Gloves of gold: NASL confirms FC Edmonton’s Smits as winner of top keeper honour By Steven Sandor Posted on November 13, 2014 6 0 824 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter John Smits PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/FC EDMONTON John Smits isn’t just the best Canadian keeper in NASL. He can now lay claim to the title of best keeper in the league. Period. By finishing the NASL season with the lowest goals against average of any keeper in the league with enough minutes played to qualify, the University of Toronto grad has been awarded the league’s Golden Glove award. The league announced the award on Thursday. Smits arrived in San Antonio on Thursday. At halftime of Saturday’s Soccer Bowl — where Canadian coach Alen Marcina hopes to lead his Scorpions to their first NASL title — Smits will be honoured alongside league-leading scorer Christian Ramirez. Smits finished the season with a 0.90 GAA. Smits, who had been the understudy to former MLS keeper Lance Parker over the past two seasons, got the lion’s share of the time in goal for FC Edmonton in 2014. A series of finger and shoulder injuries kept Parker out of the goal — and Smits took the opportunity and proved that he was capable to not only be the Eddies’ full-time No. 1 keeper, but one of the elite keepers in the league. At the end of the season, FC Edmonton announced that Parker was one of six players who won’t be back in 2015 — which paves the way for Smits to be the unquestioned No. 1, with Tyson Farago as the understudy. “When it comes to other players and their contracts, that’s none of my business,” said Smits. “But he sent me a great text message after his exit interview. He was a great starter. I’ve learned so much from him. He’s the most professional player I’ve ever met, from the way he takes care of himself to his nutrition to how he trains.” Smits, who hails from Mississauga and played on the same Erin Mills junior team as Junior Hoilett, went to the University of Toronto, and is currently the most successful CIS grad playing in North American pro leagues. He hopes his success is an inspiration to other CIS players. “I remember the first interview I did with you, after my first win in this league, and I said I wanted to show that CIS players can play. Now I think we can be successful in the top leagues, in North America, especially.” But he doesn’t want to dwell too much on where he came from. “To be honest, my focus is on what’s coming up rather than what I’ve done in the past.” Earlier Thursday, FCE midfielder Lance Laing was named to the league’s Best XI, a move which had been widely expected. He becomes the fourth Eddie in history to be named to the season-ending all-star teams; he joins Shaun Saiko, Paul Hamilton and Albert Watson.
