The Airdrie Havoc U16 AA team, who finished atop their league this season but fell short of a provincial medal in March, have been disbanded by Hockey Alberta.
After a six-month review of the U16 AA competitive model by Hockey Alberta’s AA Hockey Committee, the provincial governing body decided to split the Airdrie U16 AA recruitment zone and award a U16 AA team to Cochrane.
According to Hockey Alberta, the AA Hockey Committee’s decision came after it was decided that the Airdrie recruitment zone, which included Cochrane, Canmore, Banff, Cremona, Beiseker, Crossfield, Carstairs, and Didsbury, was nearly twice as large as any recruitment zone in the province.
“While we were disappointed with this decision, we understand [Hockey Alberta’s] rationale and are happy to have another AA Lightning team,” said Airdrie Minor Hockey Association president Christie Cameron.
The new Cochrane team will have a recruitment zone featuring Banff, Canmore, and Cremona, while Airdrie’s has been reduced to Beiseker, Didsbury, Crossfield, and Carstairs. Cameron confirmed that the Havoc name will be retired and that the new Airdrie-centric U16 AA’s will be called the Lightning.
Hockey Alberta stated that the Airdrie/Cochrane recruitment zone was the only zone in the entire province that was inconsistent with the U16 AA recruitment criteria. The zone, already geographically larger than most, attracted over 200 eligible players for the Havoc. Hockey Alberta found that both Airdrie and Cochrane currently have over 100 players who can try out for a U16 AA team.
In the bulletin outlining the AA Hockey Committee’s decision, it is stated, “Hockey Alberta set the parameters [for recruitment] when introducing the U16 AA level of play that each U16 AA Recruitment Area should contain approximately 100 U16 age players per U16 team. This season, the average number of first year U16 players per U16 AA recruitment area is 116.”
Indeed, Hockey Alberta found that among the associations that reported their U16 AA tryout numbers, Airdrie had the highest number of players who attended U16 AA tryouts in the province.
Hockey Alberta also added that Airdrie “has proved capable of icing a competitive team at U16 AA, as well as at all other levels of AA Hockey. Cochrane has also fielded strong AA teams in recent years.”
However, the decision to cut Airdrie’s U16 AA zone in half and disband the Havoc came with a bit of good news for Airdrie hockey. Cameron confirmed that Hockey Alberta will soon announce that Airdrie will get a U11 AA team, increasing the number of AA Lightning teams to eight.
