After playing to a 1-1 draw against USL PRO side Rochester Rhinos in New York on Friday, Ottawa Fury FC had a full two-day weekend off before training resumed Monday.

Hopefully all of the players made the most of the downtown time, because the pace is about to pick up significantly as the team prepares to leave for Florida on March 31.

They’ll train for a couple more weeks in the Sunshine State before opening their season against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on April 12.

“This is our only weekend off before a very very big stretch,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said following Friday’s friendly.

The team will be back in Gatineau to train at Branchaud-Briere each day this week, before playing their final exhibition game on Canadian soil when they host Syracuse University Saturday. The Fury will hop a plane to Florida the following Monday.

“After that it’s going to be two crazy weeks,” Dos Santos said.

The coach was happy to have had the road trip early in the preseason, with the team having bussed to Rochester following Thursday’s practice in Ottawa and spent the night before playing Friday.

It helped the team bond more and got them out of their comfort zone at the usual practice facility.

“Being at Branchaud-Briere is excellent, but everything about it is very comfortable,” Dos Santos said. “The locker rooms are comfortable, training is comfortable. There’s no wind, no snow, no rain. Everything is set for you to play in a very comfortable way.”

That wasn’t the case in Rochester, as the teams battled in sub-zero temperatures. Snow remained on the sidelines, making things like corner kicks a bit trickier.

FURY, WOSC ink partnership

With a pro soccer team in town, there’s an obvious goal for local soccer players looking to progress through the ranks here in Ottawa.

To that end, the team has formed a partnership with the West Ottawa Soccer Club (WOSC), which will see the organizations work together to create a “pioneering approach to the player development pathway for players” in the region.

The two groups made the announced Monday night at an event in Carp.

Fury FC Technical Director Phillip Dos Santos said the new “high performance structure” would offer young players the best opportunity to reach the higher levels of soccer.

Since it was founded in 2010, the WOSC’s goal has been to become the leading player development organizations in the country, said CEO Bjorn Osieck.

“To be able to partner with Ottawa Fury FC represents a tremendous opportunity for WOSC to help to shape the pathway to success for all talented players in this rapidly changing football landscape we operate in,” he said.

The partnership will see the groups band together to offer technical player and coach workshops, access to Fury FC games and the sharing of resources like training facilities.

“Being able to create an environment where our WOSC Warrior families can soak in Ottawa soccer culture at its best and for our players to see their Fury FC role models in action will help to galvanize even greater community support for the beautiful game,” said WOSC President Brian Mason.

SUPPORTERS UNITE

Ottawa Fury FC matches should be a drum-banging good time, if the team’s healthy roster of early supporters have anything to say about it.

With just two exhibition matches played in the NASL franchise’s short history, the club already boasts three passionate supporter groups – the Bytown Boys, Stony Monday Riot and Fury Ultras.

And while these groups of soccer diehards don’t have to prove their status as superfans to anyone, they hope to recruit as many newbies as possible to ensure a sizable cheering section when the Fury play their first competitive match at home April 19 against Minnesota United FC.

Chomping at the bit for the season to start as they are, a group of Fury fans – a mash up of Bytown Boys and Stony Monday Riot members – made the five-hour trek to Rochester, NY on Friday to watch the preseason game verus Rochester.

And, as part of the grassroots effort to increase the Fury fan base, Stony Monday Riot is hosting a FIFA 14 Xbox One tournament on April 18. Participants will game on a 109-inch screen during the all-day event. The entry fee is $20, with half the pot going to the winner and the other half going towards support group essentials “like flags, drums and not-so-sexy stuff like paying web hosting fees.”

For more information or to register visit ottawafifa.ca.

SIDELINES

Ottawa Fury FC will unveil the team’s home and away kits during a seaon ticket pick-up event on March 29. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Merivale Mall venue … If all goes to plan, Brazilian signing Vini Dantas should be getting in Ottawa this week. With the arrival of fellow Brazilian Maykon last week, that leaves only Ghanaian Hamza Elias as the lone player missing from Fury training … Fury president John Pugh made the trek to Rochester for the game, meaning there were about 10 or so people in all in attendance by the looks of photos from Friday’s friendly.

Chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley