As their 4th CPL season comes to a close, FC Whitehorse Freezers find themselves in difficult and yet familiar territory. A 14-5-19 record left the Freezers in 12th place in the league, 5 points behind Canadian Lionpack in 10th, and collecting less than half the points of first time league champions Black Gold FC.
In his final press conference as President, Jaheem Byam thanked the people in attendance and praised the long term health of the club. "As I step away from this game that I have devoted my life to and move into retirement, I can take solace in the fact that the future at FC Whitehorse looks very strong" said Byam, getting a little choked up about the moment. "The people at every level of this organization is ready to put the work in to carry on the gains that we have made over our first four years. Obviously, people are ready for us to make that next leap forward. And I earnestly believe that this can be a championship organization in the near future. It will take hard work of course, but everything worth achieving in life does."
The Freezers finished near the middle of the pack for goals scored with 78 (10th in the league), but a fair sight worse in the goals conceded department with 88 (15th). Frustratingly, the club was very good at creating pressure despite their lack of finishing, accruing 539 shots (7th) and 288 shots on target (8th). Discipline levels remained very high with only 24 yellow cards (3rd) and 2 red cards (T5th).
Affable manager Raley Treffle was his usual upbeat self at the season ending press conference. "This league is like the slides at a water park: it's a lot easier to go down then it is to climb your way back up" said Treffle, getting the usual muffled laughter from the press there to cover the event. "It hasn't gone the way we were hoping it was gonna go, but I really do feel good about the way the young guys grew over the course of the season. I think it just means that we're going to be even more ready and hungrier next season." When asked about speculation of rumours that he would not be retained as the team's manager, Treffle said that he would remain committed to the team. "As of today, I remain the manager here. I do believe that I have done what I needed to to show why I should stay on here, but I know the business that I signed up for too. So long as the key card keeps working, I will be there bright and early every morning."
Individual performances were not what the team was hoping for, but there were a few players that did stand out. In particular, Angel Piña finished 4th in the league in scoring with 25 goals while wingers Timothy Brett and Virgilio Rentería finished with 12 and 11 respectively.
With a new President coming in, there is a lot of speculation that this offseason will be very busy for the team. Expect full coverage of every move that the Freezers make over the coming months in anticipation of the upcoming S104.