Chill capture top spot in PDL

The Thunder Bay Chill are the Premier Development League’s regular-season champions.

Forced to wait and watch after losing control of their own destiny with a 1-1 tie against WSA Winnipeg on Friday night, the Chill got the help they needed on Sunday to claim their first title, just the second yet by a Canadian team.

The Fresno Fuego dropped a 1-0 decision to L.A. Missioneros FC while the Baltimore Bohemians stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to edge the Ocean City Nor’easters 3-2, enough to earn the Chill the crown.

“This is a great accomplishment for our franchise and our community in Thunder Bay. It is very prestigious and one that is really recognized by our league at our annual meetings. It gives the community of Thunder Bay recognition in North America and how serious we are about this great game,” said Chill general manager John Marello in a release.

The Chill will host this weekend’s Central Conference championship and take on either Michigan or the Chicago Fire Saturday at 3 p.m. at Tbaytel Field at Chapples Park.  The second semifinal, between Great Lakes Division and defending league champion FC London is scheduled for 6 p.m. The title game, for the right to advance to the PDL final four, takes place Sunday at 6 p.m.

The now-defunct Calgary Storm in 2001 were the only other Canadian club to accomplish the feat. In 2008 the Chill became the first Canadian team to capture the post-season championship.

“This is great for our club but now we must quickly focus on our next goal. We want to improve on our performance from last year’s play-off early exit and next weekend we will face 3 great teams who will battle just as hard,” said Chill coach Tony Colistro.

Tickets for weekend action are on sale at the Chill’s annual awards dinner, during Tuesday’s friendly against the North American Soccer League’s Minnesota United and during the day, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Chill box office at 535 Chapples Park Drive.