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2024 Voyageurs Cup


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I was a little disappointed with the school day fixture for several reasons, now with an MLS opponent coming to The Hammer I am quite pissed the way this is all playing out! Please allow my mini rant: This should have been communicated before we renewed or purchased our season tickets, most fans will not be able to make the 11AM ko on a weekday so we pay for something we can't use, an opt out option with a discount should have been offered! The Battalion has been kicked out of our section, not a good PR move in my opinion considering the BSB was established before the team and has been instrumental in creating atmosphere! I get that the school day games have been a success for the Bulldogs however they have 40+ home matches so missing one is less of a deal for STH I suspect! Now with CF Montreal coming to town priority has been given to a bunch of kids who may or may not have interest in the match, so much for home field advantage, MLS teams don't come to THF all that often and now most of the fanbase will miss it, not good! There is also the chance Forge take a beating in front of those kids they are trying to attract for future ticket sales, that could be a bad look! This may in fact be something Forge didn't have say in the schedule but surely this was known way ahead of time? In summary I am not totally against the club trying to get new fans out, it makes total sense but the way this has been handled and now with an MLS opponent coming in I am afraid I won't be alone in being disappointed!

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1 hour ago, jonovision said:

School days are a great idea for minor league sports to sell tickets in May and June. 

I don't like it in this instance: a big cup match that should be enough of a draw on its own. 

The stupid thing is this was supposed to be a CPL match (vs. HFX).

Not sure why they didn't coordinate the schedule 

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Mihairokov said:

Forge's home match against CF Montreal will be played May 7th at 11AM. Forge will be bringing out 10,000 students for their school day game for this match. 

https://forgefc.canpl.ca/article/forge-fc-to-clash-with-cf-montreal-on-the-clubs-school-day-match-in-the-2024-telus-canadian-championship

Holy hell. CPL/CSB pushed for "home and away fixtures" because they wanted the bump of an MLS team coming to town, and now one of them is pulling this stunt? Amateur hour.

Edited by Watchmen
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15 minutes ago, narduch said:

The stupid thing is this was supposed to be a CPL match (vs. HFX).

Not sure why they didn't coordinate the schedule 

The club has dropped the ball here, with the school day game there was no turning back on short notice, did the club not think there was a chance we might beat York, they knew who the opponent was in the next round  and when it was to be played? Perhaps they don't give a shit and think thousands of screaming kids will be a better home advantage?

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Going back on this.

CPL released its schedule on January 23.

Canadian Championship schedule was released on February 22.

I guess because they decided on the format last minute they didn't hold the dates earlier for the Voyageurs Cup 

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2 hours ago, gator said:

I was a little disappointed with the school day fixture for several reasons, now with an MLS opponent coming to The Hammer I am quite pissed the way this is all playing out! Please allow my mini rant: This should have been communicated before we renewed or purchased our season tickets, most fans will not be able to make the 11AM ko on a weekday so we pay for something we can't use, an opt out option with a discount should have been offered! The Battalion has been kicked out of our section, not a good PR move in my opinion considering the BSB was established before the team and has been instrumental in creating atmosphere! I get that the school day games have been a success for the Bulldogs however they have 40+ home matches so missing one is less of a deal for STH I suspect! Now with CF Montreal coming to town priority has been given to a bunch of kids who may or may not have interest in the match, so much for home field advantage, MLS teams don't come to THF all that often and now most of the fanbase will miss it, not good! There is also the chance Forge take a beating in front of those kids they are trying to attract for future ticket sales, that could be a bad look! This may in fact be something Forge didn't have say in the schedule but surely this was known way ahead of time? In summary I am not totally against the club trying to get new fans out, it makes total sense but the way this has been handled and now with an MLS opponent coming in I am afraid I won't be alone in being disappointed!

I'm not defending the decision, but is this game against Montreal really part of your season ticket package? That seems odd since it was contingent on Forge winning their first round game.

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The club is in a bit of damage control obviously, free lunch being offered and now they are opening a Supporters Section albeit in a different section than usual and @Kent it wasn't part of the seasons ticket package which will now be added! My point stands though, they took a game away originally from most STH by having it on a midweek morning, now the HFX game is moved to a weeknight and in fact I will be getting an extra match in the package, that is no consolation to those who are unable to attend the Montreal match!

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I hate criticizing giving kids a fun time but I have to join the chorus from this one and another angle: the Canadian Championship is actually great in introducing the CPL to a lot of more casual fans of MLS or spiking their interest toward it enough for them to give it a shot.

The tournament cannot do that, or at least far less, if those games are held at 11am in the middle of the week...

2 hours ago, Cblake said:

If anyone has an extra ticket for the Forge Montreal match they can not use I would to go to see the L'Impact go down in the flames, PM me if you do. 

While I don't mind the banter and admire the faith in Forge I would be a bad Impact fan if I didn't point out that Forge has never gotten a result against an MLS club and that recent years have seen lesser Impact squads repeatedly beat better Forge squads (in 2022 we fielded a full B squad against Forge), and comfortably so once the near miss of 2019 taught us a healthy lesson about not underestimating CPL opposition. 

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For all the talk and hype L1O gets, it's L1BC and L1Q that have gotten past a round in this tournament, with L1O being the only L1C league that has participated to not yet get past a round.

I do have to add that I think L1Q isn't scouted enough. Come on potential CPL ownership group in Quebec, there is a means for you to mine some real talent!

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yeah kwemi in his interview was really going at cpl for not having a qc team and not enough qc players in cpl teams...but we know that obviously the talent is there its about other stuff...ownership with $$$ and stadium

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Some scattered thoughts after the first round:

Lots of fun soccer!  I love this tournament!

It's limited data but, based on the past couple of seasons, it looks like the gap between the elite L1 teams and an average CPL team is entertainingly narrow.

I'm very much looking forward to the Whitecaps/Cavalry and Montreal/Forge series (go Forge especially!).  Less so to watching TFC go two more games against an L1 team (with congratulations to St. Laurent for their first round upset).

The attendance is lower than I was expecting or hoping for.  Some of it might be due to midweek dates or to opponents that aren't considered attractive, I guess, but I was expecting more.

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I'm really looking forward to all of the quarter finals. Not sure how much I will actually be able to reasonably watch but excited for all of them. Rematches of Cavalry vs Whitecaps and Forge vs Montreal speak for themselves. The TFC vs CS Saint Laurent matchup I'm mostly just interested in because I'm a TFC fan. If Saint Laurent can keep it close then it would be great for a neutral, but if they can't keep it close, it could be pretty missable TV. And even the Ottawa vs Pacific game. With Ottawa absolutely trouncing Valour, and going into the season they were looking really good on paper. I'm curious to see how they do in their next few games to see if they are for real or not.

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