Three former Golden Bears were unveiled Thursday as FC Edmonton signings; Bruno Zebie, Ajay Khabra and Ajeej Sarkaria. All three also spent time under the watchful eye of Eddies coach Jeff Paulus at FCE’s Academy.

The first-ever No. 1 pick in a Canadian Premier League draft is Carleton University’s Gabriel Bitar.

This is a group of players who are used to being underestimated by their opposition. And forward Dominic Russo, who was named as one of the three finalists for the PDL’s most valuable player award, is a prime example of the team’s devil-may-care attitude.

The 17-year-old six-foot-four centre back was announced as the Eddies’ newest player Wednesday at St. Joseph’s High School, the team’s base of operations for its academy program.

As soon as FC Edmonton's spring season came to a close, defender Adrian LeRoy and striker Elvir Gigolaj were released by the club.

“I just want to prove a point to myself and to the coach. I want to show that I can go out there and score goals. I can start, or I can come off the bench and contribute. I am not concerned about the age factor. Age is just a number.”

Hometown products Shaun Saiko, who led the team in scoring last season, and fullback Antonio Rago were officially placed on the list, but Alberta-born centre back and NASL Best XI member Paul Hamilton was not part of the 16.

“We want to drip-feed these young men into our first-team environment and, hopefully, get them into our first team as quickly as possible,” Miller said. “In the first team, there will be massive changes, but there always will be a continuing influx of Canadians into the first-team group.”