Edmonton Drillers

The final score was 6 - 7. Our last home game is against Prince George on Sat. Feb 6 at the Edmonton Soccer Center South.

The Edmonton Drillers won their home game against the Texas Outlaws tonight 17 to 3. We scored 7 in the first, 2 in the second, 3 in the third and 5 in the fourth. Our goal scorers were:

Chris Devlin – 2

Dominic Oppong – 1

Marcus Johnston – 3

James Malkin – 1

Chris Lemire – 2

Sam Lam – 1

Sinisa Matic – 2

Philip Pavicic – 3

Jay Vetsch – 1

Texas player was ejected for boarding Sam Lam (he went face first into the boards – he returned in the second half). In the fourth quarter, Texas pulled their goalie and decided to have 6 attackers. Jay Vetsch saved a critical penalty shot. The Edmonton Drillers dominated the game. The fans cheered on every goal.

Calgary finally beats Edmonton!

Finally! Calgary tossed the proverbial monkey off its back with a thrilling 4-2 victory over provincial rivals Edmonton. Edmonton had beaten Calgary in their six previous encounters by one goal, two of the games being decided in overtime. But Saturday night, in front of another packed house, United outplayed a young Edmonton team to end the trend.

Calgary welcomed back star midfielder Nic Reyes and former youth international Patrick Kelly. Edmonton were missing a few senior players through injury and fielded a young team which included former CUFC teenager Dean Northover.

United took an early lead when Felix Napuri netted after playing a neat wall pass with Damir Jesic, just three minutes in to the first quarter. Jesic himself extended the lead with two minutes left in the quarter when he slotted home from close range. Calgary extended the lead to 3-0 when Napuri scored his fourth goal of the season from a Mike Ortega pass. With four minutes left in the half Scott Gilroy smashed home after Marcel Galaszkiewicz had brilliantly scrambled away a couple of close-in shots. 3-1, but more importantly Edmonton began to believe that they could come back.

And that belief grew a bit more when Ryan Presley reduced Calgary’s lead further one minute into the third quarter. Memories of lost leads past began to penetrate the stands and apparently the United players psyche as Edmonton got more into the game. Galaszkiewicz was once again outstanding making a series of key stops. Calgary eased the pressure with a fortunate fourth goal seven minutes into the third, when top scorer Kyle Yamada took a pass from Jesic, cracked it past Edmonton goalie Tristan Ilko only to see it cannon off the goalpost. Luckily for Calgary, the ball struck Ilko in the back and bounced over the line.

From then on the game pulsated both ways. With one minute left the Calgary crowd once again sucked in its collective breath as Mark Slade took a two minute penalty for sliding in on Ilko. Edmonton pulled goalie Ilko and played with a sixth attacker (Chris Devlin) but United stayed calm and disciplined and shut the door denying the Drillers any last minute hope. In the end Calgary outshot Edmonton 46 to 28 and only outstanding keeping by Ilko kept the Drillers close.

With the two points from the win Calgary takes the lead in the CMISL with six points, two ahead of Edmonton and Saskatoon. There is still a long way to go but beating the Drillers for the first time in over a year will give the United players confidence as they head into next Sunday’s clash with the Texas Outlaws – 4pm at the Subway Soccer Centre.

Edmonton and Saskatoon are opposites that attract!

This past weekends games between Edmonton and Saskatoon became complete opposites as the two teams met in a home and home series.

On Saturday night the Drillers welcomed Saskatoon to Edmonton by beating them 13 – 2. Veteran Chris Devlin who had a 3 point night with 2 goals and an assist opened the scoring for the Drillers at 3:55 in the first quarter. Edmonton jumped out to a 4 – 0 lead with goals by Sinisa Matic and Chris Lemire who had the second and forth goals before Paul Craig answered back for the Accelerators.

Chris Lemire finished the night with with 6 points. Chris Devlin and Sam Lam had three points each for the Drillers. Jay Tomchuck and Paul Craig had the lone goals for the Accelerators.

Saturday January 2

Edmonton- 13

Goals: Chris Devlin (2) Chris Lemire (3) Antonio Rego (1) Mike McCormick (1) Marcus Johnstone (2) Sam Lam (2) Kyle Sabban (1) Sinisa Matic (1)

Assists: Chris Devlin (1) Chris Lemire (3) Antonio Rego (2) Mike McCormick (1) Sam Lam (1) Kyle Sabban (1) Sinisa Matic (1) Dominik Oppang (1)

Saskatoon - 2

Goals: Paul Craig (1) Jay Tomchuck (1)

Assists: Mark Korthuis (1)

Sunday was a complete reversal of Saturday night. The Accelerators dominated from the beginning . Saskatoon quickly jumped out to the lead with five goals before Edmonton’s Sam Lam scored with 53 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 5 – 1. Saskatoon’s Jay Tomchuck had a huge night with five goals and one assist.

Sunday January 3

Saskatoon -12

Goals: Jay Tomchuck (5) Mark Korthuis (2) Paul Craig (1) David Brown (1) Brett Levis (1) Eoin Mcfadden (1)

Assits: Jay Tomchuck (1) David Brown (1) Brett Levis (1) Eoin Mcfadden (1) Jordan Gillespe (1)

Edmonton – 2

Goals: Sam Lam (1) Chris Lemire (1)

Assists : Sam Lam (1) Chris Lemire (1)

With the Schedule to open December 19th, the below players will be facing off against Calgary in our home and league opener.

The Edmonton Drillers are pleased to announce the 09/10 Indoor Soccer Schedule is now out. Check our website or the CMISL-PASL websites for further updates

Currently we have 4 games on the schedule of the PASL and 7 games on the schedule for the CMISL.

10/5/09 - The Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro) today announced its 2009/10 regular season schedule. Each team will again play 16 games (8 home, 8 away) that count in the standings, plus US Arena Soccer Open Cup and special exhibition games.

The PASL-Pro and its partner league, the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League (CMISL) have both expanded for the upcoming season. The additions of the San Diego Sockers, Louisville Lightning, and Ohio (Canton) Vortex will see the PASL-Pro grow to nine teams, while the return of Winnipeg and a new team in Prince George will raise the CMISL to a five-team circuit for the first time as they head into their fourth season. The Colorado Lightning disbanded and the Wenatchee Fire will continue to field a team in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier) and play a limited pro schedule.

The Texas Outlaws move to the Western Division with the Sockers and Denver Dynamite. The reigning PASL-Pro champion California Cougars round out the four team division and will celebrate their fifth anniversary this season.

The Eastern Division features the Lightning, Vortex, St. Louis Illusion, Detroit Waza and the division champs are back with a new name as the 1790 Cincinnati Express.

The CMISL champion Edmonton Drillers, Calgary United, and Saskatoon Accelerators all return to join Winnipeg and Prince George.

PASL-Pro teams will again play interleague games with the CMISL beginning on January 2 when Winnipeg comes to Detroit. The rest of the 12-game CMISL schedule will be released soon.

All eyes will be on the Lightning as they host the 1790 Express on opening night on Friday, November 13. The Sockers, who won 10 indoor titles in a prior life, open up on the road at Denver on November 14. The Vortex also open that night at Detroit.

The season wraps up on March 6 with St. Louis playing a doubleheader at Winnipeg.

Evenly distributed throughout the schedule are games against "provisional" teams. These are generally PASL-Premier teams that are
geographic rivals, are considering turning professional, or both. Revolucion Tijuana of the Liga Mexicana Futbol Rapido will play seven games, while Wenatchee, the Tacoma Stars, Kansas City Kings, Ft. Collins Fury, Las Vegas Knights, Springfield Demize, Alamo City Warriors, Edwards Freedom, and West Virginia Quantum Force all dot the schedule.

Following the qualification rounds, the St. Louis Illusion will open defense of their US Arena Soccer Open Cup title in mid-December.

The league playoffs, featuring the top finishing teams from the PASL-Pro, CMISL, and LMFR will take place on the weekend of March 12-14.

"Operationally we are in a much better place than we were our first year," said PASL-Pro Commissioner Kevin Milliken. "The new teams we brought in are all going to make positive contributions to our league. While other leagues are losing teams or folding altogether, we are going against the tide by getting stronger."

Edmonton Wins CMISL Canadian Division Championship

The road to the PASL-Pro Championship Weekend, however, still goes through Calgary.

The Drillers will head to Calgary for the CMISL single elimination playoff on March 8.

Edmonton (8-3) finished 4-0 against Calgary (8-7), but all four games were decided by one goal.

Check out the DRILLERS, UNITED FC and ACCELERATORS 4 FUN PACK!!!!!!

The 4 Fun Pack consist four tickets for $40 to any one of the remaining Edmonton Drillers, Calgary United FC or the Saskatoon Accelerators home games.

Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon could all be in the playoffs!

With the playoff picture still unclear there is a possibility all three Canadian teams could make the playoffs this year.

For all three teams to make the playoffs, Saskatoon will need to win all three of their remaining games. Calgary will need to split with Edmonton and beat Texas and Wenatchee. Should Edmonton split with Calgary and lose to Texas all three teams will finish with a total of 14 points. This would lead to a round robin tournament in Calgary to determine the CMISL champion.

The last time these 2 teams played in Calgary it was the Drillers coming away with a 6-5 win on their opportunistic scoring. So would the pox on Calgary United that the Drillers seem to be continue?

The game started off fast and furious as both goalies probably wondered where their defenses were in the opening minutes. First 1-0 Edmonton, then 1-1 then 2-1 Drillers then Calgary tied it up and we are only 3 minutes into the game!

At the 5 minute mark the Driller goalie made a nice leg save but shortly after Calgary setup a nice back pass from in front and a quick shot giving Calgary a 3-2 lead. Four minutes later Calgary almost extended their lead when they just trickled a deflection wide and Edmonton's goalie made another leg save on the play that followed.

Then it was Edmonton's turn. With 2 1/2 minutes to go Edmonton executed a nice cross and tap in play followed up 30 seconds later with a scrambler. A Calgary player was knocked down in the box but no call so the goal counted. With 30 seconds to go in the first quarter Calgary got caught on a line change and the Drillers executed another nice cross and tap in. They could have added another but Calgary's goalie saved it with 10 seconds to go. 5-3 Edmonton.

Second quarter started right where it left off and Edmonton missed an open net from in front at the one minute mark. Calgary settled down and started to own the ball. They went on a long run of 4 minutes where they kept the ball in Edmonton's half only retreating to their half to get the ball when Edmonton cleared it. This continued until halfway through the quarter when Calgary finally got a goal for their. A very nice give and go with a return to the play originator for the goal. Two minutes later Calgary equalized again on a rebound goal. With a few more saves at both ends it went to half time tied at 5-5.

So on to the second half with Calgary jumping to a quick lead after 1 minute done in style with a passing play and tap in. That lead lasted for 4 minutes when Edmonton executed a 3 on 2. Calgary went up 7-6 seconds later from a set play in front to an open side player who one timed it in. The goals continued to come in quick pairs as the sixth minute rolled around. First an Edmonton player made a nice long run, got into position and put the ball low to the corner of the net. Seconds later Calgary executed a very nice tic-tac-toe goal in front.

At the 9 minute point the Drillers took a penalty giving Calgary a man advantage for 2 minutes. They came close 4 times but didn't score. Then a minute later Calgary took a penalty and they played 4 on 4. For a minute it looked like a futsal game had broken out! Nothing came of it goal wise or the minute power play that Edmonton enjoyed.

Several minutes later Calgary intercepted a pass at center, quickly passed it down to the far corner and scored on the cross. So Calgary are up 2 goals with one quarter to play. Does that sound familiar? Deja vu from the game in November.

The last quarter saw Edmonton draw to within one on a breakaway finished with a low hard left footed shot. Two minutes in and it was now 9-8 for Calgary. Thirty seconds later that was gone when Edmonton executed a free kick from the side to setup a shot from the front. All tied up at 9 apiece.

The Drillers almost took the lead at the 5 minute mark with a 3 on 2 that was saved by Calgary's goalie. Shortly after Edmonton drew a 2 minute penalty and ended up 2 men short! Try as they might Calgary could not score the go ahead goal and Edmonton successfully killed the 2 minutes.

To make matters worse Edmonton would score two minutes later on a scramble in front of the Calgary net. With 4 minutes to go they were up 10-9. Calgary attacked for the last 4 minutes and pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with a minute and a half to go but Edmonton held on for the win.

This has got to be frustrating for Calgary as they had more time of possession, controlled the ball better, passed more effectively and had the better run of play. Edmonton continues to find ways to win by scoring on their opportunities. They were clearly outplayed for long stretches of the game but seem to have the bamboo strategy of bend but don't break down to an art form.

It was also nice to see the local TV at the game with both CTV and Global taking some footage. Hopefully they will get some exposure from this. The crowd was a good size with there being as many people as there was for the home opener against Denver. It was also nice to see Nicola Vignjevic playing for Edmonton again although it seemed to be mostly on power plays.

Lightning sniper Mehdi Sfaira did all he could to try to spur the visitors from the south with four goals. Fortunately for the Drillers he was the only Colorado player to score, while the home side racked up seven of their own to salt away their third win of the season. Pavicic continued his scoring streak with two goals, and Sam Lam tallied a couple of his own to lead the club to a victory in their home opener.

The win runs Edmonton's record to 3-1, and tying them for top spot in the CMISL with six points with Calgary, but with three games in hand. They will see action the next two Friday nights with consecutive double headers against Saskatoon, both at Servus Place.

Colorado drops to 3-3 on the year, and will continue their Canadian road trip tomorrow night in Saskatoon.

STOCKTON, Calif. – Dec. 13, 2008 – Stockton (4-1) rebounded from last week’s loss to Texas with a record setting 16-7 dismantling of the Edmonton Drillers (1-1) on Saturday night at Stockton Arena. A crowd of 2,018 watched Brian Farber set the tone of the match with the first goal and a first half hat trick. Aaron Susi paced the Cougars with four goals. Majell Aterado’s third goal set the club’s new scoring record at 16 goals in one match.

Edmonton hardly had a chance to catch their breath after the opening kick before Farber nailed his first goal. Billed as the fastest man in the game, Farber took just 37 seconds to score for the first time.

He went on to net two goals in the first quarter, one in the second and added an assist before the first half came to an end. He finished with a season best five points in the match. Farber leads the team with 13 goals scored this season.

The Cougars had already built a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter before Susi nailed his first of four goals. He punched in Stockton’s seventh goal of the match to end the first half. He then went on to add two second half goals and two assists for a season high six points. Susi is second on the team with 12 goals this season.

Not to be outdone, Aterado got into the scoring mix with a second quarter goal and added two more in the second half. His fourth quarter goal at the 12:20 mark was the 16^th of the night for Stockton . The club had previously set their franchise high of 15 goals in one match in Wenatchee, WA on 11/15/08 and at home on 11/22/08 against Denver .

The Cougars completely dominated the first three quarters. Edmonton did start the scoring in the third when Phil Pavicic scored a goal at the 14:23 mark of the quarter. But, Hugo Brambila quickly answered with his first professional goal at the 13:59 mark of the third. He added another with 12:55 remaining and helped out on an Antonio Sutton goal at the end of the quarter.

Brambila finished the night with three points scored. He played in place of head coach Bernie Lilavois. Lilavois was suspended one match after receiving a red card on 12/5 against Texas .

Pavicic and Raul Roncov had two goals in the match for Edmonton . Brett Chartland had two assists.

The Edmonton Drillers rallied from 5-3 and 6-4 deficits late in the game against Calgary United, to come away with a dramatic 7-6 overtime victory in PASL-Pro action on Saturday night in Calgary.

The crowd at the Calgary Soccer Center was treated to an entertaining back and forth affair that saw Edmonton jump to an early 2-0 lead, before United leveled things just before the half.

Despite it being their first competitive match of the indoor season the visitors surprised the hosts when they tucked a loose ball in at the back post just a minute and twenty seconds after kickoff. And although Calgary countered immediately with sustained pressure and an organized half court style offence, they couldn’t solve Tristan Ilko in the Edmonton goal. The best chance coming when Allen Jovica rang one off the crossbar with three minutes to go in the opening frame.

Chris Lemire scored Edmonton ’s second goal against the run of play early in the second quarter, and Ilko’s dominant performance continued until Kyle Yamada broke the shutout with 2:35 left in the first half. Andre Duberry tied the score 35 seconds later, but Lemire put Edmonton back in front 25 seconds into the 3^rd quarter on a sloppy turnover by keeper Bryan Klaus deep in the Calgary end.

Despite being out shot 20 to 4 to that point, Edmonton had a 3-2 lead and began to assert themselves on the attacking end of the floor. The action was end to end, both teams hit the crossbar, and Ilko and Klaus traded saves until United’s Felix Napuri bundled one in from close range to tie the score 3-3.

Shortly after Napuri set up Chris Kooy, and Kooy eventually set up Mark Slade to give Calgary a 5-3 lead, but Edmonton’s Freddy Halek pulled one back with only minutes left in the quarter.

Klaus stopped an Edmonton penalty kick late in that same quarter, and Calgary killed off a Matt Deeprose penalty that carried over into the fourth, before taking a 6-4 lead on a pretty passing play between Yamada, Milan Timotijevic, and Napuri. But Edmonton refused to go away, and got goals from Halek and Eric Pinell to send the match to overtime.

There were times in the game when Edmonton looked out of sync, but the veteran squad never panicked, and were rewarded when Pinell chipped a little ball over a sliding Klaus two and a half minutes into the overtime frame to give Edmonton a 7-6 victory.

The Drillers got two goal efforts from Pinell, Halek, and Lemire, but Ilko came away man of the match on the strength of a 24 save evening.

Calgary coach Dave Randall was disappointed with his clubs effort on the defensive side of the ball.

“It was our own fault we lost the game. The defending in our own third was horrendous. All credit to Edmonton , and their goalie was brilliant, but it was the worst performance in the back from some of my guys that I’ve seen in a long time.”

Kyle Yamada’s strong effort in the midfield earned him man of the match for United.

Coaching change for the Drillers

Edmonton AB - The Drillers held their first practice this weekend at the Southside soccer center. This 2008-2009 Drillers will have a new feel as former Drillers players Martin Dugas and Todd Rattee will take over as co- head coaches of the squad.

With the coaching change comes a new style of play and a new system. Second year Driller Eric Munoz is excited about the change "The coaches have implemented a new system that is going to focus on ball control and ball possession which will allow us to dictate the flow of the game. It should be exciting for both the players and the fans."

The Drillers open their season on the road against the undefeated Calgary United FC on November 22. Their home opener will take place on December 19th at Servus place; kickoff is at 7:05.

At a value of $3,500.00, UniGlobe Travel has offered you a chance to win this trip for two. Email or call the Edmonton Drillers for further information (some restrictions apply).

Today the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League (CMISL) announced that they have formed a partnership with the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro) to participate in interleague play. The Canadian League will be a part of the PASL- Pro Championships. The CMISL will continue to be a separate organization, but will be playing in the PASL-Pro's family of leagues. PASL-pro consists of eight US teams with four western conference teams located in Denver, Colorado; Ft Collins, Colorado; Stockton, California and Wenatchee, Washington. The eastern conference consists of Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Detroit Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri.

CMISL President, Mel Kowalchuk, stated "PASL Commissioner, Kevin Milliken and I have been having discussions since last year and the more we talked the more we realized that we were on the same page regarding our thoughts for the future of the indoor game." Kowalchuk went on to say "we actually joined forces with the PASL a few months ago but we were looking at several issues before we could make the announcement official. One of those issues was expansion of the CMISL. We were close to taking in as many as four eastern teams and in fact had a verbal agreement with them but we were unable to finalise all the details in time for the upcoming season. We will continue to work with potential franchises in the East and are very hopeful of expansion by at least two teams for next season.

The CMISL, PASL-Pro, and Liga Mexicana have formed an indoor soccer alliance which will result in a North American Indoor Soccer Championship. The North American Cup will be played in Stockton, California on March 14-15, 2009, to crown the overall North American Champion.

The CMISL further announced that Winnipeg has elected not to participate in the CMISL this season. Kowalchuk said "It is a disappointment for the rest of us in the CMISL but the decision was reached between the league and owner Bill Stewart a couple of weeks ago. Bill has been seeking local owners for the Winnipeg Alliance and, although a group stepped forward, it was just too late for them to participate this season." Kowalchuk went on to further state that "We look forward to having Winnipeg back in the league next year."

The CMISL will play an unbalanced schedule for 2008-2009 that will involve games between Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatoon, as well as interleague games against teams from the PASL. The CMISL season will consist of 12 games for each team with Calgary playing an extra four games due to the fact they will be fulfilling Winnipeg's commitment to play in the PASL. Each CMISL team will play two home and two away games against PASL teams, with Calgary playing the two extra home games and the two extra away games. Because of Calgary's extra games a new scoring system will be incorporated regarding team standings. The normal two points will be awarded for each game won except in Calgary's case their games against PASL teams will be worth one point.

The schedule for the Drillers third season is now out. The Drillers have 5 home games this season, featuring 3 double headers. Home dates begin December 19th, against Colorado. Future games are December 26th, and January 2nd, versus Saskatoon and February 27th against Calgary. All three of these home dates are double headers. Our final regular season home game is against Dallas on Maarch 6th.

The Drillers also have 4 away games this season. Our first game is against our Provincial rivals Calgary on November 22nd. We travel to Stockton and Wenatchee on December 13th and 14th and wrap up our away schedule on January 10th in Calgary.

Tickets for all home games can be purchased at the door, or to assure seating or purchase season tickets, please contact us at 780-464-2273.

The upcoming 2009 season will be even more exciting. We are proud to say we are now a part of the PASL. The joining of the two leagues and the subsequent demise of the MISL, makes our new league the largest Professional Indoor Soccer League in North America.

The Drillers Organization will now allow professional and collegiate players to further develop and showcase their skills in front of thousands of North American Fans.

We our currently organizing the 2008 - 09 Indoor Schedule and will have these posted very soon.