When head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. scribbles Cavalry FC's next few starting elevens into his notebook, he admits he might have to cross out the first name a few times.
For the past seven years, muscle memory has dictated writing Marco Carducci at the top of the page as his starting goalkeeper. The 29-year-old, after all, started all but 15 of the 175 CPL regular-season matches in the club's history.
Now, it will be Nathan Ingham's name that Wheeldon Jr. pens first. That detail alone is emblematic of an off-season of change for the Calgary club.
Carducci is one of five players who started Cavalry's 2024 CPL Final triumph at ATCO Field to depart the club this off-season — the others being Callum Montgomery, Diego Gutiérrez, Shamit Shome and Fraser Aird. Last year's starting full-back Mihail Gherasimencov returned to the Vancouver Whitecaps, and Tom Field joined Vancouver FC, while Ali Musse remains a free agent.
Cavalry FC are coming off their third-straight CPL Final appearance, but their second loss in that span, both of which were cold for different reasons. What we're witnessing this off-season, says Wheeldon Jr., is the start of Cavalry's next three-year cycle. The standards, however, remain high as ever.
"I think you've got to keep evolving," Wheeldon Jr. told CPLSoccer.com. "The league is far better than it was three years ago. It's far better than it was when we started the league. But that's how it should be.
"If we're not evolving, and if we're not changing, we're standing still. And I don't think I'd be a good leader of this football club if I allowed for that."
Alongside Ingham, Cavalry signed his Atlético Ottawa teammate, veteran central defender Amer Didić, who will form one of the league's most formidable partnerships alongside former CPL Player of the Year, and two-time Defender of the Year, Daan Klomp.
"I think he'll be an incredible partner for Klompy," said Wheeldon Jr. "They balance each other out. We'll be great at defending set places, and I think fantastic at attacking them."
On Thursday, they announced the signing of midfielder Harry Paton, a 27-year-old midfielder with over 100 games of Scottish Premiership experience. Paton is a player that Wheeldon Jr. has known since 2015 when he coached him with the Canadian U-17 national team.
The evolution extends not just to Cavalry's squad, but also its coaching staff in a different way. Wheeldon Jr. spent 10 days in January as an assistant coach with the Canadian men's national team down in Irvine, Calif., absorbing their culture under Jesse Marsch. His brother Jay, the club's technical director and an assistant coach, was with the Canadian U-20 squad in December, down in Costa Rica.
Fellow assistant Nik Ledgerwood, and head of sports science Alex Potts, meanwhile, were with the Chicago Fire down in Florida. Chicago's coach, Gregg Berhalter, managed Ledgerwood as a player when he made his managerial debut with Hammarby in Sweden.
"It's important we stay sharpening our game so we can come back and go, 'Look, here's a couple of new things'," said Wheeldon Jr.
They will have longer than usual to get sharp. The past two seasons, Cavalry competed in the Concacaf Champions Cup, causing a unique pre-season where they started earlier than normal and played high-stakes matches months before the regular season.
The club will be bitterly disappointed not to be competing on the continent again, especially after becoming the first CPL team to win a Champions Cup match last season when they defeated Pumas in the first leg of their round one matchup. But it does give them an opportunity to come flying out of the gates when the season begins.
Cavalry and Wheeldon Jr. have always valued the lessons of the league table, and after finishing 16 points off the top this past season, they knew something had to change, even if they did reach another final. Now with new horses in the stable, they look to lead the charge again in 2026.
