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The United States ice hockey structure includes elements from traditional American scholastic high school and college athletics, affiliated and independent minor leagues, academy teams of professional senior teams, and the unique "Major Junior" leagues.
Minor hockey
Main article: Minor ice hockeyMinor hockey in the United States is played below the junior age level (16 years old). Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from class to class. Unlike most American sports, athletes participate as part of clubs as opposed to schools.
Junior and Major Junior hockey
Main article: Junior ice hockeyJunior hockey is played by athletes between 16 and 20 years old. The leagues are normally organized on a franchise system, and can play many more games than are normally played at the high school or college level. Major Junior hockey is organized into three leagues run by the Canadian Hockey League with most teams in Canada, but with teams in the states of Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. Major Junior lose NCAA eligibility because they have agents, sign contracts and get paid. Two "Junior A" leagues based in the United States, USHL and NAHL, are run in a similar fashion to the Major Junior teams except that the players keep NCAA eligibility. The majority of current NHL players played Major Junior hockey. For a while, some NHL teams ran sports academy teams, but that practice has been discontinued.
High school hockey
High schools in some states compete in sanctioned ice hockey leagues, with the Minnesota league most often cited as competition with Junior hockey. There are also leagues in Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania (with teams in West Virginia), and Wisconsin. These competitions are usually outside of the State High School Association, with Minnesota and New Jersey being notable exceptions. Other states are sanctioned directly by USA Hockey. Also, unlike most sports in North America, some high school ice hockey organizations promote and relegate based on athletic performance.
College hockey
Main article: College ice hockeyIce hockey's role within the United States college athletics system is closest to college baseball in that most NHL hockey players play Major Junior hockey, and so aren't eligible for NCAA play. The NCAA currently has two divisions for ice hockey, Division I and Division III. There are multiple leagues, all of which sponsor only ice hockey. None of the traditional multi-sport conferences sponsor ice hockey, with only the Ivy League coming close, with 6 of the 8 schools sponsoring a Division I ice hockey program. The separate American Collegiate Hockey Association was formed in 1991 in order to support uniform standards for college and university non-varsity club teams.
Minor league professional hockey
Main article: Minor league hockey § Minor professionalThere have been professional ice hockey leagues of varying levels since the invention of the sport, and over time the leagues have settled into an informal hierarchy. Today, the 29 teams of the American Hockey League have affiliation agreements with NHL teams, so it is considered to be the highest-level minor league. Most of the 20 teams of the ECHL have affiliation agreements with NHL and AHL teams, and some of the Central Hockey League and International Hockey League are affiliated. Players are often sent from an NHL team to an AHL team, but teams are not normally promoted or relegated.
National Hockey League
Main article: NHLThe NHL is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major North American professional sports leagues. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.