Season in the works

By JIM BENDER, SUN MEDIA




They are planning to push this ball forward cautiously.
Spurred by the 7,000-plus that showed up for the Winnipeg Alliance-Edmonton Drillers "showcase" match at the MTS Centre yesterday, the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League has decided to go ahead with plans for a real season.
"The Winnipeg Alliance is probably the reason we are moving forward a little quicker than we wanted because (Alliance owner) Bill Stewart and his group and the fans here in Winnipeg showed us what they can draw if we work real hard at it," CMISL president Mel Kowalchuk said after the owners and/or GMs of the four current franchises met before the doubleheader.
"We expected crowds Iike this in years three and four but not the first year. So Bill's certainly set the trend for all of us and we're very pleased."
Before they can go ahead, each club must secure a lease with their respective venues and another meeting is planned for Calgary later this month.

"The thing is, everybody else wants to do it but we don't want to do it to the point where we push it too far," said Stewart. "So we're probably looking at an abbreviated season.
"But there's a lot of work that we have to do as owners to ensure that we can move forward. The MTS Centre's been great to work with, but the bottom line is we need to sit down with them now and try to enter a lease that makes sense."
Yesterday's crowd prompted Stewart to push his partners.
"I'm absolutely impressed, absolutely blown away," he said. "I am absolutely convinced that this is a viable market. Being the last game here gave us an extra three weeks to get out there and sell and penetrate the soccer community. That really helped us."
On the other hand, both Calgary and Saskatoon drew 2,000, Edmonton about 3,500.
"We did discuss expansion a little bit," Kowalchuk said. "We do have teams that are interested but we're not sure we're going to permit them to play in our league with a full schedule or a modified schedule. We're thinking a new team coming in will have to showcase it because each one of us learned a lot (from showcase games).
"We might go with as many as five or six teams, but right now it's looking like it might be four."
Kowalchuk said interest has been expressed by six Eastern teams and two in the West, but did not identify them.
"This gives the kids something to look forward to," said the Alliance's Jordan Goetting. "When I grew up, we had the Winnipeg Fury, then nothing for the longest time ... So, it will be inspiring for a lot of the young kids."

Fans flock indoors

Winnipeg Alliance's Damian Rocke (front) tries to outrun an Edmonton Drillers player yesterday at the MTS Centre. (Jon Schledewitz, Sun Media)

New soccer league proving popular

By JIM BENDER, SUN MEDIA

They lost the doubleheader but won the hearts of local supporters.
The Winnipeg Alliance dropped both ends of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League's showcase match to the Edmonton Drillers before a mind-boggling 7,727 spectators at MTS Centre yesterday.
And that was no April Fool's joke. Nor was the total spiked by thousands of giveaways, Alliance owner Bill Stewart insisted.
PHYSICAL BATTLES
"It was awesome," said Jordan Goetting, the Winnipeg defender/midfielder who scored his side's only two goals. "We expected 4,000 and to have this ... The kids are always going to be phenomenal but the support from other people was tremendous. And we don't get that in Manitoba.

"It's so nice to finally see that they're going to be supportive of the whole organization."
The Drillers, who had left their best player at home, won the first match 6-1 and the second 2-1 in a pair of fast-paced, physical battles.
"I'm really enjoying this, it's very aggressive," said Angelo Manfredi, a fan and friend of some Alliance players. "They're all really into it and I'm liking it. I really liked Tom Foderaro's hit. I know they (Drillers) weren't too pleased about that but Tom's a good guy, so it's all good."
Foderaro received a charging penalty for drilling a Driller into the boards.
"It's a pretty fast-paced game and it's getting pretty physical," said Katie Parker, wearing an Alliance jersey. "I've got a lot of friends on the team, they're doing well and I'm cheering them on.
"I would definitely pay to watch the guys over a whole season. I just want to support the guys and hopefully, they'll start a women's team up."
Not all fans were thrilled with the indoor game, though.
"I don't like the boards," said Colleen Dacosta. "I don't like it when they use the boards because some of their goals were scored just using the boards. Outdoors, you don't use the boards."
Although she and her partner, Salam Palani, had free tickets, Dacosca said she would pay to support the squad over a whole season. And Stewart et al are making plans for a real season that could start in November.
Todd Rattee, Eddy Sidra, Phil Pavacic, John Konye, Oliver Brkin and Mark Spiller scored for Edmonton in the first game while Spiller and Pavacic scored in the second. Goetting was the only Alliance who could solve Edmonton goalkeeping.
"I don't score a lot of goals, so,it was kind of nice. Too bad it's not a regular thing." said Goetting, who also scored in a shootout exhibition.
Winnipeg goalkeeper Dylan O'Connor did not allow a goal after being inserted for the last quarter.
"It was nerve-wracking when I first got out there. but when I got out on to the field it was way better and I settled down and had a lot of fun," he said.
"Both the games were entertaining, we just have to learn how to put the ball in the net," said Alliance co-coach Chic Devenney. "I am disappointed but I'm looking upon this as the future. Our future is just beginning. We're beginning to establish a team, a rhythm, a philosophy for the game."