Whitecaps' Canadian championship boosts morale for fans across B.C.
The Vancouver Whitecaps were crowned Canada's top squad Wednesday night in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, delighting fans of the beautiful game across the province.
The B.C.-based MLS team took on the Montreal Impact in the Canadian Championship and came away with a 2-1 victory.
A last-minute save by the team's star goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka helped secure the championship, sending thousands of fans into a frenzy.
”We’re Canada's best team two years in a row and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said long-time Whitecaps fan Luke Dandurand who was at the game.
Fellow superfan Kenton Doust was cheering from home on Vancouver Island as the team rushed the field and held the trophy high above their heads.
The 21-year-old has been a fan since he was child, standing by his favourite team through their ups and downs.
And in 2015, it was the Whitecaps that stepped in to support him.
Doust has battled multiple brain tumours and throat cancer and learned last week he was cancer-free.
“The Whitecaps have played a big part in getting me back on my feet," he said.
Doust says the connection with the team and ongoing support help boost his spirits during some of his darkest days.
On Thursday, he thanked Whitecaps captain and Canadian national Russell Teibert and other current and former members of the squad for being with him during his treatment.
“I’m so thankful and happy for the team and everyone in the organization,” said Doust.
Now that the Whitecaps have won back-to-back Canadian champtionships, fans have their eyes set on the next prize – the MLS championship.
The Whitecaps currently sit in the middle of the Western Conference standings, but with four months to go in the regular season, fans are confident they can climb to the top.
“You eliminate February and early March this has been one of the better teams in MLS they are on a good run. They've got to find a way to win on the road,” said The Third Sub editor, Samuel Rowan.
The team returns to BC Place on Saturday to take on Cincinnati before taking off on a three-game road trip to Colorado, LA and Kansas City.
The Whitecaps will host their southern neighbours the Seattle Sounders on July 8.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.