“He (Mallan) had his hands behind his back and the ball’s gone off the label on his jersey. That’s never a penalty. The funny thing is, I thought Drew was having a good game up to that point. But there was also six minutes of time added on. As soon as the six minutes went up, you go the feeling that something was up.”

When a rabbit is seen at the stadium, good things happen for FC Edmonton. Maybe it was the mystical power of the rabbit that made Montreal Impact defender Karl Ouimette blow an 89th-minute defensive header on a long kick. Maybe it was the rabbit that gave FCE substitute Michael Nonni the foresight to jump on Ouimette’s turnover, round keeper Evan Bush, and score the goal that gave the NASL Eddies their first-ever Amway Canadian Championship win over MLS opposition.

“I know Colin from the national team,” Bernier said Tuesday after he and his Montreal Impact teammates finished their training session at a blustery Clarke Stadium. “I know how he expects his team to play.”

“That’s the romance of the Cup,” said Miller after FC Edmonton finished training in the blustery winds and light snow Tuesday at Clarke Stadium. “It’s filled with clangers. And we hope we have another clanger tomorrow night.”

Jordan Ongaro led the PAC-12 in goals scored last season; but, after he was drafted, the Canadian striker found out that his homecoming wasn’t going to be as happy as he’d hoped...

In 2013, the chance of a Canadian player getting first-team minutes with an MLS side was only slightly better than it was in 1996. We looked at every minute played by all Canadians who have ever been in MLS employ; we found that, over the last four years, the first-team minutes granted to Canucks by MLS coaches have been in steady and serious decline...

Ongaro is now on trial with FC Edmonton, and was at the Commonwealth Fieldhouse Tuesday as the Eddies began their preparations for the 2014 NASL season.

"You have to say that the season as a whole was a good one. We may not have achieved everything we wanted but it's normal. We're going to have some serious discussions. It's important for the future that the club move forward and that everyone is going in the same direction.”

When it comes to our head coach,” Saputo continued, bringing up the hot topic of the week. “We have not yet come to a decision. It is too early to say if Marco Schallibaum is the man for the job in 2014. We had an excellent discussion with Marco yesterday, but we do not want to rush to judgement. Marco is a passionate coach who allowed the group to experience both the best and the worst but the important thing is that we realize we need to continue to improve this team and what we need to keep working to see how that can be done.

This isn’t the first time the Impact have been censured for the team’s behaviour in a playoff ouster. After a 2010 USSF-Div. 2 playoff loss to Carolina, in which an Impact goal was disallowed — and Montreal also claimed one of Carolina’s goals was offside — the team charged the match officials.