The winter that seemingly won't end saw Ottawa Fury FC play Friday's exhibition match in something of a chill.

The game in Rochester, played in below 0C temperatures with snow still very present on the sidelines, against the USL PRO side Rhinos would end in a 1-1 draw, brings Ottawa's preseason record to 1-0-1.

Oliver Minatel, with his second goal of the preseason for the Fury, scored on a penalty kick to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the first half.

The Rhinos, on a score from Minh Vu, tied the match late in the first on a defensive breakdown on a cross in front of starting goalkeeper Marcel DeBellis.

Other than the lapse that robbed the Fury of the clean sheet and a chance to leave with the win, head coach Marc Dos Santos liked what he saw from the squad.

"I think there's a lot of positives from this game," he said on the phone following the game, as the team rode the bus back to Ottawa.

The chilly temperatures and the fact it's still early in the preseason led to a bit of a slow start, Dos Santos said.

"It was awkward for the first 10 or 15 minutes," he said, pointing out that it was the first time the team had played a match outside of the cozy confines of Gatineau's Branchaud-Briere complex. "It was pretty cold, it was very different from what we know. But we need to be in those situations."

The Fury got going though, and started to take control of the game. Minatel broke the scoreless deadlock after what Dos Santos said was a "clear foul" in the penalty area.

Of the tying goal before the half, Dos Santos said the players "lacked focus in a play that we could have done better, maybe a lack of communication."

"I think we could have been up at half time," he said. "After the second half, it was just a very, very even game."

Dos Santos was happy with the first two phases of the team's possession game, but said there's work to be done.

"We have a lot of work to do when we get into the last third of the field," he said.

While there was no more scoring, Dos Santos didn't take much issue with a bit of a heated exchange between a couple Fury players and the opposition, resulting in a yellow card for Fury defender Omar Jarun.

"Its good that players want to win, sometimes it does get a little aggressive," said the coach.

Mason Trafford, who has only had a couple days to train with the club, played the full 90 minutes. The entire team made the trip to Rochester, with the exception of goalkeeper Chad Bush and defender/midfielder Maykon, who just joined the club. Tommy Heinemann, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard and Carl Haworth made their pre-season debuts for the Fury, as did new signing Tony Donatelli.

The team will get the weekend off before heading back to Gatineau for training on Monday.

chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley