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The best jokes are ones that have roots in truth. And none are truer than Scott Sutter’s assessment of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“We’re a lot of new faces … I’ve had a joke with a couple of the guys that it’s almost like an expansion team — myself included,” said the right-back, late of Orlando City.

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“When there is so much change like this, it is pretty much building a new team, including the coaching staff that have come in. It’s no easy feat.

“There’s getting to know all the new guys, and their movements and mannerisms, and not just on the field, but off the field as well. There’s 26 different guys, 26 different personalities, 26 ways that people like to do things. But that’s why Marc’s the head coach and I’m a player.”

The Caps returned to Vancouver just to find Mother Nature playing her own cruel joke on them, as they flew in from the tropical nirvana of Hawaii to the heaviest snowfall in years. The Major League Soccer team was set to train on a snow-covered field for one of its few practice sessions before heading to Los Angeles for the next leg of its preseason journey.

Midfielder Russell Teibert, who didn’t make the trip to Oahu as he recovered from an ankle injury, will be healthy enough for that leg — but wasn’t in shape to take part in Wednesday’s session. He mused what some of his new teammates, who have only lived in temperate climes, might make of their introduction to the West Coast.

“If I was able to train today, I’d love it,” said the native of Niagara Falls, Ont.

“Back in Ontario, when it would snow like this, after big snowstorms, our warm-up was to get 20, 25 shovels out of the shed, shovel off the field … and then we’d start playing. It looked familiar today … and I’m happy that I don’t have to shovel now. Maybe we’ll have a snowball fight after the sessions.”