The Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League is a twelve (12) team league operating in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Each rural minor hockey region in Manitoba operates one U18 AAA team, Hockey Winnipeg operates 3 teams, and Kenora operates one.
The objective of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League is (a) to encourage and foster U18 AAA hockey and (b) to promote and encourage the formation of U18 AAA Hockey in Manitoba.
Team Formation
Players within each Team’s regional boundary are required to try-out for their regional team. If a player is released, he may be rostered with another Team. A player who refuses to roster with his home region team is not eligible to transfer to another region, unless a release is granted.
Players who are in their 3rd year of eligibility, and who received a release from their home region Team in their 2nd year of eligibility and remained in their home region with a lower division team (i.e. U17, High School, or Club), are eligible to try-out for any other U18 AAA Team in their 3rd year – the release obtained in their second year applies.
A 15 year old player is also eligible to roster with another Team if released by his home region Team. However, as a 16 year old player he must return to his home region until/unless released in that year.
No U15-aged player will be allowed to participate in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League as a registered player. However, second-year U15-aged players registered with a regional U15 AAA program may affiliate.
Schedule & Playoffs
Each member Team plays a balanced 44 game schedule, with 2 home games and 2 away games against every other Team.
The top 8 teams based on points qualify for the playoffs. Teams play a best of 5 series in each round of the playoffs. The highest seeded team obtains home-ice advantage. In Round 1, the match-ups are: 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. In Round 2, the highest seeded team plays the lowest seeded team, and the second highest seeded team plays the second lowest seeded team. In Round 3, the two remaining teams play, with the winner advancing to the West Regional Championship.
West Regional Championship
The Manitoba and Saskatchewan League Champions, along with the winner of the northwest Ontario play-ins (Kenora and Thunder Bay), and the host club compete in a 4 team tournament. The winner advances to the Telus Cup National Championship.