body checking is not permitted in age groups U13 and younger.
