Smits admitted he's received plenty of tweets and messages from friends and family wondering how he can bury the hatchet with Montreal, considering how many still feel sour about the way Montreal beat Edmonton last year.

Sunday’s battle between the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and FC Edmonton was one of these how-do-I-squeeze it all in matches. The Eddies fought back from a 2-1 second-half deficit and hung on for a 3-2 win. This game had so much to offer; two teams playing contrasting, attacking styles; lights-out goalkeeping from the Strikers’ David Meves, who deserves to be on the NASL team of the week despite giving up three; a penalty save; an assistant coach tossed from the game (Fort Lauderdale’s Ricardo Lopes felt that referee Robert Schaap should have given FCE striker Frank Jonke a harsh punishment for a challenge that bloodied the nose of defender Daniel Navarro); and what turned out to be a series of brilliant substitution decisions from FCE coach Colin Miller which changed the game.

FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller knows that he doesn’t have to repeat the same messages. He doesn’t have to get angry during training.

And FC Edmonton has run out to a commanding lead amongst MLS and NASL teams — when it comes to giving Canadian players minutes in league games. The Eddies started three Canadians — who all played the full 90 — in their 1-1 draw with Carolina; add to that sub Michael Nonni, who came on for 14 minutes of action.

“It was as poor a half as I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” FCE Coach Colin Miller said of the Eddies’ first 45 minutes against the RailHawks.

“After Evan had finished warming up, it was time for me to go in and face the shooters,” recalled Smits, who was back in Edmonton on Thursday. “And, any time the ball went over the goal, the fans on that side weren’t trying to just toss the ball back; they were trying to hit me. They were throwing it as hard as they could. They were throwing objects at me.”

So, when you recall Tuesday night’s epic CONCACAF Champions League semifinal second-leg match between the Montreal Impact and Alajuelense — a nail-biter of a game in Costa Rica that saw the Impact “lose” 4-2 but hang on for a 4-4 aggregate score, with the edge being away goals — you should also stop and think back 11 months.

“I think it was something weird. And it won’t happen again. I will guarantee that to any media.”

This week, the NASL enters our weekly ranking of who is getting minutes in the top two divisions in North America.

But, the Eddies were down by three goals at halftime — one for every week spent in Florida. The Eddies were like deer caught in the headlights off the opening kickoff, as the expansion Armada — playing its first-ever league game — set a new NASL record for the fastest goal from the opening kickoff.