With a nod to Game 7 in ice hockey, here are seven things I’m looking forward to in the coming months.

Yeah, I called it ice hockey – that one is for my buddy who loves when people call it ice hockey.

On that note, the Maple Leafs of Toronto have travelled to the dumbest place in North America to take on the Bruins of Boston on Saturday night in a winner-take-all Game 7 in their best-of-seven first round National (ice) Hockey League series.

To honour this event, my soccer Saturday column will focus on seven happenings this month I’m very much looking forward to.

On to the list  . . .

Honouring Our Friend

The Celebration of Life for our very good friend and soccer club colleague Graham Pollington. Though it will be a bittersweet day for so, so many of us, I’m looking forward to being able to honour his memory among our friends and family. He is missed daily – litererally daily – and there are so many times since he’s been gone that I have started to text him about a match I was watching or his beloved Liverpool before realizing sullenly that he wasn’t here.

For those wanting to honour the man who gave the world to our whole community, not only the soccer clubs, please come to Conroy Park for the celebration of life on May 25 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Those attending are encouraged to where a Liverpool item (if they have one) or a piece of red clothing. As well, write down some fond memories of Graham on slips of paper to be placed in a memory jar.

Bring lawn chairs and be sure to enjoy the pick-up game we’ll be having as part of the celebration!

To read more about Graham, check out: You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Summer Season Kicking-Off

Though at the time of this writing we still didn’t have our rep development schedules set from the HDSL, I’m very much looking forward to seeing the season kick off for all of our Muskoka United FC teams – at all levels and ages.

Once it’s all set in stone, we’ll let people know the lowdown and we’ll have weekly updates throughout the season about all the teams.

This is the first year that every age group playing rep in our region will be under the MUFC banner and that in and of itself is exciting.

Plus, house league programs for youth and adults in both Huntsville and Bracebridge get going near the end of May.

The Women’s League is back in full force once again. New this year is a men’s team being developed with weekly pick-up games/practices leading to friendly matches out of town and eventually tournaments.

There is also a chance an O45 men’s team will develop either for this season or next to play in the HDSL.

Great times indeed!

Toronto FC Keeping Their Momentum

Three wins in all competitions topped off by the late show comeback in Orlando last week has given TFC supporters everywhere reason to smile.

Doing it with Lorenzo Insigne and Richie Laryea gives reason to believe that this team could continue surprising all season long.

Now comes an interesting slate of matches – four straight Saturdays with MLS home games, a weirdly scheduled away match on May 15 at Nashville in between those, an away match at Philadelphia, and two legs in the Canadian Championships against a Ligue 1 Quebec side (which is a bonus for the Reds as they can field a reserve side to get the result) . . . and that’s all just in May.

If TFC can come out of May with some solid results – say 10 of a possible 18 points plus no more injuries – and easily advancing to the Canadian Championship semis, would be considered respectable results.

It would set the club up nicely for the rigors of June and July with the MLS Season going into the Leagues Cup break from late July through late August. I have to say, if the Reds are moving and grooving in the MLS standings and on track for a home playoff date, perhaps an early round exit in the Leagues Cup would be a blessing in disguise.

No matter what happens, this year is looking much better than last year, and they already have one more win than all of 2023, are fighting like a team should fight, and are only two wins away from last year’s point total about a quarter of the way through 2024.

Good times!

The EFL Promotion Playoffs

Oh man. Leicester and Ipswich are going up and Leeds United (with Italian international Willy Gnonto) are stuck fighting for their promotion against three other teams in the EFL Championship Promotion playoffs.

Two, two-leg semi-finals featuring the third to sixth place teams followed by the winner-take-all final at Wembley. It’s made-for-tv drama in its rawest, best form: real life, real consequences.

Okay, enough of the superlatives, cliches and hyperbole . . . for football fans, these playoffs are just so much fun.

Last year, Luton Town defied the odds and won the playoffs to compete in the Premier League this season. Yes, they are in danger of going back down after going up, but they aren’t out of it yet (though the 1-1 draw with Everton on Friday wasn’t helpful).

This year, we’re pulling for Leeds as they have had a tremendous year and nearly missed out on automatic qualification. They deserve it more than the rest. They should have it automatically, but are stuck having to win two more matches.

Any sporting person with any sense of fairness will be cheering for Leeds to put the finishing touches on a magnificent season.

Leeds will be joined by Southampton and two of Norwich, West Brom or Hull City.

We’ll have a full schedule and preview in next week’s column.

All The Titles Being Won in Europe

So, yeah, Inter Milan clinched Serie A already, still undefeated Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga, and both Real Madrid and PSG are closing in on their respective leagues, but the EPL title is still up for grabs between Man City and Arsenal (c’mon Gunners), and it’s not done yet.

Though many will say the Citizens have the advantage (and they do be one point back with a match in hand), a slip-up against the boogeymen at Tottenham is still a possibility.

Being Arsenal’s sworn enemies, people in Spurs land that would love nothing more than to see their club throw (er, competitively lose) the match against Man City to deny their rivals a title.

However, the coach and players are professionals with more class than their haphazard supporters (minus one or two I know personally).

I do expect Tottenham to get a result as they’re fighting for a European place, but it’s likely going to be a draw to even up the points and really make it an interesting race to the end.

If Arsenal and Man City were to finish tied on points, the title would be decided by goal differential – which Arsenal currently leads by plus-seven (57 to 50).

In addition to the EPL title, there are three UEFA cups to be decided with the Champions League to feature either Dortmund or PSG vs. Bayern Munich or Real Madrid; the Europa League to feature either Bayer Leverkusen or AS Roma (though likely Leverkusen barring Roma overturning a two-goal deficit away) vs. Atalanta or Marseille; the Conference League winner will be one of Fiorentina or Club Brugge vs. Olympiakos or Aston Villa.

On the women’s side, the Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon promises to delight!

And there are domestic cups to be won as well!

The Italian Cup final has Atalanta taking on Juventus and the German Cup final has Bayer Leverkusen vs a second division club, while the French Cup features Lyon vs. PSG.

The Summer Of Soccer, Part II

Four years ago, the Euros and Copa America were played virtually simultaneously, and it was a glorious occurrence.

Yes, yes Italia keeping up true European pride by winning the tournament in the so-called home of football against the host nation was the best part, but a month and a bit of almost non-stop action from Europe and South America left the soul filled up.

This year promises more of the same with the tournaments again being played at the same time, give or take a couple of days, and the Copa America has expanded to allow for a quartet of CONCACAF teams – including Les Rouges du Canada – to participate.

The Copa America is being played in the United States, so those Canadians wanting to catch the action live are close enough to drive, while the Euros are in Germany this year – the place where the Azzurri last won a World Cup in 2006 and are there as defending European champions.

It’s the Euros during the day and the Copa at night from mid-June to mid-July!

Canadian Women Defend Their Gold

Yeah, it could potentially be part of the aforementioned Summer of Football, but I like to give our defending gold medalist their own space.

No GOAT for Canada as Christine Sinclair has played her last international game, but they have plenty of fire power and passion throughout the squad.

We’ll go deeper into this closer to the start of the Olympic football tournament in late July, but it’s going to be really fun to be able to cheer Canada on and know they have a chance to win a medal!

Plus, since it’s in France and the broadcast times are reasonable, it’s a great opportunity to get youth soccer teams together for viewing parties when Team Canada is playing.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe below! Ciao for Now!