Your first look at the ‘22-23 preseason rankings
One of the biggest elements of WHH is youth hockey’s first — and only — World Rankings. The rankings are compiled by a team of evaluators from across North America, Europe, Scandinavia and Russia who identify top teams and talent in youth hockey.
The committee compiles lists of Top-10 rankings by country, as well as a Top 25 for each of the major birth years in AAA hockey.
The ‘22-23 season will see rankings for the following countries and birth years:
United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
There are, however, a few exceptions for specific countries and birth years.
For instance, Hockey Canada does not have age classifications solely for the 2006 birth year. Top 16-year-olds are ultimately competing in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Any outliers from the age group still competing in youth hockey play in a combined age group at the Under-18 (U-18) age level, consisting of 2005 and 2006 birth years for the 2022-23 season. The Sweden Ice Hockey Federation and Finnish Ice Hockey Federation follow similar models, with elite 2006-born players competing in the Juniors 18 (J18) in Sweden and the SM-Sarja U-18 in Finland. For this reason, Canadian, Swedish and Finnish teams are omitted from the 2006 World Rankings.
Parts of Canada assemble rosters consisting of split birth years. For instance, a U14 team from Alberta may have players from the 2009 and 2010 birth years. In this case, the team would be ranked amongst 2009-born teams.
Lastly, U12 hockey and younger in Sweden is typically structured in a 3-on-3, half-ice format. Because of that, teams from Sweden are also omitted from the 2011 rankings this season.
We value any and all feedback from the youth hockey community. We invite all members to share their own World Rankings with our team of evaluators HERE, as well as any other valuable information such as stats, team records, tournament results, photos, videos, etc.
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