Historic hat trick earns Oliver the NASL Player of the Week nod By Steven Sandor Posted on April 28, 2014 Comments Off on Historic hat trick earns Oliver the NASL Player of the Week nod 0 566 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Oliver Minatel So, you bag a hat trick in your team’s first-ever win. Your name will forever be part of the club’s history. It would make sense that the league would name you the player of the week, as well, huh? In an announcement that surprises absolutely no one who follows the NASL on a regular basis, Ottawa Fury forward Oliver Minatel has been named the league’s player of the week. On Saturday, Minatel scored three times and assisted on Philippe Davies’s goal as the Fury won its first ever NASL match, 4-0 over the Carolina RailHawks. Minatel’s three goals came between the 34th and 72nd minutes of play. Do the math and take away a bit of first-half added time, and you can say that he scored three times in 38 minutes. Why is that relevant? Because Ottawa travels to Edmonton for Wednesday’s second leg of their Amway Canadian Championship preliminary round, with the winner to get the Montreal Impact in a semifinal. After the first leg ended 0-0, the Fury knows that either a win on Edmonton soil, or any draw that’s not a 0-0 result, will the team from the nation’s capital through. And, Edmonton is coming off its third game in a row — two league matches and the ACC first leg — in which it hasn’t scored. The Eddies have scored one goal all season long. Minatel tripled that tally in less than half a match of game time on Saturday. And, when the Brazilian forward takes the field in Wednesday, the Fury’s fans will likely be saying “Oliver, we want some more.” (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
