If the goal coming into this season for FC Whitehorse was a mid-table finish, the team is very much on the road to getting there so far. Through 19 matches, the Freezers sit in 11th place with an 8-2-9 record. They also have a middling goal differential, sitting at a -5. While their Canada Cup performance was better than it had been in years past, a 2-1-5 record was only good enough for 4th place in their group, falling short of a spot in the knockout round.
Club President Jaheem Byam referred to his team's start to the season as "satisfactory", hoping they would continue to grow as the season has gone on. "It has been a fine start to this season" said Byam in a recent interview. "We are improving our record, and with that, our attendance. Our finances are strong, and we are really starting to feel well-established in this league. I give credit to everyone here, players, coaching staff, training staff, and the administration, for moving us to this place."
The Freezers have scored 36 goals (8th in the league) while conceding 41 (13th), putting them near the middle of the field in both categories. The club has remained solidly disciplined as well, only receiving 13 yellow cards (3rd) and a single red card (T4th).
Manager Raley Treffle has been given a lot of praise for helping the team progress into their current position, but continues to take all of this in stride. "I often say that the manager taking credit for a team's success is like a customer taking credit for a well-cooked steak: sure I may have asked for what I wanted, but someone else did a lot more work to make that happen." said Treffle, getting a small laugh from the press room. "When people talk about 'mid-table', there's a lot of ambiguity there. To me, it means that you feel like you can be competitive with anyone, even if you're not coming away with the result as much as you would like to. In that way, I think the guys are really achieving that. They young players have really come into their own, and we are getting some excellent contributions from our vets too. If we can keep this momentum going, we could really make a name for ourselves in the second half of the year."
The individual performances have been stronger than in years past as well. Angel Piña leads the team with 9 goals with Timothy Brett just behind with 6 despite missing a few matches due to a knee injury. Josemisco has 5 goals to his name, with midfielders Johan Nix and Dylon Lemaitre with 3 each. For bookings, Piña is also the largest contributor with 5 yellow cards and the team's only red card to his name. In goal, the young Zako Schmit has made a name for himself collecting 4 clean sheets in 15 starts including a pair of 7 save performances.
Commenting on his team's play after a recent draw against Shanghai Sharks FC, captain Johan Nix praised his teammates, as he is often one to do. "This really does feel like the football we were capable of playing" said Nix. "Obviously, the additions of Angel and Timmy up front have made a world of difference. But overall, it just feels like we have really found a rhythm all over the pitch. It's fun to watch and fun to be a part of as well."
Finally, after having a verbal dispute at the beginning of the season with his old team, former Freezer midfielder Serginho suffered a serious injury in a league match for his Hungarian team Lokomotiv Buda. That injury, as it turns out, will be enough to end his career at just 32 years of age. One of the more vocal people on the Whitehorse side of that dispute, defender Patrick Letour, was recently asked about how he feels about his comments with the news of Serginho's retirment, and his tone was noticeably different. "I am not going to stand here and say that these words or those words were wholly in the wrong" said Letour. "Whatever I said was said, and I was genuinely upset about it. But stuff like this really puts a lot of these kinds of disputes into perspective. The guy was a really talented player, and it sucks that he won't be able to show that anymore. All that other stuff just kind of falls to the wayside."
Next on the league schedule, Whitehorse travels to Forrest, Manitoba to face off against their rivals the Manitoba Moos.
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