All three Cochrane high schools will test their skills during the 10th annual Cochrane Classic basketball tournament Dec. 14 through until Dec. 16.
The schedule will feature 32 teams from across Alberta playing in the four-division tournament, where the formatting forces you to win all three of your games in order to win the gold medal in your group says senior varsity girls head coach Doug Jensen.
“This is one of the largest (basketball) tournaments in Alberta, and one of the bigger ones we’ve hosted in the 10 years we’ve been doing the classic,” Jensen said.
“The tournament is set up in an “Oregon Draw” which basically means that you have to win out and beat the three teams you have to face in order to be tournament champions.”
On the junior varsity girls side, Cochrane High and Bow Valley will host teams from Central Memorial, Robert Thirsk and Crescent Heights from Calgary, as well as W.H. Croxford, West Central and Wetaskiwin.
The junior boys will feature Cochrane High and Bow Valley squaring off against teams travelling from Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Canmore, Calgary and Westaskiwin.
The senior boys side has a similar draw to the junior boys, but add in a third Cochrane school with St. Timothy joining the mix, as well as teams from Sundre and Peace Wapiti from Grande Prairie.
The senior girls will be represented by all three Cochrane high schools, with Strathcona Tweedsmuir also joining the tournament with the other seven teams.
Jensen says it is very important to have all three Cochrane schools participating in the tournament, while also looking to make the tournament as competitive as possible.
“We mainly invited 3A schools this year, which is just the size of the school. In the past, we’ve had big 4A schools from Calgary and Edmonton, but since we’re hosting provincials this year, we wanted to make it all about the 3A category,” Jensen said.
“When the tournament first started, there were 16 teams in a four-game round robin and it was just Cochrane High hosting. After a few years, Bow Valley came on board, and in year six, St. Timothy joined to make it a true Cochrane Classic.”
“That’s the whole point of the tournament, is to bring the three Cochrane schools together and do this as a group effort. A lot of the kids from Cochrane High are friends with the kids at Bow Valley and St. Timothy, and this tournament gives those kids a chance to show off their talents to one another as well as to the community.”
The first games of the tournament will take place on Dec. 14, when the junior varsity girls Bobcats host the Central Memorial Rams, while the Cobras junior girls will play the West Central Rebels. Tip off for both games will go at 4 p.m. at Bow Valley and Cochrane High.
