Pandemonium engulfs midfield as home team dances to championship
DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette
Sunday, September 19, 2004
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montreal ... 8c60115053
CREDIT: ALLEN MCINNIS, THE GAZETTE
Impact's Mauricio Vincello leads his teammates in a celebration of the goal he scored against the Seattle Sounders in the 33rd minute of the championship match at Claude Robillard Stadium last night. The Impact beat the Sounders 2-0 for the second league title in the club's history.
In any other situation, this does not work: you take a few dozen security guards holding little more than a string to hold back rushing fans numbering in the very many hundreds - and they obey the string.
The object of the fans' affection last night was the Montreal Impact, by now dancing on a makeshift stage at midfield of Claude Robillard Stadium, celebrating the second A-League soccer championship in the club's 11-year history.
That's how a lot of folks partied in this town last night - they shaved the pointy ends off a ball, stowed the shoulder pads, flattened a mountain and watched a local sports franchise win a league championship, beating the Seattle Sounders 2-0.
So who said the Canadian Football League's Alouettes are the only outdoor game in town?
The Impact won with precision passing, laser-guided shooting and suffocating defence.
The scoresheet might show goals by Mauricio Vincello in the 33rd minute and Freddie Commodore in the 78th, and a shutout by goalie Greg Sutton.
But there were 13,648 additional reasons why the Impact was crowned.
They were the flag-waving, horn-honking, tambourine-rattling fans who weathered a blustery night, having stuck like glue all season to their little team that could - and has.
"The fact we had 13,000 fans here and could win them a championship is fantastic," team president Joey Saputo said in the pandemonium that engulfed midfield in the minutes after the final whistle.
Ten autumns ago, the Impact paraded their championship trophy down Ste. Catherine St., riding past puzzled lunchtime shoppers who mostly asked, "Who are those guys?"
The event was described as "intimate," and a crowd generously estimated at 2,500 gathered at parade's end in Phillips Square to celebrate the victory.
Last night, the Impact revellers included the only two holdovers from that 1994 team: head coach Nick DeSantis, then a midfielder, and midfielder Mauro Biello.
Surely this parade will be grander in scale. But if you thought last night that the Impact had their plans worked out, Saputo thought you were quite mad.
"This is the first I've heard the word," he said, laughing. "I'm very superstitious, and I don't like to think about things like that until they happen."
They've indeed happened, thanks in part to mammoth goaltender Sutton, the A-League's most valuable player and best goalie, who was called upon to make only three saves.
Sutton's fourth shutout in five playoff games, and 20th of the season, owed a wee bit to a fat crossbar, which Sounders' Craig Tomlinson rattled with a bullet in the 74th minute, the Impact leading 1-0 at the time.
Four minutes later, Commodore iced the victory, beautifully converting a pass from Nevio Pizzolitto.
"I told everyone all along that we needed lucky breaks to win a championship," Sutton said of the crossbar strike. "You've just got to take those."
The championship cemented an already wonderful love affair Montrealers have developed with this team.
The Alouettes, of course, continue to rule, selling out every game at mountainside Molson Stadium. But the local pro sports landscape grows barren pretty quickly.
The Canadiens are playing road hockey until further notice and the Expos are kind of like a roller-derby team that goes out on a road trip and never comes back.
The Impact's fiercely loyal fans have been filling the stands at north-end Claude Robillard since mid-May.
The club drew an average of 9,279 fans per home game to the 9,003-seat stadium, the overflow spilling onto shallow grassy slopes around the field.
Almost unheard of was the Impact's decision not to raise ticket prices for the championship game, usually an obvious cash grab for any home team playing in a league final.
But Saputo left prices unchanged from the regular season - $15 for reserved seats, $10 and $5 for general admission - as a gesture of thanks to his fans.
Two hours before game time, he was strolling the stadium, shaking hands with many of them.
The Impact even added 800 temporary bleacher seats, bringing the stadium's announced capacity to 10,100. Another 3,548 got grass stains on their pants.
"We're here for the long term," Saputo said.
"It wouldn't have been fair to our fans by increasing prices for this game. That's not the way we work."
So while it's taken this lovable team a decade to return to a league title, they were promising last night it won't be another 10 years until their next one.
Now, about that parade. ...
dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004