Affiliation Information


7. Affiliation

The Alberta Development Model determines Affiliation regulations for players involved in participation of Teams within the Elite Hockey stream.

The AA Hockey Model determines Affiliation Regulations for Teams involved in participation within the AA Hockey stream.

The purpose of affiliation is to provide an opportunity for higher Division or Category Teams to replace when regular registered players are sick, injured or otherwise unavailable.

7.1 Affiliation must be declared and filed with the CEO, or designate, prior to the affiliated Player being allowed to participate in any game with the Hockey Team to which he is affiliated. Affiliations will be accepted and endorsed by the CEO, or designate, up to and including January 15 of the current Hockey Season.

7.2 Affiliation must be secondly declared and filed with the members respective Minor Hockey League, prior to the affiliated players being allowed to participate in any League game with the Hockey Team to which they are affiliated. Affiliations will be accepted and endorsed by the Minor Hockey League up to and including January 15 by 5:00PM MST of the current hockey season.

7.3 A Hockey Team may affiliate up to nineteen (19) Players from a lower Division, Category or Tier within with MHA as hereby defined. 53 HockeyAlberta.ca 7.4 Affiliation and the use of Affiliates will only be recognized where:

(a) Affiliation has been filed in accordance with the following tiering grid as hereby defined vertically and laterally, using the team’s designated tiering placement at the time of filing:

Example: Team “A” plays in the U18 Tier 3 category of their league. Team “A” would be eligible to affiliate players from within their MHA playing on teams competing at U18 Tier 4, 5 or 6; as well as teams playing U15 Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.

Exception: If an MHA does not have access to Team(s) that align with the grid, they may be able to apply to HA through the Minor Leagues Committee, or designate, for special permission to register affiliate(s) outside of the grid.

i) Upon the finalization of tiering, should a team be re-tiered after the filing of Affiliation and had affiliates that are no longer in compliance with the affiliation grid, those affiliates will be reviewed by the Minor Hockey League to determine their individual eligibility for the remainder of the season.

ii) Should the Minor Hockey League deem individual affiliates as ineligible due to re-tiering, upon application to the Hockey Alberta appointed Minor League and Minor Administration Coordinator, Hockey Alberta may allow teams to re-submit individual affiliation requests to become compliant with the affiliation grid. Applications must be received no later than December 30 of the current hockey season.

(b) Prior to December 1st, Players are added to the Official Team Roster in the HCR and identified as ‘Affiliates’ with ‘pending’ status.

(c) After December 1st , Players are added to the Official Team Roster in HCR and identified as ‘Affiliates’, and approved by the CEO, or designate and approved by the Minor Hockey League.

(d) Affiliation has been approved by the Minor Hockey League for use in any League game. U18 U15 Tier 1 Tier 1 U13 Tier 1 U11 Tier 2 HADP Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 2 Tier 5 Tier 3 Tier 6 Tier 4 Tier 2 Tier 5 Tier 3 Tier 1 Tier 6 Tier 4 Tier 2 Tier 5 Tier 3 Tier 6 Tier 4 Tier 5 54 HockeyAlberta.ca

(e) Affiliation has been endorsed by the President of the applicable LMHA.

7.5 Any Player participating in any game as an affiliated player after December 1st without the approval of the CEO, or designate and approval of the Minor Hockey League, shall be considered an Ineligible Player and teams officials are subject to discipline.

7.6 (a) Teams are permitted to use affiliation for any League, Playoff or Provincial Championship game to return the team to their original roster size.

Example: A team has 14 skaters and two (2) goaltenders registered to their Official Team Roster for a maximum of 16 players. Should two (2) skaters be unavailable due to sickness or injury, the team would be permitted to use two (2) affiliates to bring their roster size back up to the original 14 skaters and two (2) goaltenders.

Exception: In the event a team’s original roster size is less that twelve (12) registered skaters (excluding goaltenders), teams are permitted to use affiliation for any League, Playoff or Provincial Championship game to bring their roster up to a maximum of twelve (12) skaters (excluding goaltenders).

Exception: In the event a team has only one (1) registered goaltender, they will be permitted to use affiliation for any League, Playoff or Provincial Championship game to bring their roster up to a maximum of two (2) goaltenders.

(b) Teams are permitted to use affiliation for any Exhibition or Tournament game to bring their team up to the maximum permitted roster size of seventeen (17) skaters and two goaltenders.

7.7 Affiliated players will NOT be permitted to replace suspended Players. Exception: In the event a team’s roster falls below twelve (12) registered skaters (excluding goaltenders) due to suspensions, that team will be permitted the ability to use affiliation to return their roster size to a maximum of twelve (12) skaters plus goaltenders.

7.8 Affiliations will not be deemed to have taken place automatically without properly filing of the said affiliation.

7.9 Affiliations will not be approved in HCR by the CEO, or designate, until first approved by the Minor Hockey League.

7.10 Minor Hockey Leagues and the CEO, or designate reserve the right to revoke the approval of an affiliate player at any time should that player be deemed to strengthen the team in which he or she is affiliated.

7.11 Providing Affiliation has been declared, filed and approved with the Minor Hockey League and the CEO, or designate, Affiliates are eligible to participate in all Exhibition, Tournament, League, Playoff and Provincial Championship games. 

7.12 In circumstances when a MHA does not have a registered team at the next lower Division, as per the tiering grid, upon consideration of application by the MHA to the Hockey Alberta appointed Minor Leagues Coordinator and Minor Administration Coordinator, in consultation with the League, the team may be permitted to affiliate player(s) from a lower Division in the next closest MHA providing that the identified MHA does not have a registered team in the same Division.

7.13 Participants registered in the Elite Hockey Stream or AA Hockey Model are ineligible to be registered as Affiliates with Tiered Hockey teams.

7.14 Participants will only be permitted to affiliate to one (1) team. Once the affiliation has been filed, it is final and will not be reversed during the current Hockey season. Note: All affiliations shall terminate at the end of the current playing season.

7.15 Female players playing on Minor Male hockey teams may be permitted to affiliate to Female Teams, upon consideration of application to the Minor Administration Coordinator, in consultation with the Minor Female Regulation Coordinator.

7.16 Providing affiliation has been properly filed, an affiliated Player may play with the Hockey Team to which the Player is affiliated up to a maximum of ten (10) games, excluding exhibition and tournament games. Should an affiliated Hockey Player play more than ten (10) games with the Hockey Team to which the player is affiliated, he shall be considered an “Ineligible Player” for the affiliated team. However, if the player’s registered team completes its regular season and playoffs before the player’s affiliated team, the player may thereafter affiliate an unlimited number of times. Exception: Any player registered in the U9 division, affiliated to the U11 division, must have completed their hockey season in full (including exhibition games and festivals) to affiliate beyond a 10th game.

7.17 Appearance of an Affiliate Player’s name on the official game report shall be considered participation in the game except in the case of an alternate goalkeeper, in which case actual participation only shall be considered as taking part in the game and such participation shall be specially noted on the official game report. All Affiliated Players being used in a game must be marked “AP” on the game record.


If you are unsure of the process, contact admin@lmha.ab.ca

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