Steve Milton: Forge FC tries to break pattern in Montreal
In smaller leagues and competitive environments, like the ones in which Hamilton's three pro sports teams find themselves, there are bound to be recurring themes.
Forge FC is the latest of that generally-successful local trio to encounter a sharp sense of deja vu, and hope to do a better job of rectifying things than did the Rock, the Tiger-Cats, and even the Forge themselves.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were absolutely thumped in the 2019 Grey Cup by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and found themselves facing the Bombers again in Grey Cup 2021, right in Hamilton, but could only manage a field goal rather than a touchdown on their final drive and eventually lost in overtime.
The Hamilton-based Toronto Rock recently had a double been-there-done-that when, for the second year in a row, they met, and beat, the Halifax Thunderbirds in the one-game National Lacrosse League East Conference semifinal, then followed up by being swept by the Buffalo Bandits in the best-of-three final. The only difference was that both Buffalo games in 2022 essentially came down to the last shot and both games in 2023 came down, essentially, to the first shot.
Now here is Forge, heading to Montreal Wednesday for yet another Canadian men's soccer championship loser-is-out appointment with CF Montreal. The MLS club has a payroll about seven times that of Hamilton's $1.125 million Canadian Premier League cap, but it's just one game and anything can happen, and so far in the brief head-to-head resume of these two clubs, it has.
In the 2021 national semifinal at Tim Hortons Field, Forge delivered one of the best games in its short history, outplaying Montreal and more than doubling the number of shots at net, but it was unable to take advantage of that in the 0-0 draw which necessitated penalty kicks. Bizarrely, the shootout lingered to an unheard-of 11th round with the goalies being forced to go to the line against each other. Hamilton's Triston Henry couldn't beat Sebastian Breza but Breza then put one past Henry for the unprecedented victory as Montreal advanced to the final, which they won against Toronto FC.
Last year, Forge had arguably the worst outing in its short history in a 3-0 national championship quarter-final loss at Saputo Stadium, giving up a hat-trick to Sunusi Ibrahim - he scored twice in the first half and once early in the second - and allowing Matko Miljevic far too much attacking space in the middle of the field.
So Hamilton has a trio of wounds to patch over here; two losses against a more-international side which is again favoured to win, and an uncharacteristically weak performance in the confines of Montreal's scenic stadium.
While Breza has moved on from Montreal to Italy, Henry, Ibrahim and Miljevic are still prominent for their respective teams, and for the second spring in a row, two brothers will start opposite each other. Mathieu Choiniere of Montreal and David Choiniere, a big-goal specialist for Forge, each opened last year's quarter-final at midfield. Mathieu did not play in the 2021 semi.
Montreal is treading water with five wins and six losses in league play this year, while Forge hasn't lost in its opening seven games heading into Friday night's home match against CPL expansion team Vancouver FC.
Hamilton's next home game after the Canadian semifinal is a week later, Wednesday, May 31, in another instalment of the 905 Derby against York United FC. Hamilton crowds have been growing - the club reported around 4,800 on hand for last week's win against Winnipeg's Valour FC - but aren't as big as they should be for a team which plays an entertaining brand of soccer and which has a stunning 72 wins, 36 losses and 25 draws across all competitions since it began play in 2019.
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com