We’re less than a week away from the start of my absolute favourite soccer competition of the year: the Voyageurs Cup. If you pay attention to any of my tweets around this time of year, you’ll see excitement about Canada’s professional cup competition mentioned in nearly everything I send out. This is the one competition I look forward to most throughout the year – it’s Canada’s and it should be celebrated more than it already is. The fact it currently doesn’t have a title sponsor shows how badly the influence of Canadian Soccer Business will be needed to maintain its health as a competition. I’m hoping crowds will be larger for games this year; however, with the terrible seasons all three Canadian MLS clubs are having, and the fact FC Edmonton isn’t operating a pro club at the moment, this might be the least attended version of the competition to date. We do get something pretty special this year in the introduction of the initial round between League1 Ontario’s Oakville Blue Devils vs. PLSQ’s AS Blainville, which represents the first expansion of the Voyageurs Cup to include multiple tiers of the Canadian soccer league pyramid. More on how important this is later.

As a quick history lesson to those who aren’t as familiar with the Voyageurs Cup, the trophy was founded and paid for by select individuals from the Voyageurs national supporters group back in 2002. At the time, there were a few Canadian clubs playing in the USL A-League. Supporters wanted some way to crown a defacto Canadian champion at the time, and decided to award the Voyageurs Cup to the Canadian club with the best record vs. their Canadian counterparts in the A-League. Despite there being other Canadian clubs involved, the Montreal Impact managed to claim the trophy every year before Toronto FC’s introduction. Even with TFC’s intro into MLS, Montreal managed to capture it again in TFC’s first year in the competition in 2008, when the cup was now being awarded to the champion of the newly created Canadian Championship competition. TFC managed to win it the following year. Despite having been a part of the Voyageurs Cup since its inception, the Vancouver Whitecaps took 14 years to finally win the cup in 2015. The club is rightfully mocked for this.

There have been so many magical moments in the Voyageurs Cup over the years. Admittedly I’m part of the Canadian soccer support generation that really started to pay attention at the launch of TFC in MLS, but I’d caught a few Whitecaps matches pre-2007. My memories of this cup begin with the 2008 edition of the tournament when the Canadian Championship was first introduced. Ansu Toure’s spectacular performance at Swanguard vs. Montreal, the Lightning match between TFC and the Whitecaps at BMO where Eric Hassli’s goals were literally washed away by the rain-out, FC Edmonton’s heartbreak due to a phantom handball vs. the Impact at Stade Saputo (Drew Fischer was rightfully demonized for that), Ottawa Fury’s shock win against the Whitecaps at TD Place, all of these were magical moments. Watching the Whitecaps beat TFC at BMO Field on Canada Day was special. Martin Nash’s penalty to give the Caps the win was a spectacular moment as it really announced how a cup competition like this could be a great equalizer despite the apparent superiority of MLS over USL at the time.

We will now get to see that in the form of how well the winner of the Oakville – Blainville clash fare against USL’s Ottawa Fury. This first tilt at the ProAm “D3” level of the Canadian league pyramid represents the first steps the Voyageurs Cup is taking towards being an open cup format. For years now people have been begging Canada Soccer to expand the Voyageurs Cup to include more than just the pro MLS, NASL (RIP), and USL clubs. When Ottawa switched from NASL to USL we weren’t even sure if Canada Soccer would allow them back in the tournament, but luckily wisdom won the day and they did continue to participate. Questions have arisen regarding the inclusion of the PDL clubs, the rest of L1O and PLSQ, and the top amateur clubs across the country (generally those who participate in the Challenge Trophy amateur championship). I’m definitely on board with the inclusion of all L1O and PLSQ clubs, as well as perhaps the Challenge Trophy champion.

As for the PDL clubs, my belief is we need to do everything in our power to build regional D3 leagues across the country, and PDL is counter-productive to that. At the very moment it could be argued there’s no other option, therefore we have to provide opportunities at the highest level possible no matter where the league is based out of. To me, this is also counter-productive to Canada taking care of it’s own needs. We NEED to focus on building our own pyramid. We also need to focus on building out the Voyageurs Cup to give smaller clubs a chance to take on the big boys, but not at the expense of getting in the way of the creation of D3 regional leagues. It’s a very politicized question that perhaps doesn’t need to be. On one hand, you want every Canadian club to gain entry as it will create a better cup competition. On the other hand, you don’t want to set a precedent that it’s ok to put a club in PDL and then expect to be fully involved in everything Canada Soccer can offer. I’m a bit torn as to whether the PDL clubs should be given entry, but considering a majority of players are Canadians, I believe the existing clubs should be given entry. Canada Soccer, from what we can tell, doesn’t agree with that, as the PDL clubs are still being frozen out of the competition. Yes the PDL season is short, ending in July, but get the PDL clubs to add a condition into their contracts that make players bound to play throughout the entire length the club is involved in the competition. There HAS to be a way to make it work.

Regardless, the inclusion of L1O’s and PLSQ’s champions is hopefully just the starting point for further growth of the Voyageurs Cup. Next season will really put this competition into high gear as it is not yet officially announced, but widely considered done and dusted, that the Canadian Premier League clubs will all be granted entry. We will soon see the CanPL vs. MLS narrative born. There may be the birth of a Hamilton – Toronto derby next year. Same goes for either Port City or, if part of CanPL’s inaugural season, Victoria vs. the Whitecaps for a BC derby. Assuming FC Edmonton is part of the 2019 CanPL launch, not only will FCE and Cavalry FC have league clashes, but glorious cup clashes too. Al Classico will potentially happen multiple times next year, which is only good for the growth of that rivalry. Port City and Victoria will eventually face off in both league and cup clashes. Everyone is going to want to draw Halifax away. Heck, I’m already planning on multiple trips out east as the seafood in Halifax is worth the trip alone!

I really hope Oakville and Blainville’s first round tilt paves the way for full expansion of the Voyageurs Cup. I’ll be glued to the live stream of the game next Wednesday. Will you?

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Jeff Salisbury Canadian soccer fanatic. Member of The Voyageurs, Bridge City Firm, and prime member of the #FromTheBlackHole podcast. Allez Les Rouges!

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