Players and their families have many opportunities to consider throughout their Junior hockey careers, and the AJHL continues to be a popular choice for student athletes. By choosing to play in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, a player is joining a fraternity of storied athletes through nearly 60 years of athletic and academic excellence.
This choice continues to be popular for players and their families who are concerned for their academic future and are becoming increasingly more aware of the options that are available. The Alberta Junior Hockey League encourages players and their parents to make wise decisions about their individual futures, and do all that is possible to provide the necessary and relevant information.
Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions by prospects are listed below:
What is an AJHL Letter of Intent?
Each member team will have the opportunity to utilize an AJHL Letter of Intent within the process of recruiting athletes to their respective teams. The following parameters for the AJHL Letter of Intent will be in place:
The AJHL Letter of Intent is valid for the time period starting January 11 through the opening of the Hockey Canada Registration System. All Letters of Intent must be submitted to and approved by the AJHL in order for the document to be valid.
A player must be registered in the following season in which an AJHL Letter of Intent was signed.
Once committed to an AJHL team, all other AJHL members will not be able to contact that player and they will fall under Tampering rules. The AJHL Letter of Intent List will be available to be accessed by all Member Clubs at any time.
Summary:
All teams are required to register their signed Letters of Intent (LOI) on June 1 of each season. Players can check with the league if they wish to confirm the registration. Each LOI counts as a HCR card and teams are only permitted to have 25 cards active at any given time.
What is an Affiliation List?
Affiliation List – The Affiliation List shall be comprised of all players who have signed an AJHL Affiliation Form which has been approved on the Hockey Canada Registration (HCR) system.
AJHL Regulation 27.3 – Affiliation List
(a) The Affiliation List shall be comprised of all Players who have signed an Affiliation Form.
(b) An Affiliated player is not required to sign an HCR certificate, and such player is not deemed to be a protected player for the purposes of Article 18.1. An Affiliated player remains a free agent until the completion of the respective team’s season.
(c) Affiliation of first year eligible Midget players (fifteen (15) year-olds) shall be permitted with the following restrictions:
i. A team may affiliate no more than five (5) players for up to a maximum of five (5) games during the season, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
ii. The player must sign a special affiliation form with the permission of his regular team.
iii. A player shall NOT be called up, except under emergency conditions, when the player’s regular team is playing or when the player has semester exams at school.
iv. When the player’s regular team is finished its season, the player may join the Junior A team for the balance of its season.
v. A team is restricted to calling up one (1) fifteen (15) year old per game and this player would count towards its total of sixteen (16) year olds allowed to dress.
vi. A player may specially affiliate to a Major Junior team and a Junior A team in the same season and play a maximum of five (5) games with each team if he so chooses and his regular team agrees.
vii. Should a Major Junior League choose not to utilize this provision, the player would NOT be eligible to affiliate to two (2) other Junior teams in that League or region.
viii. This affiliation process is unique to Major Junior and Junior A & B hockey. Players have to be on an affiliation list in order to play and there can be no more than five (5) players (fifteen (15) years of age) per team. A team may add to the affiliation list to reach the five (5), but cannot remove players and add another as a replacement. If a player is removed from a team, he cannot go to another team (unless it is a Major Junior team as per the above provisions). These players fall under the special affiliate classification. The final date to add names to this list is January 15.
(d) Affiliation deadline for all AJHL teams will be January 9 of each season.
Affiliation Flow Chart – Updated August 2023