How do tiering and the AAA, AA, A, B and C categories work at U15?

From the 2025-26 Hockey Alberta Regulations:

• Categories: Minor Hockey teams can be registered as AAA (only if the association is an approved AAA Host Association), AA (only if approved as a AA Host Association), or Minor A, B, C or D.
• Provincial championships: Hockey Alberta runs provincial championships for U15 "AAA", "AA", "A", "B", "C" and "A - NBC", and for U15 Female "AA", "A" and "B".
• Tiering games: a "tiering game" is a game a league uses before its regular season to place teams in the appropriate tier or category within a division. Teams must be registered before their first league game, including tiering games, or by November 15, whichever is first.
• Leagues: minor hockey is played in leagues sanctioned by Hockey Alberta. The regulations list U15 AAA under the AEHL and U15 AA (male) under the AFHL in the officials' game fee table.
• AA and AAA rules: the Elite Hockey Regulations in the appendices give further rules for AAA and AA teams, including registration, eligibility and player movement. AA and AAA teams cannot register overage players.
• Re-tiering: if a team is re-tiered after affiliation is filed and affiliates are no longer from a lower category, those affiliates are ineligible for the rest of the season.