Greetings Players and Parents and Welcome to Tryouts.Myself and Co-Coach Craig Donaldson are looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend.We have been without a real season for quite some time now and are looking at this season as a fresh start. Our goal as Coaches is to have players playing at the proper level so they can have fun and be successful in their development. With that in mind we are truly going into these tryouts with everyone on equal footing. In the next day or so we will be posting the tryout practice plan so players can familiarize themselves with the drills, hopefully this will alleviate some anxiety and allow them to perform at their best.
Craig and I have been involved with this team for several years now and its only natural for us to have some preconceived opinions of players and that, along with the fact that we have personal attachments to players, can create some subconscious bias.
As I said our goal is to have players playing at the level they should be and in keeping that in mind we feel that having purely objective eyes with no connections to past teams is the best way to ensure that happens.
We have assembled a team of evaluators this year that include a current NHL Scout, a current OHL scout, a 25 year pro who coaches AAA players, and a current 2009 AAA coach. We will rely heavily on their combined hockey expertise to help us select the most competitive AA team that we can achieve. We aren't naive enough to think this will mean everyone accepts the decisions made but, please bear in mind, that the people helping us do evaluate hockey talent/potential for a living and hopefully this takes the "politics" out of it.
This is the year for our kids when the borders open up to NRP’s (non-registered players) and we would also be wise to anticipate some AAA team cuts that may land back in their hometown to play AA. We do anticipate some player movement, but we also anticipate that 2009 Aurora AA and A teams will both be very strong this season.
In the end Craig and I are volunteer coaches. We have gotten to know so many of the kids in the Aurora organization and we know that all these kids are good kids and trying their very best. After the last 18 months of uncertainty what we want most is for all of them to be back on the ice enjoying themselves and making new memories.
So come to tryouts, work hard, have fun and no matter what happens enjoy the fact that you are back playing the game you love!!
See you Saturday.
Eric and Craig