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David Clanachan sounded like a proud papa talking about the Canadian Premier League as its inaugural season winds down.

While other attempts at a national soccer circuit have failed (hello, Canadian Soccer League), the CPL has prospered on the pitch and at the gate in its first year.

When Clanachan took over as the CPL's first commissioner in January 2018, he said there was an appetite for a coast-to-coast pro soccer league in Canada. Still, he seemed pleasantly surprised by its success.

"I always have high expectations," the 57-year-old Clanachan said in a recent interview. "I always believed that if you work hard at it and you plan well it will execute well.

"But it's always nice to be surprised and we definitely feel good about things.

"But it's like the old hockey saying, 'you're only good as your last shift.' You get up the next day and try to do better again."

The league kicked off on April 27 in Hamilton, Ont. Forge FC hosted York9 FC in the first edition of the 905 Derby.

Roughly 18,000 spectators at Tim Hortons Field - and over 1 million watching their television or online on CBC or OneSoccer - witnessed a 1-1 draw.

It was a low-scoring affair, which was more the norm than the exception across the league this season. Clanachan would like to see that change for Season 2 and is promoting the use of analytics to help increase scoring.

"When I played as a young man, there was none of that. It was the coach barking at you and you did what he told you," the Scottish-born Clanachan, who hails from Burlington, Ont., said.

"We're doing a lot of analytics right now, working with the teams, working with the coaches and soccer operations people. Things like determining shooting distances in other leagues, how many goals are scored in a game versus other leagues. What kind of passing is being done. We want to develop a style of play that people want to see today, and that's entertaining.

"Our league is not quite as high as some of the bigger and better leagues that have been around for some time, such as Europe. But we're not that far off. We have some brilliant people working in our offices around analytics. Data is everything. So we're sharing all of that. it's all part of getting better overall."

Expect a revamped schedule for next season.

The 2019 campaign was divided into a spring and fall season, which started on July 1. CPL teams also took part in the Canadian championship, a national tournament that stretched over the better part of the season and featured 13 clubs from five separate leagues, including the CPL, fighting for a berth in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.

It was a lot of soccer crammed into a six-month calendar.

"An adjustment to our scheduling will be needed," Clanachan said.

"We tried to line it up with July 1st and get that in. We put a lot of pressure on our clubs with the Canadian championships and getting a lot of games in before July 1st."

These are expected bumps that come with a startup pro league.

Clanachan, the former chief operating officer of Tim Hortons who spent 35 years with the coffee chain, was quick to note the achievements and milestones from the inaugural season.

Cavalry FC goalkeeper Marco Carducci became the first CPL player called up to the Canadian men's national team.

HFX Wanderers leading scorer Akeem Garcia earned an invite to the senior national squad of Trinidad and Tobago.

Carol Anne Chenard led the first-ever all-female officiating crew for a men’s professional game when the Forge hosted Cavalry on May 12.

There were also historic victories. Forge defeated the Guatemala champion Antigua GFC in a two-game CONCACAF League series. Cavalry defeated Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps in their Canadian championship showdown.

"I'm really pleased with where we are," Clanachan said. "There are always things that we can be critical of or want to be better. But considering we only started playing at the end of April, and where we are today in the middle of October, we've had a lot of firsts.

"Forge FC took down the Guatemalan champions and got to the second leg with the Honduras champions. Cavalry FC beat the Vancouver Whitecaps. There was the success in the Canadian championships. One of our players was brought up to the Canadian men's national team by (head coach) John Herdman. And a few international players called up to their international team, like Garcia. There were a bunch of things that happened."

Clanachan had heaps of praise for the Wanderers.

Though they have struggled to garner points in the back half of this season, the Wanderers Grounds as still home to the most raucous, invested group of supporters in the league.

The commish even spent some time in The Kitchen, the stadium's 1,000-seat east end home to a rambunctious collection of fans.

"I can openly say that Halifax has probably one of the best experiences in the league," Clanachan said.

"The last time I was there, I literally spent half of the game out in The Kitchen with the crazy supporters, and I mean that in a really good way. They were fantastic.

"(Team president) Derek Martin and his crew down there have done a wonderful job, working with the community. The community has opened its arms wide and has embraced the club. Everyone seems to be having a good time with it, from the mayor to the business leaders and anyone involved at the grassroots level."

The Wanderers (2-7-8 in the fall, 5-12-10 overall), long since eliminated from contention and still looking for an elusive victory away from home, will play their final match this Saturday at York9 FC in Toronto. It's the final day of the regular season.

The Wanderers have chalked up nearly 100,000 kilometres away from Halifax. A Pacific FC-Wanderers' matchup is considered to be the third longest road trip in the world for the game of soccer.

Adding more teams, including one or two in Atlantic Canada, and fewer long-distance road games would certainly cut down on the amount of Air Miles accumulated.

Clanachan is a proponent of expansion but wouldn't confirm if more teams would be added for 2020.

"We have a number of pots on the stove that are on different levels of boil," he said.

"I need to make sure I don't rush them in. I don't want them to fall. We're getting some tremendous interest."