As the Canadian Premier League’s #GotGame Open Trials continue travelling westward toward Vancouver Island, Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. is starting to see the differences in style of play in the average Canadian soccer player.

Having now made stops in Halifax, Quebec and, most recently, in Hamilton, Ont., the CPL’s head coaches have evaluated a wide variety of players, and for Wheeldon Jr., who knows full-well the qualities of players in his native Alberta, the differences are stark.

“I believe in Alberta, because we play an indoor season through the youth and adult ranks for six months, and a summer season for three-to-four months, and you’ll find, in smaller, tighter spaces, the Alberta players are actually quite good,” Wheeldon Jr. told CanPL.ca, when asked what changes in playing characteristics he has seen thus far from these coast-to-coast tryouts.

“When you put them on the bigger spaces – where B.C. players play outdoor year-round, and in Ontario and Quebec – they seem to be better in bigger spaces. So it’s interesting, and that’s the biggest difference to me.”

Playing under the lights of Tim Hortons Field, the talent of local players was on full-display in Hamilton this week, as has been the case with each of the three stops on this seven-city tour, but Wheeldon Jr. has been equally impressed with the mentality of the players on display – qualities he has previously explained he’s specifically looking for from his team’s signings.

“Do you know what’s really pleased me? The enthusiasm shown by the players,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “For the longest time, if you weren’t picked up by the MLS clubs and their academy system, you would then just go into amateur or college, and there was a drop-off. Right now, we give a tangible dream and a pathway to these players, so I’m impressed by the passion, energy and enthusiasm that’s happening.

“One of the reasons I stayed in Canada was because it was like a blank canvas – you could see that there was potential here, and now these players are starting to realize it,” he continued. “This is just the start of something really, really cool and I can’t wait for the success stories that come out of this process.”

The Open Trials have now wrapped up in Hamilton, and next head to Toronto (Oct. 11-12) before continuing west in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Victoria. Registration is now full in each of those cities apart from Vancouver Island, and having seen the names of more than 200 registrants in Calgary, Wheeldon Jr. is looking forward to seeing more talent from his city.

“I went through the list (of registrants), because we get updates on it, and there’s a few players that I’d known of with national youth team experience or had played in college down in the States and are looking to get into the pros, but there’s a lot of names that I don’t know,” Wheeldon Jr. admitted.

“That tells me that guys are either flying in from everywhere or we haven’t unearthed them, and I like that, because there’s a story waiting to be told.”

The CPL’s #GotGame trials next head to Toronto (Oct. 11-12), before making stops in Winnipeg (Oct. 18-19), Calgary (Oct. 25-26) and Vancouver Island (Nov. 5-6). Think you’ve #GotGame? Register at CanPL.ca/GotGame.