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Airdrie-Cochrane Athletic Association finalizing details of upcoming season

The Airdrie U18 AAA Bisons is in the process of narrowing down its final roster for the upcoming season, which is expected to have some form of competitive play between teams.
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This will be Dustin Taylor’s third season as head coach with the Bisons, and his fourth season with the Airdrie CFR Chemical Bisons. File photo/Airdrie City View.

COCHRANE— The Airdrie-Cochrane Athletic Association’s tryouts are in full swing across the various teams within its league.

On Tuesday (Sept. 8), the CFR Chemicals U18 AAA Bisons announced that it had narrowed down its roster to 40 hopeful players.

Alex Bend, Ryler Bergman, Shaw Cathcart, Diago Coelho, Aidan Kalin, Dan Kroon, Lane Martin, Ethan Matiece, Jace Moffatt, James Quaife, Caden Stephenson, all from Cochrane, will carry on in tryouts, competing for a spot on the roster.

The tryouts for the upcoming season are taking place in three separate phases, a very different approach from previous years.

Phase One was socially distanced skill testing.

The athletes took part in a series of skills tests while maintaining social distancing measures. Maintaining social distance allowed them to be placed into a cohort in the next phase without having to quarantine for the mandatory 14-day period.

In Phase Two, the phase the tryouts are currently in, the athletes were assigned to a cohort. At this stage, athletes are taking part in inter-cohort games and regular practices. Because there are only 40 athletes, less than the 50 person maximum outlined by Alberta Health Services, social distance measures do not need to be followed.

In Phase Three, teams will select athletes and their rosters will be finalized. From there, teams will begin the formal development process with their athletes.

Head coach of the Bisons, Dustin Taylor, said that the tryouts have been running smoothly so far.

“Essentially what we did was we hosted three social distanced skill sessions for each kid,” he said. “That allowed us to look and see who would fit into our top 40 without actual gameplay going on … Now that we have our top 40 we can go back into a traditional model as we are cohorted now.”

He said that many of the athletes that participated took to the new changes quite easily.

“With the restrictions in place you have to alter and you have to adapt, and kids are always the best at that,” he said. “They understand that if they want to play, there’s no use fighting what we have to go through, they just kind of adapt and go do what’s required.”

On Wednesday (Sept. 9) the players took part in their first competitive inter-cohort game.

Taylor said that the game went well, although the players will need some time to adjust to the pace of actual gameplay after a particularly long offseason.

Competitive sports across the province were cancelled in early March as the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic set in.

“It was OK. I think it was a combination of kids being able to play games finally, so they don’t have the habits that they normally would in a game in terms of the competitive element and the physicality,” Taylor said. “We’re hoping that with each day the traditional elements of gameplay come back.”

The coaches enjoyed the game as well, as it allowed for a deeper evaluation of the talent of each prospect.

“It was good to actually see some gameplay because it allows us to kind of process what is that kid’s IQ like, and how is their positioning and how do they play the game as opposed to just what their skill set is,” he said.

The team is expecting to play a regular-season this year, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

“The league has put together a theoretical plan that I think is pretty well thought out and has some structure to it,” Taylor said.

Once the team’s roster is finalized the team will have a two-week inter-cohort training period, followed by a two-to three-week exhibition series. By the end of the exhibition period, the Airdrie-Cochrane Athletic Association is hopeful to see the cohort size expanded to 100, which will allow pods of three or four teams to form for competitive play for the regular season.

After playing a series within one pod, which would be applicable to regular-season standings, each team would be assigned to another pod.

“I think it makes sense. There are some logistics that still need to be worked out, but I think it’s a good starting point,” Taylor said. “People are being adaptive with it, and patient. It’s a solution to a problem, and we’re making it work all things considered.”

The team’s roster should be finalized by Thursday (Sept. 24), although Taylor said the timeline for that decision is flexible.

Exhibition play is expected to begin during the second week of October.

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