The Ottawa Fury has not only won three NASL matches in a row, the club is spiking in terms of minutes on the pitch it is providing to its Canadian players.

In Saturday’s win in Jacksonville’s 40-plus C heat (with the humidity), the Ottawa Fury gave 464 of a possible 990 minutes playing time to Canadians. Canadian Carl Haworth scored the second goal of the game in a 2-0 win. And, with that, Ottawa not only leads all NASL and MLS teams in terms of giving minutes to Canadians, the Fury …

So, despite all the good Canadian news from the Whitecaps, after the team's two matches this past week, its season-long average of minutes played by Canadians per match dipped below 90. That means the Whitecaps average less than one full 90 minute session for a Canadian player per game. And that puts them far behind the four other Canadian MLS and NASL sides.

“We should find out today (Thursday) about one of them,” Miller said after Thursday’s training session. “Maybe Monday about another one, and then Friday or Saturday for the other one. We’re in the market, we know we have to bring in some bodies. Some will come in as cover and some will come in to put other people under pressure.”

In Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Colorado, the Whitecaps didn’t have a Canadian in the starting lineup, and didn’t have a Canadian come off the bench, either. That’s not the only depressing news when it comes to minutes played by Canadians in the major North American leagues. The Montreal Impact only had three minutes played by a Canadian this past weekend — Patrice Bernier in a substitute role.

FC Edmonton began Saturday evening’s action in a dogfight for the NASL spring season title. But a fantastic 25-yard strike from Miami FC’s Ariel Martinez ended those dreams.

“There’s a job to be done,” Miller said before the Eddies head off to South Florida. “They just signed a boy, (Michael) Lahoud, who I think was the one who made the Cosmos tick for many games, and now Miami have him. With him and Richie Ryan in the middle of the park, you can see their intent in Miami is not to be in the league where they are at the moment.”

At this time last year (MLS Week 8/NASL Week 4), 26 Canadians had seen the field for their MLS or NASL clubs. This year, 32 Canadians have played in MLS or NASL games so far this season.

This past weekend, the Edmonton teenager made his pro debut, playing 80 minutes in FC Edmonton’s 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

“I was hesitant at first,” Trafford said over the phone. “I was still fully committed to Ottawa, despite all of the changes that were happening at the team.”