St. Paul, MN – April 30, 2013 – The Minnesota Hockey Board of Directors voted to continue to use the A/AA classification for region and state tournaments beginning with the 2013-14 season and end the pilot of the program.

The Bantam and Peewee A/AA classification was added as a pilot program in the fall of 2012 to allow more teams to qualify for state tournaments. Last season, each association’s initial classification (A or AA) was determined by the MSHSL classification of the boys’ high school programs that the association serves. Teams will start the 2013-14 season in the classification they ended last season. Associations may request a change in their classification from AA-to-A or A-to-AA using the “Classification Change Form”. More details on the continuation of the A/AA classifications will be announced following the Minnesota Hockey board meeting in June.

As a result of the pilot, more teams from smaller and developing associations qualified for region and state tournaments than ever before, including teams making their first tournament appearances, or ending long droughts since their most recent appearances. Among the many teams that qualified for 2013 state tournaments were: Hallock and Moose Lake (Peewee B), Luverne and Virginia (Peewee A), International Falls (Bantam B), Crow River and Detroit Lakes (Bantam A).

In 2013, 14 state champions were crowned at the Youth, Girls and Junior Gold levels.