Jason Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 We always talk about the importance of more pro and/or elite clubs in Canada and how it would be the key to success. However, I was thinking today about the Thunder Bay Chill. Here's a Canadian elite level club that has been in existence for more than a decade and has won a North American championship. They have endured while we have seen many clubs and many levels come and go. So in a lot of ways you could argue they should be a model others should use as a template. But I suspect nobody here would say that. In the Voyageurs world, they are not even a blip. In the Other Men's Leagues, there is not one thread devoted to them for at least 3 or 4 pages, and they are currently in their season. So I guess the question is why? I think the fact they have never really developed a Canadian player of any note at any age level is part of it. It seems hard to believe that a good club in existence for as long as they have would not have had a couple of noteable Canadians on its roster for at least a season. But the are a good club on and off the field (how many PDL clubs have folded since the Chill started) and they get absolutely zero attention here. Any thoughts? Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi Oakey Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 We always talk about the importance of more pro and/or elite clubs in Canada and how it would be the key to success. However, I was thinking today about the Thunder Bay Chill. Here's a Canadian elite level club that has been in existence for more than a decade and has won a North American championship. They have endured while we have seen many clubs and many levels come and go. So in a lot of ways you could argue they should be a model others should use as a template. But I suspect nobody here would say that. In the Voyageurs world, they are not even a blip. In the Other Men's Leagues, there is not one thread devoted to them for at least 3 or 4 pages, and they are currently in their season. So I guess the question is why? I think the fact they have never really developed a Canadian player of any note at any age level is part of it. It seems hard to believe that a good club in existence for as long as they have would not have had a couple of noteable Canadians on its roster for at least a season. But the are a good club on and off the field (how many PDL clubs have folded since the Chill started) and they get absolutely zero attention here. Any thoughts? Jason I think it is because they have an awful logo. But seriously, it's probably because it is up in Thunder Bay, FC London gets a lot of representation and they are a fairly good team, despite one year of existence. They just have a bigger market supporting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I think it is because they have an awful logo. But seriously, it's probably because it is up in Thunder Bay, FC London gets a lot of representation and they are a fairly good team, despite one year of existence. They just have a bigger market supporting them. If you look back I posted on them in my day, even in some detail, and a few others did too. But maybe we have simply missed having a nut like us posting from T-Bay. I agree they are a great success and do Canada proud. All power to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narduch Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I didn't even know they still existed. Is part of their success due to the fact that there aren't many 'professional' sport options in Thunder Bay due to its location? Oddly weird that it works for PDL though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toje Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Probably the most notable ex player is Kosuke Kimura who played one season with Thunder Bay in 2004. He has since played 9 seasons in the MLS. He played college soccer at Western Illinois. From what I remember, Thunder Bay drew quite a few players from the upper midwest in the USA. They seem to usually have a roster that is mostly non-Canadian. This year they have a 26-year old Spanish player, Sergio Campano Franco, who last year played with FC Milsami Orhei in the Moldovan 1st division. Another player is Axel Sjoberg, from Marquette University, who had a trial with Sigma Olomouc this past winter. Their full roster for this year Sergio Campano Franco - Spain (Milsami Orhei) Pedro Adan - USA (La Jolla Nomads) Godwin Addai - Canada (Vermont Voltage) Jose Altamirano - - USA (San Diego State University) Daniel Alvarado - USA (Austin Aztec U19) Thomas Chameraud - France (Washington Crossfire) Paul Dillon - USA (Virginia Rush) Gavin Hoy - Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Tyrin Hutchings - Canada (Vancouver Whitecaps U23) Nolan Intermoia - USA (Thunder Bay Chill) Sunny Ogbemudia Omoregie - Nigeria (Gzira United FC - Malta) Stephen Paterson - Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Mackenzie Pytyck- Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Dominic Roberts - Canada (SC Toronto) Zetroy Robertson - Jamaica (Thunder Bay Chill) Axel Sjoberg - Sweden (Marquette University) Zephaniah Thomas - England (Worksop Parramore - England 9th division - Previously Cowdenbeath) Abraham Villon - USA (Ventura Fusion) Kristian Zanette - Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Probably the most notable ex player is Kosuke Kimura who played one season with Thunder Bay in 2004. He has since played 9 seasons in the MLS. He played college soccer at Western Illinois. From what I remember, Thunder Bay drew quite a few players from the upper midwest in the USA. They seem to usually have a roster that is mostly non-Canadian. This year they have a 26-year old Spanish player, Sergio Campano Franco, who last year played with FC Milsami Orhei in the Moldovan 1st division. Another player is Axel Sjoberg, from Marquette University, who had a trial with Sigma Olomouc this past winter. Their full roster for this year Sergio Campano Franco - Spain (Milsami Orhei) Pedro Adan - USA (La Jolla Nomads) Godwin Addai - Canada (Vermont Voltage) Jose Altamirano - - USA (San Diego State University) Daniel Alvarado - USA (Austin Aztec U19) Thomas Chameraud - France (Washington Crossfire) Paul Dillon - USA (Virginia Rush) Gavin Hoy - Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Tyrin Hutchings - Canada (Vancouver Whitecaps U23) Nolan Intermoia - USA (Thunder Bay Chill) Sunny Ogbemudia Omoregie - Nigeria (Gzira United FC - Malta) Stephen Paterson - Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Mackenzie Pytyck- Canada (Thunder Bay Chill) Dominic Roberts - Canada (SC Toronto) Zetroy Robertson - Jamaica (Thunder Bay Chill) Axel Sjoberg - Sweden (Marquette University) Zephaniah Thomas - England (Worksop Parramore - England 9th division - Previously Cowdenbeath) Abraham Villon - USA (Ventura Fusion) Kristian Zanette - Canada Another good player historically was Brandon Swartzendruber, who I see is still playing. I also understood he played PDL as he was coaching NCAA and could do both. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Swartzendruber See that Campano Franco played in Europa League with his Moldavian team, he is originally from Extremadura and played for Badajoz, Merida and recently Xerex, who were just relegated from Spanish 2nd tier. Odd jump from Moldavia to T-Bay but he must be looking for a pro future in N America. PDL season should really be a bit longer, as is it is a bit pathetic. Hell, my kid playing u-14 in Spain played 40 games this season, early Sept to last week! You can't develop as a player with less than 8 months play a year, which is one of the biggest marks against the NCAA and CIU systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Another good player historically was Brandon Swartzendruber, who I see is still playing. I also understood he played PDL as he was coaching NCAA and could do both. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Swartzendruber See that Campano Franco played in Europa League with his Moldavian team, he is originally from Extremadura and played for Badajoz, Merida and recently Xerex, who were just relegated from Spanish 2nd tier. Odd jump from Moldavia to T-Bay but he must be looking for a pro future in N America. PDL season should really be a bit longer, as is it is a bit pathetic. Hell, my kid playing u-14 in Spain played 40 games this season, early Sept to last week! You can't develop as a player with less than 8 months play a year, which is one of the biggest marks against the NCAA and CIU systems. The PDL season is short, and that's not going to change. One of the main reasons for the league's start up was to give NCAA players a place to play in the summer while not in university and not affect their scholarship status. Over the years, many groups with differing agendas have started PDL clubs, but when it comes down to it, most teams still want to run non-professional clubs, and the off-season college kids are a talented and free pool to draw from. As a result, the PDL will not let its season interfere with the NCAA season and it will remain too short for our liking. One more reason that a Canadian U23 league would be beneficial. They could play longer seasons. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macksam Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 So I guess the question is why? I think the fact they have never really developed a Canadian player of any note at any age level is part of it. This is it. If it isn't developing any Canadian players, the Thunder Bay Chill isn't serving a purpose in Canadian soccer. You need to serve a purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 This is it. If it isn't developing any Canadian players, the Thunder Bay Chill isn't serving a purpose in Canadian soccer. You need to serve a purpose. I don't think it's as black and white as just that. Canada needs to build a soccer culture at every possible level. Breeding quality players becomes more possible and feasible once Canada starts breeding a quantity of players, as well. A dad takes a kid to a Thunder Bay Chill game. The kid's all like...that looks fun...dad, can I try soccer? It's not all black and white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcoatsforever Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 But seriously, it's probably because it is up in Thunder Bay, FC London gets a lot of representation and they are a fairly good team, despite one year of existence. They just have a bigger market supporting them. By "one" you mean "in their fifth", right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Sunday, July 28, 2013 TAMPA, Fla. – The Austin Aztex will host the 2013 PDL Championships presented by Nike after a thrilling weekend of action saw four teams advance from the PDL Conference Championships to keep their hopes of a title alive. The Aztex will welcome the Ocean City Nor’easters, Thunder Bay Chill and Victoria Highlanders to House Park for the conclusion to the 2013 PDL season. Austin claimed victory in the Southern Conference, with more than 5,000 fans on hand at House Park over two days of competition. The Aztex defeated Mid South Division rival the Laredo Heat to earn their berth in the semifinals as Khiry Shelton had a goal and assist to lead his side to victory. The Aztex will face the Eastern Conference Champion Ocean City Nor’easters in the semifinals after Ocean City defeated the Carolina Dynamo in a penalty shootout in Saturday’s conference semifinals before recording a 3-1 victory against the Ottawa Fury in Sunday night’s final. Coming off back-to-back Mid Atlantic Division titles, this is the Nor’easters first trip to the PDL Championships since joining the league in 2003. The Victoria Highlanders will also be making their first appearance at the championships after taking a pair of well-fought victories against the Ventura County Fusion and Portland Timbers U-23s to advance as the Western Conference Champion. The Highlanders got three goals in two games from Brett Levis, both of which proved to be game-winners, as they edged out Northwest Division rival Portland 1-0 in Sunday’s final. The Thunder Bay Chill will face the Highlanders in an all-Canadian semifinal after they booked their return to the championships with a 3-0 victory against defending champion FC London on Sunday evening in the Central Conference Final. The 2008 champion is making its second appearance in the past three seasons after reaching the semifinals in 2011, and its fourth appearance overall at the championships. Fri, August 2, 2013 6:00 PM EST Victoria Highlanders FC at Thunder Bay Chill House Park 8:30 PM EST Ocean City Nor'easters at Austin Aztex House Park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Chill beat Highlanders 2-0, sounds like it was close, and will face the hosts Aztex Sunday evening, who won 1-0. http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/home/743833.html Was checking the stats, they hosted the regional final four, changed stadiums (to Fort William, with CDN football lines) and got 2000 plus out for each of the two weekend games. Pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Congrats to Thunder Bay. We were watching the stream in Victoria and they played well from what we could see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 http://www.socceramerica.com/article/53012/austin-puts-chill-on-thunder-bay.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 http://www.uslpdl.com/home/807057.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigzTFC Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 IMO PDL is not an appropriate model to produce pro players for the reasons mentioned above. What is really concerning is that the youth component of these clubs are either not properly scouted or they don't produce quality youth players. Any time Canada has a youth team there are various youth programs represented.....never PDL. I think that lack of visibility is why they are generally ignored. People on this board want production. They have yet to provide it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdude Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 IMO PDL is not an appropriate model to produce pro players for the reasons mentioned above. What is really concerning is that the youth component of these clubs are either not properly scouted or they don't produce quality youth players. Any time Canada has a youth team there are various youth programs represented.....never PDL. Look at our last U23 team. Sure they weren't playing in PDL at the moment (PDL isn't running in March) Sodade, James, Beckie Haworth all played in PDL before and I'm sure that many of the Whitecaps Residency guys had played in PDL prior to that. The thing is that the PDL is there is to complete the NCAA/CIS season during the summer. To blame it on PDL, PDL is not inteded for U17 kids and even the U20 kids can choose to go with the MLS Academy route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigzTFC Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Look at our last U23 team. Sure they weren't playing in PDL at the moment (PDL isn't running in March) Sodade, James, Beckie Haworth all played in PDL before and I'm sure that many of the Whitecaps Residency guys had played in PDL prior to that. The thing is that the PDL is there is to complete the NCAA/CIS season during the summer. To blame it on PDL, PDL is not inteded for U17 kids and even the U20 kids can choose to go with the MLS Academy route. I am not blaming PDL. Let me rephrase. I am endicting these PDL clubs as a whole. When's the last time we had a U20 to U15 player from the TB Chill, Victoria Highlanders, Forrest City FC, KW United, Toronto Lynx (Eons ago), WSA Winnipeg (Like these guys because they have produced Farago, Musse)? I am excluding the Whitecaps because its not really comparable. Maybe I am wrong to assume that the majority of these clubs have youth components, but we get more production elsewhere. I wish they were more Sigma FC style clubs with the PDL as the top expression but they are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdude Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 I am not blaming PDL. Let me rephrase. I am endicting these PDL clubs as a whole. When's the last time we had a U20 to U15 player from the TB Chill, Victoria Highlanders, Forrest City FC, KW United, Toronto Lynx (Eons ago), WSA Winnipeg (Like these guys because they have produced Farago, Musse)? I am excluding the Whitecaps because its not really comparable. Maybe I am wrong to assume that the majority of these clubs have youth components, but we get more production elsewhere. I wish they were more Sigma FC style clubs with the PDL as the top expression but they are not. I am not blaming PDL. Let me rephrase. I am endicting these PDL clubs as a whole. When's the last time we had a U20 to U15 player from the TB Chill, Victoria Highlanders, Forrest City FC, KW United, Toronto Lynx (Eons ago), WSA Winnipeg (Like these guys because they have produced Farago, Musse)? I am excluding the Whitecaps because its not really comparable. Maybe I am wrong to assume that the majority of these clubs have youth components, but we get more production elsewhere. I wish they were more Sigma FC style clubs with the PDL as the top expression but they are not. PDL is what it is. It's a U23 league for NCAA players. I know that Toronto has a team in the Y-League, which is the youth component of the USL. Ottawa's in it also. The thing is that if you had the choice between the Lynx and TFC, who would you take? I don't know how clubs here are structured. How do they work with the local clubs? That's the question to ask. Not why hasn't a U15-20 player not been linked to a PDL club. If the PDL club helps the local club in the development capacity, it would go unnoticed anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 In terms of the PDL, any soccer club in Canada is a positive. If we ever want to become a soccer nation, we have to first become a nation that likes soccer. PDL teams surviving is a sign of that, and it is reciprocal in nature. The more teams there are (that survive) the more chance we have to gain more people that like the sport. Maybe talented athletic kids even start to choose it over hockey if it gets so that they see there is a future in it. We are still a long way off from that, but not as long as we were 10 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 http://www.uslpdl.com/home/855919.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toje Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Probably the best 'known' former Thunder Bay Chill player is Shaun Francis who now plays for San Jose. He also has 5 caps for Jamaica. In 2009, he played 12 games for Thunder Bay and scored 3 goals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Francis Another one is Kosuke Kimura who played for Thunder Bay in 2004. He has gone on to have a decent MLS career and spend last season with NY Red Bulls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosuke_Kimura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toje Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thunder Bay have only had one coach in 15 years, up until January 5 when Tony Colistro stepped down. http://www.netnewsledger.com/2015/01/05/thunder-bay-chill-shocker-tony-colistro-steps-aside-as-coach/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toje Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Ex-Thunder Bay Chill player, Stephen Paterson (from Thunder Bay), has signed with the Missouri Comets (indoor soccer). He spent a part of last season with Sporting KC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 http://www.thunderbaychill.com/home/858700.html Thunder Bay, ON – The Thunder Bay Chill announced today that it has hired Giovanni Petraglia as the Head Coach of its PDL team. Petraglia was hired after long time Coach Tony Colistro announced his resignation as bench boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.