O Canada! Chill, FC London and Highlanders join Fury in PDL’s Elite Eight

The Thunder Bay Chill will host Forest City London Sunday to determine the PDL Central Conference champion.

FC London, the defending PDL Champs and Heartland Division champs, announced an affiliation with Toronto FC earlier this week. And, on Saturday, London took the most difficult route possible to win a semifinal match — the shootout. After 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, London beat the Real Colorado Foxes 4-3 in kicks.

Aaron Boyd, Haris Cekic, Jordan Ayris and former Toronto FC defender Tyler Hemming converted their kicks to give London the win it probably deserved to ice in regulation time based on the run of play. The defending champs outshot Colorado 17-5, but could not find that final touch to end the game.

Cekic was just added to the roster in time for the playoffs, as he was just brought back after a stint with Bosnian side Podgrmec Sanski.

Thunder Bay, who dispatched the Michigan Bucks 1-0, will have to go into the final as the heavy favourite. Even though London is the defending champion, the Chill will go into the final having played just 90 minutes on Saturday, while FCL had to go 120 plus kicks to get through its semifinal. Of course, home field advantage in Northern Ontario also is a major factor.

Sunny Omeregie scored the winner for the Chill in the first half.

The Victoria Highlanders also won their Western Conference semifinal, making the Canadian PDL sides four-for-four in their post-season games. The Ottawa Fury also won earlier Saturday (CLICK HERE).

University of Saskatchewan phenom Brett Levis, who scored nine goals and added six assists in 14 regular-season PDL games, got the extra-time winner as the Highlanders beat the Ventura County Fusion 3-2.

Of course, Canadian soccer followers remember the VC Fusion as the side that played the national team to a 1-1 draw in a pre-Gold Cup friendly.

If all goes well, three Canadian teams could be in the PDL’s Final Four.