‘Best route to go’: Hockey Canada changes age group names including ‘midget’

Hockey Canada will be changing the names associated with age groups come the 2020-21 season.

Terms like ‘midget,’ ‘junior,’ ‘peewee,’ and ‘atom’ will change to be reflective of the international hockey standards such as ‘U21,’ ‘U18,’ ‘U15,’ and ‘U13.’

In a press release Monday night, Hockey Canada said the change was made during its Winter Congress in Montreal this past weekend. In a statement, Michael Brind’Amour — chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors — said the change is part of its “ongoing effort to make hockey more inclusive.”

However, Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) general manager Kelly McClintock said the change began about a year ago when groups around Canada raised concerns, looking for a change to the term ‘midget.’

The term will be known as U18 moving forward and encompasses athletes aged 15 to 17 on Dec. 31 of each given season.

“We’ve been discussing it for some time and had a little past team at Hockey Canada that addressed it, and we came up with what we did,” McClintock told 650 CKOM.

In January of this year, Baseball Saskatchewan made a similar change.

McClintock said the new names will also work well when comparing them to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s world junior championships as U20, as well as the U18 and U17 IIHF world championships.

Senior hockey in Canada will remain the same, being the only outlier from Monday’s announcement.

Division name change could lead to league name changes

Hockey Canada’s Monday release could change some league names the hockey community has become accustomed to over the years.

Leagues such as the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL), Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League (SFMAAAHL), and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) will have the opportunity to change their names going into the 2020-21 season.

McClintock said it’s up to each league as to what happens next.

“We’re leaving that up to each individual body,” he said. “Those who don’t (change), they might have to answer to interest groups that question why they don’t.”

SJHL President Bill Chow confirmed they will not be changing their league name next season.

Meanwhile, SMAAAHL’s President Lloyd Friesen said they plan to change their league name in the future. They do not have a set time frame as of yet.

The SFMAAAHL has not responded to 650 CKOM about changing their league name.

Hard habit to break

For many years, the old terms have been used to categorize age groups.

McClintock said there is nothing to stop associations and the hockey community from continuing to use those names, except for public opinion and some interest groups questioning their reasoning.

“There’s all kinds of names that, culturally, communities use to describe entry-level ages of players, and they probably still will in their own community,” he said. “Everything changes over time, and I think this is probably the best route to go.”

McClintock used the atom age group as an example, saying he grew up using the ‘Tom Thumb’ term. He listed other terms, which includes ‘squirts,’ ‘wee pees,’ and ‘pre-novice’ as names that will now no longer be used under the new model.