Chilly reception for Sons of Italy

The final score was all but irrelevant.

For the Thunder Bay Chill, Saturday’s friendly against the Winnipeg Sons of Italy Lions was more about working out the kinks.

Nevertheless, they’ll take the 3-0 win, learning along the way that they’ve still got a little work to do before next weekend, when the 10th-year franchise kicks the Premier Development League season into gear in Kansas City.

“Yeah, it’s not bad,” said first-year forward Andrew Marinez, who paced the Chill with a pair of first half goals, the other coming on a header from returning veteran Nolan Intermoia.

“We had a couple of other opportunities we were hoping to get, but we’ll work those out and hopefully in the future. But two (for) me’s not bad to start off,” said the Santa Monica, Calif. native.

The team’s not too far off, he added, saying they just have to get to know each other’s tendencies on the pitch before things start to click at every turn.

“It takes maybe a half second too long still, but that will come when we get to know one another, get the feel. It will get closer and smoother,” Marinez said.

Forward Gustavo Oliveira, who created plenty of chances with his quick feet and hustle, but just couldn’t connect, said he thought the Chill did a good job, but like Marinez, said they were a step or two behind against the Lions.

It’s no big deal at this stage of the season, he said.

“We’ve just got to get to know each other a little bit better, but I think we’re going to have a pretty good team,” said Oliveira, who led the PDL in assists in 2007, but took last year off to nurse an ailing ankle. “It’s the start of the season. We have to get better for next week. That’s when we need to be 100 per cent.”

Chill coach Tony Colistro was pleased with the effort, though he’d like to see his bench maintain the pace set by the starters, something that was lacking in a scoreless second half when he made wholesale changes in his lineup, letting every reserve on the field.

“I think in the first half we had a lot of opportunities. Their goalie was fantastic ... We created a lot of opportunities, we got the goals that we needed. In the second half we made some changes. I’m happy with the guys who went in, because it was important to see what they can do for us,” Colistro said.

“We got some good things out of that and some things we can work on. Tomorrow we’ll get another chance at it and see what we can improve on.”

Marinez opened the scoring in the sixth minute, to the delight of the 475 or so fans who made the trek to Chapples Field, though it was an old favourite who set up the goal.

“I saw Brandon (Swartzendruber) needed a little support. He had a fantastic run in. I came in and did my best to get in any position that would be available to receive the ball. Once I had it I did my best to get a little bit of space and get it in,” Marinez said.

He responded again in the 26th minute, and then with six minutes to go in the half, Intermoia headed home the Chill’s third and final goal of the night to put the game away.

Thunder Bay outshot Winnipeg 12-1 in the first 45 minutes.

As much as the first half belonged to Marinez and the Chill, the second half was owned by Winnipeg goalie Steve Sawatzky, who made a number of key saves to keep the game as close as it was.

He stopped Swartzendruber – the victim of several offside calls in both halves – at bay in the 49th minute. Veteran Chill defender Wilson Neto had his header turned aside in the 61st minute, and Sawatzky made a diving stop, again on Swartzendruber, to foil an odd-man rush in the 63rd.

“They’re a good team,” the beleaguered goalie said.”They’re fast, they counterattack well. And if we lose the ball in the middle of the park, they’re right down our throat. That was the problem in the first half. They had a number of two-on-ones, breakaways and situations like that. They’re a high-class team and we just had to do what we could to try to defend and try to keep the score respectable.”

The two teams will try it again on Sunday, a matinee affair starting at 1 p.m.