The Austin Aztex cleaned up in the hardware department Saturday night, but it’s another trophy the team is gunning for.
And if the Thunder Bay Chill have anything to say about it, the host Aztex and their 3,000-strong fans have already collected all the silverware they’re going to in 2013.
Austin coach Paul Dalglish beat out the Chill’s Tony Colistro at the annual awards ceremony in the battle for the Premier Development League’s coach of the year trophy.
Adding to their collection, Aztex forward Kristopher Tyrpak captured MVP honours.
That’s all well-and-good, said Chill midfielder Nolan Intermoia, one of just two players remaining from Thunder Bay’s 2008 championship team.
“Austin did a really good job and they’re confident in the playoffs to get here. They probably rightfully deserve the awards and I’m proud of the guys,” Intermoia said. “But at the end of the day only one of us can take home the trophy and we’re going to be vying for that.”
Intermoia and his teammates got a good look at the Aztex, sticking around Friday night for the first half of their 1-0 semifinal win over New Jersey’s Ocean City Nor’Easters.
He’s confident Colistro saw enough to formulate a game plan to bring the trophy back to Thunder Bay.
“I know for a fact that come tomorrow in pre-game Tony is going to explain everything that we need to do. He hasn’t been wrong all season and I doubt he’ll be wrong tomorrow. In fact, if we just do what he tells us to do and put in the work 100 per cent, we should be victorious.”
On paper the two sides were pretty even during the season, just two points separating them in the standings.
To win the championship the Chill will have to do something no team has managed to do in 2013, beat the Aztex (11-1-2) on House Park turf. Austin was a perfect 7-0-0 at home, allowing just three goals in seven games.
Colistro expects an entertaining game.
“I think they’re definitely a strong side and they’re going to have the home side behind them, so that motivation is something we’re going to have to deal with. But I think we have good enough players, smart players. If we focus on our game plan I think we can focus on the team no problem,” said Colistro, who takes the Chill to a third national final in six seasons, the last a 2010 loss to the Portland Timbers U23s.
Glasgow, Scotland-born Dalglish said the two teams have earned their spot in the final. Like Colistro, his game plan is to stick to what got the Aztex there.
Dalglish, a former player with Newcastle and Norwich United, said there are no plans to change things around to play to any weaknesses they might have uncovered watching the Chill down the Victoria Highlanders 2-0 on Friday.
The Chill will have to be on top of all aspects of their game if Dalglish’s self-description of his squad has any merit -- and there's no reason to doubt the experienced veteran, guiding a second-year team.
“We like to think we’re a pretty balanced team. I don’t think we’ve got any particular strengths and I don’t think we’ve got any particular weaknesses. We’re pretty balanced in what we do. We don’t think we’re any better in offence than we are in defence. And we don’t think we’re any better on defence than we are on offence,” Dalglish said.
“One of the things we’ve instilled this year is to have a system of play. And every single player on our team plays their role in our system of play and every single one of our players has done it to a championship final standard this year.”
The PDL final is slated for 8:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.
TB Newswatch’s Leith Dunick is in Austin, Texas with the Chill and will be tweeting from House Park. Follow him for updates: @LeithDunick.
