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Chill, Canuck teams in PDL playoffs


Guest Jeffery S.

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Guest Jeffery S.

We rarely get posts on the Chill, and never from Thunder Bay. Too bad as they are a small success story, getting over 500 and sometimes over a thousand out to games. This year they've already qualified for the PDL playoffs with two games remaining, both at home to winless Springfield.

The only two losses were to Des Moines, second in the division but with a good record vs. the Chill.

Much of the squad returned from last year, and since they are doing well perhaps someone should be looking at these guys for a possible USL Div 1 gig.

See more at the usl website, I find the attendances particularly satisfying.

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Guest Jeffery S.

Chill win their division, as do the Whitecaps Reserves, and Ottawa have a chance to do so, depending on what their rivals do on Monday. Lynx are third, Abbotsford lower down in the division. These latter have no chance to make the playoffs.

But three possible Canadian division winners out of 10 divisions, when Canadian teams represent 5 out of more than 60 teams is pretty good.

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Toronto Lynx can make the playoffs by losing today's game! If they win against Michigan Bucks, the Bucks can't win their conference because Thunder Bay will be the overall winner and let three teams in from their division. If Bucks win they will be the conference winner and it will allow three(not two teams in from their division...of which the Lynx are third.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by Rocket Robin

Toronto Lynx can make the playoffs by losing today's game! If they win against Michigan Bucks, the Bucks can't win their conference because Thunder Bay will be the overall winner and let three teams in from their division. If Bucks win they will be the conference winner and it will allow three(not two teams in from their division...of which the Lynx are third.

Geez I missed that, you are amazing RR, simply did not know that rule. So how do they even out the number of teams?

Lynx lost to Bucks, so Bucks are overall point winner. Meaning, if as you say it works this way, Lynx are into the playoffs as third place team in the 'toughest' division.

Cape Cod won so Fury come in second place. As is, this year only Abbotsford are out of the playoff picture as Chill, Lynx, Whitecaps and Fury qualify. Congrats guys.

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Ottawa is out? I'm confused. Ottawa got 30 points (9-3-4) 38-22 on goals (+16) and Newark has 30 points (8-6-2) and 33-17 (+16). Newark gets through based on the one head to head game back on 1-Jun (2nd game of the season). Stupid unbalanced schedules!! Congrats Ottawa!! Its a shame your conference didn't add an extra round.

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Guest Jeffery S.

Playoff sched set for PDL and W-League, both with a strong Canadian presence. First up is T-Bay hosting Colorado u-23s on Tuesday.

More at www.uslsoccer.com

PDL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Central Conference

7/22: Kalamazoo @ Chicago – 5:00 – Divisional Round

7/22: Colorado @ Thunder Bay – 7:30 – Divisional Round

7/23: Toronto @ Cleveland – 7:00 – Divisional Round

7/26: Divisional Winner 2 vs Divisional Winner 1 – 5:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/26: Divisional Winner 3 vs Michigan Bucks* – 7:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/27: Conference Championship – 7:00

Eastern Conference

7/25: Cape Cod vs Brooklyn – 5:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/25: Newark vs Reading* - 8:00 – Conference Semifinal

7/27: Conference Championship – 4:30

Southern Conference

7/25: Bradenton vs Austin – 5:00 – Conference Semifinal

7/25: Laredo vs Central Florida* - 7:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/26: Conference Championship – 7:00

Western Conference

7/26: Vancouver vs San Fernando Valley – 7:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/26: Fresno* vs Tacoma – 10:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/27: Conference Championship – 10:30

W-LEAGUE PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Central Conference

7/23: Laval @ Toronto – 7:30 – Divisional Round

7/25: Chicago vs Ottawa – 4:00 – Conference Semifinal

7/25: Divisional Winner vs Indiana* – 6:30 – Conference Semifinal

7/27: Conference Championship – TBD

Eastern Conference

7/23: Boston @ Long Island – 7:00 – Divisional Round

7/25: Charlotte vs Washington – 5:00 – Conference Semifinal

7/25: Divisional Winner vs Atlanta* - 8:00 – Conference Semifinal

7/26: Conference Championship – 8:00

Western Conference

7/26: Seattle @ Vancouver – 7:00 – Conference playoff

*Denotes conference tournament host ALL TIMES EASTERN

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Guest Jeffery S.

Chill beat Colorado and go to the divisional finals in Pontiac Michigan, vs. Cleveland, who beat the Lynx tonight 2-1.

Look at this all indoors in Pontiac, actually extremely ugly, like a plastics warehouse. http://www.ultimatesoccerarenas.com/photos.html

Thunder Bay Chill News Release - www.thunderbaychill.com

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

THUNDER BAY, ON -- The Thunder Bay Chill hosted their first ever playoff game and won it as well, downing the visiting Colorado Rapids U-23 side 3-1 in just the Chill’s second-ever postseason game.

It took only nine minutes on Tuesday night for Gustavo Oliveira to make good on his promise to produce for coach Tony Colistro, darting through four Colorado defenders and then past goalie Sean Molony to put the Chill up 1-0.

Oliveira has been out for most of the season with an ankle injury, and confided in Colistro that he would make up for it in the last four games of the season and the playoffs.

Prior to the game, “I told Gustavo,” says Tony Colistro, the Chill‘s head coach. “The first ball you get out wide, I want you to put your head down and go through the whole team.” And that is exactly what Oliveira did.

He scored again in the 56th minute to secure the win, and the Chill’s leading scorer Brandon Swartzendruber put the game away with 15th goal of the year in the 74th minute.

Colorado did manage to break goaltender Stephen Paterson’s shutout bid late in the 84th minute, when Colorado’s best striker, Samuel Charles, put one behind him.

The Chill now goes onto the Conference Championship in Pontiac, Michigan this coming weekend. The Chill will play in the first semifinal on Saturday, July 26th, at 5:30 pm EDT against the winner of the Great Lakes divisional playoff game Wednesday between the Toronto Lynx and Cleveland Internationals.

The Conference Final is slated for Sunday, July 27th, at 7:00 pm EDT, against the winner of the other semifinal between the Michigan Bucks and Kalamazoo Outrage, who ousted the regular season division winner Chicago Fire 2-0 on Tuesday night at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois.

All Conference Championship games are being played indoors at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac, Michigan.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by Ivan

Chill beat Kalamazoo 4-0 to advance to the Eastern Final against Reading.

So how do they do it, a regional semi and then a final?

Do we know where Chill will be playing in semis, or Whitecaps for that matter if they go through (playing game now vs. Tacoma).

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Vancouver Whitecap Residency beat Tacoma Tide 4-1 to win the western conference. Read about the game on USL Match Tracker, sounds like #9 was our best offensive player, not sure who that is, what a great result for this team playing in their first season together.

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quote:Originally posted by kelownaguy

Vancouver Whitecap Residency beat Tacoma Tide 4-1 to win the western conference. Read about the game on USL Match Tracker, sounds like #9 was our best offensive player, not sure who that is, what a great result for this team playing in their first season together.

I think #9 is Edwini-Bonsu. Had 2 goals and set up a third. The match tracker makes them sound like real beauties. I wonder if he will get some more time with the senior team once the PDL season is over.

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Guest Jeffery S.

Well worth the read on the Chill win on Saturday, scoring twice in the 2nd half with 9 men on the pitch to beat Cleveland. A large contingent of T-Bay followers in Pontiac Michigan to follow them this weekend, sounds interesting. We really need a Chill supporter to come on here and tell us about it, but for now here's an enthusiastic report:

http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/matchreports/265529.html

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I was looking over the Chill's roster. Quite an eclectic mix of players. They almost have as many players from Brazil as they do from Ontario.

good for both the Chill and WVR for the success they are enjoying this summer in PDL. I'm really keen to see what develops with this young man Edwini-Bonsu.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by Ivan

From the Whitecaps report, it seems the Caps and Chill will meet in the semi finals.

Looks like a good draw for the Chill, who rarely play Canadian competition, hosting the Whitecaps August 2. Will have to write them and ask them to post something for us.

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Vancouver Whitecaps Residency versus Thunder Bay Chill

With the first-ever all-Canadian semifinal in PDL history, there will be a guaranteed Canadian finalist for the first time since the Calgary Storm of 2001, who won the regular season title with a record of 18-2 and would advance to the title game before falling 3-1 to Westchester.

Like Calgary was in 2001, the Whitecaps Residency team is in its first season in the PDL. But while Vancouver has limited playoff experience in the PDL, the club itself is very familiar with the postseason atmosphere compared to that of Thunder Bay, who is only in their second playoff appearance in nine years.

The Chill recorded their first playoff win this year after falling in their opener last season. The regular season Heartland Division Champions (13-2-1) knocked off perennial power Colorado 3-1 in the Divisional Round to advance to the conference tournament, where they downed Cleveland 2-0 and Kalamazoo 4-0 for the conference crown.

All-Conference selection Brandon Swartzendruber, who led the team with 13 goals and was second in the league in points (34) and fourth in goals, scored twice in the tournament with Gustavo Oliveira also posting a goal and two assists in their conference final victory.

Despite finishing second in the league in goals with 42 on the season, the Chill could arguably be the underdogs in the contest not having yet faced a team seeded higher than ninth in the playoffs due to Kalamazoo’s upset of regular season champion Michigan. Worse yet, Vancouver knocked off the league’s top offense, Tacoma, in their conference final in an impressive 4-1 result.

Randy Edwini-Bonsu led the attack in the conference final with two goals and an assist after posting two goals in a 3-1 overtime win against San Fernando Valley in the conference semifinal and a team-leading nine goals during the season. Edwini-Bonsu’s scoring exploits perhaps overshadowed the defense’s performances after finishing as one of the best in the league with only 14 goals allowed on the year en route to an 11-4-1 record that was only second in the division due to tiebreakers.

Forged to help the club build players for the future, the Whitecaps Residency program is an innovative side with professional status that allows the team to sign talented youth prospects to professional deals while developing for the upper echelons of the professional game in North America or beyond. While the PDL team is new to the league and the playoffs, the club is extremely experienced in the postseason courtesy of the USL-1 and W-League teams.

The USL-1 franchise has missed the playoffs only twice (1994, 1996) in 15 years in the league and claimed the league championship just two years ago. On the women’s side, the Whitecaps have been perennial powers, having reached the final four five times in the first six years of play with two third-place finishes, one second-place finish and two championships (2004, 2006) before missing the postseason for the first time last year.

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