Starting next season, the names of the age groups for minor hockey in Canada, including here in Saskatchewan, will be changing. The announcement was made yesterday by Hockey Canada following meetings at their winter congress in Montreal. The decision received support from the 13 provincial and territorial members of Hockey Canada, including the Saskatchewan Hockey Association.

The new groups will still follow existing guidelines, but the naming conventions will be changed.

What would be called the initiation group, for those ages 6 and under, will be called Under-7 (U7). Going forward Novice will be called Under-9 (U9) and Atom Under-11 (U11).

The Pee Wee age group will be called Under-13 (U13), and the Bantam group Under-15 (U15). Midget will be Under-18 (U18) and Junior will be referred to Under-21 (U21).

“We believe everyone should feel welcome in the game and in our on-going effort to make hockey more inclusive, the Members at the Hockey Canada Annual Meeting determined that the names of our age Divisions will change,” said Michael Brind’Amour, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors in a written statement.

The change brings Hockey Canada in line with many other countries that already have their age groups named in similar conventions.