I'm 30 and we had those as kids. For some fucked up reason they made me wear one as a goalie. Probably as dumb as making 3 and 4 year olds wear them lol
But a older local guy like Nathan Perrot would have been playing "D" (!) until Junior. The letters here don't represent your skill level, just the size of the town you're from.
Novice.. Which are 7 and 8 year olds.
The 3 locals I can think of from around here who are current NHL'ers (O'Reilly, Nick Spahling and Lane McDermied) where all out of their local associations and in to AAA by that age.
Not at the AAA level. The real competition is at the lower levels where the kids realize they aren't going pro. Then it can become murder between towns because an All-Ontario Bantam "BB" crown is basically the Stanley Cup.