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.”

It was a battle of FC Edmonton’s rotated squad against a Fort Lauderdale Strikers team that didn’t get to the Alberta capital till 2 a.m. Saturday morning.

Hanson Boakai, who graduates from high school on Thursday, put in one of the most dominating individual performances in the history of the Voyageurs’ Cup. FC Edmonton eliminated the Ottawa Fury with a 3-1 win, and will face the Montreal Impact next Wednesday at Clarke Stadium in the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.

“If you would have asked me before the first game what would have been the perfect result, I would have said 5-0,” said Fury coach Marc Dos Santos after the team’s Tuesday evening training session at Clarke Stadium. “But, if you are going to have a tie, a nil-nil score is the best score you can have. It leaves everything wide open for the second game, you’ve given yourself a chance.”

Miller said that he felt the Eddies should have won the first leg going away. “In the game in Ottawa, we should have scored two or three. Ottawa created next to nothing, in all honesty.”

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.

“In my life, I’ve never said so many bad words in such a short period of time. I should have been arrested, I was that angry. I said it after the Ottawa game and I will say it again, the standard of the officiating has got to be better."

In a game that had very few decent chances, FCE had a wonderful chance to steal the game at the death. Striker Frank Jonke got the ball in the middle of the box after Horace James was able to slide and make a pass after recovering his own blocked shot. But Ottawa keeper Devala Gorrick was able to make a sliding stop.

Despite the big crowd and an FC Edmonton attack that has been changed over from last season, there were some storylines that FCE supporters would find all too familiar. The Eddies, who boasted the worst offence and best defence in NASL last season, took until the 68th minute to actually place a shot on frame, an effort from striker Frank Jonke that was blocked by Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer.