Ice Hockey Junior
Perhaps every famous hockey player was once part of an ice hockey junior team. Junior hockey is a term used for describing different levels of ice hockey competitions. A junior hockey league is considered an amateur level of ice hockey. There are few franchises, such as the Canadian Hockey League who are recognized as professional. As a junior a ice hockey must be 16 to 20 years old. World hockey junior teams can play in several levels of junior ice hockey depending on the country they play in. For example, in Canada the junior levels are divided in Major-Junior, Junior A or Junior B,C,D leagues while in the US ice hockey junior competitions are divided in Tier 1 Junior A, Tier 2 Junior A, Tier 3 Junior A, Tier 3 Junior B, Tier 3 Junior C or independent. In Europe most of the junior teams are associated to a professional team. Ice hockey is one of the most popular team sports played on ice and one of the four major North American professional sports. The highest level ice hockey can be played is the National Hockey League (for men) and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League together with the Western’s Women’s Hockey League (for women). Ice hockey is the national winter sport in Canada and worldwide it gets more and more popular every year.
The main difference between junior ice hockey and professional one is the level at which the games are played. Of course, professional hockey means a more exciting game with more experienced players. Most of the juniors play ice hockey in school or colleges and it is more like a hobby than a job. There are no differences when we are talking about their equipment and so on. There are no different junior ice hockey skates or different junior ice hockey helmets and the same protection rules apply to both categories because of the same injury risks. The rules of the game are basically the same, what is different is the level at which the game is played, more spectacular with the profs. For the professionals ice hockey would be more like a job while for the juniors would be more like a hobby or it can be their starting point and excellent practice for those who intend to get professional.
As a junior a ice hockey player can only be younger than 20 and older than 16 when the season begins. Though, Canadian Hockey Association (the ice hockey national governing body in Canada) is trying to limit the number of players of 16 year olds by several rules that are eligible to play junior hockey. Most of them will thus remain at an even lower level than the junior hockey league.
Junior leagues are pretty popular in Northern America and they are divided in various levels and they are considered amateur hockey, apart from some of the divisions. The ice hockey junior team can be an important start point for the young players who want to go further on with practicing this sport, to the professional level.
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