Despite the summer months of the off-season still taking place, the Airdrie Midget AAA CFR Bisons are busy thinking about next season and the steps they need to take to get their team ready.

The Bisons played well and had a good season from 2018-2019, but head coach Dustin Taylor says the team is going to look a lot different the next time they hit the ice.

"We had a big turn over in terms of players graduating and players accepting positions with junior teams, so we're only going to have three or five returning players likely. So, a lot of prospects are currently training towards their respective junior camps and our training camp that starts at the end of August."

Finding new players is not as easy as it sounds, says Taylor.

"It's a unique situation because we can't recruit in a traditional sense, where we're bringing people in. So what we typically do is recruit to keep people from leaning towards sports schools. A lot of our competitors that we compete with in terms of their ability to recruit are in the CSSHL league. They have no borders whereas we are restricted by where our players live. A lot of our stuff is just attracting people to stay."

With all the changes, one might think the entire dynamic of the team would change. Taylor, however, put those worries to rest.

"What I'm pretty proud about with what we've done with the organization in the past few years is continue to build on a culture that we've established and every year, it's not really a rebuild, it's a re-tool. We're looking to continue to work on what we built and just make it better each year and add to that tradition of excellence."

During the re-tool, Taylor said they are looking for one thing in their new players.

"Our top priority is their ultra-competitive nature. If they have that aspect to their game, if they do anything to win, anything to compete, you can see that. It's an evident, tangible trait that they have. So, in our eyes, that's a mindset."

"We're looking for hockey players. They put in the time towards their nutrition, towards their rest, towards their recovery, towards their training."