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Previous research (Barnsley, Thompson, & Barnsley, 198S) demonstrated an extremely strong linear relationship between the month of birth (from January to December) and the likelihood of playing in the National Hockey League and two major developmental Junior hockey leagues. The present study analyzes the birthdates of 7313 hockey players participating in the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association in the 1983-1984 season. The main findings are that players possessing a relative age advantage, i.e., born in the months of January to June, are more likely to participate in minor hockey and are more likely to play for top tier, or rep teams than are players who are born in the months of July to December and thereby are disadvantaged by their relative age. Proposals by which these relative age effects could be reduced are considered. Barnsley, Thompson, and Barnsley (1985) reported on the month of birth of hockey players from the National Hockey League (NHL) and two of Canada's main' 'Junior A'' professional development leagues, the Western Hockey League (WHL) and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). That study demonstrated an extremely strong linear relationship between the month of birth (from January to December) and the proportion of players in the leagues studied. The extent of this phenomenon can best be understood when it is realized that approximately four times more players in the WHL and the OHL were born in the first quarter of the year (January, February, and March) than were born in the last quarter (October, November,
Barnsley et al. (Fri,) studied this question.