Hockey Alberta Announces U13 AAA Team for Camrose Minor Hockey

Today, Hockey Alberta and the AEHL announced a new U13 Elite Model for 2025-26,
which includes the province-wide expansion of U13 AAA. Camrose Minor Hockey
Association is excited to announce that we have been awarded the second team in our
draw zone that will compete in this new model next season.
The new U13 Elite model by Hockey Alberta and the AEHL will introduce a greatly
enhanced level of competition for the 32 AAA teams in the province while building out a
strong base of Elite Players that will support competitive success in U15 Elite, U18 Elite
and Junior Hockey in Alberta. The AEHL has become a respected choice for many of
Alberta’s hockey players over the past four seasons. With the introduction of the new
U13 Elite Model, we are optimistic that it will enhance the level of competition and
provide even more opportunities for skill development.
KEY INFORMATION - PLAYERS & FAMILIES
We were informed of province-wide expansion plans in February 2025. Camrose Minor
Hockey Association is working quickly to develop a game plan with our draw area, and
U13AAA Pilot partners (Beaumont, Leduc & LJAC) for the successful implementation of
this new opportunity to provide for development and opportunities for our area’s Elite
players.
We have developed a great working relationship with our draw area associations over
the last few years, especially our fellow Elite hosts in Leduc and Beaumont. We wish to
continue to build on the successes we have had collaborating together to better hockey
in our area. The ultimate goal of working together to develop our area’s Elite players is
to have the best U18AAA team year over year here before seeing our players graduate
to bigger and better opportunities.
We believe this move allows us the greatest flexibility to meet the current and future
needs of our Elite players.
We know our membership and potential participants have numerous questions and we
encourage you to read below for answers we currently know:
Q: When will tryouts for this team take place?
A: The first opportunity will be a draw zone U13AAA ID Camp on April 4-6, 2025 hosted
by LJAC and we strongly encourage all that are serious about pursuing this opportunity
for the 2025-26 season to register for this. It is open to anyone currently residing in our
U18AAA draw zone.

Q: When will details about the process for tryouts, costs, coaches, structure, internal
draw zone player movement, acceptance of external (outside current draw zone)
players, etc be known?
A: Some of this will be through meetings with our Elite partners in our draw zone in the
coming weeks & months and others will start to be know after our next local Board
meeting on February 24, 2025.
Q: Where will the ice for games and practices come from?
A: We are NOT adding a team so it will be accommodated largely from what our current
U13AA team utilizes.
Q: Why not run both a U13AAA and a U13AA team in Camrose?
A: In working with our draw area partners and Hockey Alberta it was determined the
best path forward was for Camrose to take a leave from U13AA to focus on U13AAA
and build a top team below that to eventually enter back into the AA league.
Q: What will be the Elite opportunities for our U13 aged players in our draw zone for the
2025-26 season?
A: There will be 2 U13AAA teams (Leduc and Camrose) plus 2 U13AA teams
(Beaumont and Leduc)
Q: When will U13AA return to Camrose?
A: We are currently working with Hockey Alberta and our draw area partners to
establish clear metrics to measure feasibility and success at the U13AAA level in our
draw zone. We currently do not anticipate hosting 2 Elite U13 teams (AAA & AA) until
those metrics are shown to be reasonable and stable so best guess at this time is 3 to 5
years out at the earliest.
Q: What options are available if I am a Camrose player that does not make U13AAA?
A: Similar to what happens currently if you are unsuccessful at the higher level you will
be directed to one of the next level teams - AA teams in our draw zone, if appropriate,
or you will return to Camrose and take place in our CAHL tiered team tryouts and be
placed on a local team.

If there are any additional questions at this time, please send them to our AA/AAA
Director Dave Sheets at dsheets@telusplanet.net, and we will incorporate them into a
future FAQ document.
For more information on the new U13 Elite Model, please visit aehl.ca