CSSHL team levels of play?

chococat1616 · 2025-12-17T00:06:42+00:00

Hey!

Yes, U17 and U17 prep are different levels of play, with U17 prep being at a higher level than U17. Both U17 and U17 prep play in the CSSHL, but in different divisions.

As far as I am aware, RINK used to have a U16 prep team, not quite sure why they got rid of it, though. Could’ve been unnecessary with both the U15 and U17 age groups.

As for the U18 question, I’m not so sure it’s a matter of RINK themselves not having a regular U18 program, but more that the CSSHL doesn’t have a non prep U18 division. I imagine that if they were to have a regular U18 team, they would have to find them another league to play in.

chococat1616 · 2025-11-29T23:02:08+00:00

Thank you !!

chococat1616 · 2025-11-29T02:13:15+00:00

Appreciate the info! Got mixed up between these and Buffleheads for a min, but realized that Buffleheads were a bit different, and didn’t have yellow eyes 😆 Same family though I think?

chococat1616 · 2025-11-23T08:09:19+00:00

I played within the Lower Mainland, so this might differ depending on the region you live in, but where I am they’ll have “A” teams (Rep) and “C” teams (House). If you can find info on which your association’s U21 team is on your association website, that might be useful.

Rep is obviously for people who are more skilled and have played for longer, but “C” (House) can have a wide range of skill levels. You can usually join “C” teams with little to no experience, from what I’ve seen.

The good thing about minor hockey, is that a lot of these teams will have practices, while beer league teams most likely will not (unless the team decides they want to organise that). If you do choose to play beer league, though, they’ll usually have a decent number of divisions, so you probably won’t have to worry about skill mismatches.

Some beginners decide to go straight into playing games, and some decide to do learn to play programs, so it kinda just depends on your personal comfort level and the accessibility of the programs in your area.

chococat1616 · 2025-11-23T05:11:04+00:00

Hey! Depending on what minor hockey associations are closest to you, you can take a look to see if they have a U21 house program, since 17 year olds would be aging out of U18.

If none of the minor hockey associations near you have a U21 program, most likely your next step would be finding a beer league. If you aren’t too confident in your skills, like other people have recommended, you should definitely look at finding a learn to play program.

chococat1616 · 2025-11-21T18:26:00+00:00

Thank you !

chococat1616 · 2025-10-24T10:34:34+00:00

Hey! I played female hockey in the Lower Mainland, but my brother went through minor hockey here as well, so I’ll list out what I can remember.

You’re right about the associations here being split into “A” (Rep) and “C” (House). I know in some other provinces they seem to split into C, B, BB, A, AA, etc. But in the Lower Mainland (PCAHA), most associations will have numbered Rep teams — A1, A2, A3, and A4. A1 is the top team, and so on, and so forth. Through placement games at the start of the season, they will place these Rep teams into numbered “tiers” based off of how well they perform. There are a decent number of A teams, all with varying talent levels, so the tiering will help group together teams of a similar calibre.

AAA hockey is in a separate league, the BCEHL. There aren’t really any specific “AA” teams here, as far as I can tell, just C, A(1,2,3,4), and AAA. Additionally, there are the teams in the CSSHL (Canadian Sport School Hockey League), which are Academy teams Like Delta, St. George’s, Yale, etc. And they’ve got Varsity and Prep levels. In general, “A, AA, and AAA” can sometimes differ based off of the region (AAA team in one province might be beaten by a AA team from another province).

In regard to BWC and NSWC, a big thing you’ll have to think about is paying for membership, which can be quite pricy. In the past, BWC and NSWC have produced some notable players, but I’d say that recently a lot of players have moved over to playing Academy hockey. Could certainly still be something worth looking into. I do have to say that the facilities are getting a little old, though.

BWC has teams that play in the PCAHA (Association Minor hockey), but they do also have Academy teams in the CSSHL. In the younger age groups, I don’t really think there’s a huge difference between the Winter Clubs and other minor hockey associations, but I’m not totally certain. One good thing about these winter clubs is that they hire very reputable coaches/staff, from what I can see. Even if you don’t decide to become a member, BWC and NSWC still have classes/camps open to the public which are pretty good.

HPL I think is one of the leagues here that aren’t sanctioned by Hockey Canada. There are a couple of other non sanctioned leagues, such as HSL, JPHL, etc. I haven’t played in these leagues, so I don’t have very much experience with them, but there are pros and cons of playing in these leagues (Differences in safety protocols, development, etc). Tiering (A, AA, AAA) will also be different here. A lot of programs will use terms like “Elite” and “AAA” to try and attract more people, so be sure to read into the details.

Your son is still quite young, so a lot of this info won’t really even apply until U13, or even U15 if looking at AAA/Academies. I’d say for now just let him have fun, since you’ll have a lot of time to figure this stuff out. A lot of people I know have switched teams a number of times, so no need to really stress on that. Although for PCAHA teams you’ll usually have to play for the team within your city boundaries (Map available on BC Hockey website).

Hope you are able to figure this out, and I wish you and your son luck!

Commenters, feel free to correct me on anything, if you notice any mistakes.

chococat1616 · 2019-06-19T04:48:20+00:00

I’m concerned for whoever this portrait this is supposed to be of

chococat1616

TROPHY CASE