1988 Canadian Soccer League season

Canadian Soccer League
Season	1988
Champions	Vancouver 86ers
Division Leaders	Hamilton Steelers (East); Vancouver 86ers (West)
Matches played	126
Goals scored	405 (3.21 per match)
Top goalscorer	John Catliff (22)
	← 1987 1989 →

The 1988 Canadian Soccer League season was the second season of play for the Canadian Soccer League, a Division 1 men's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid.

Format and changes from previous season

Montreal Supra joined the league as an expansion franchise, entering the East Division.^[1]

The National Capitals Pioneers went bankrupt in their inaugural season, but the club was re-structured and renamed as the Ottawa Intrepid.^[2] They also moved their home stadium to Ottawa, after playing the previous year in Aylmer, Quebec^[3]

Similar to the previous season, the teams played an unbalanced schedule with two-thirds of a team's matches coming against teams in their own division. Following the season, the top three teams in each division would advance to the playoffs, with the division leaders earning a first round bye, to designate a national champion club.^[4]

Regular season

East Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hamilton Steelers	28	18	6	4	64	28	+36	42	Playoff semifinals
2	Toronto Blizzard	28	8	13	7	44	31	+13	29	Playoff quarterfinals
3	North York Rockets	28	10	8	10	40	39	+1	28	Playoff quarterfinals
4	Ottawa Intrepid	28	8	9	11	32	43	−11	25
5	Montreal Supra	28	8	8	12	36	44	−8	24

Source: Canadian Soccer History Archives 1988 CSL Stats

West Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vancouver 86ers (O)	28	21	6	1	84	30	+54	48	Playoff semifinals
2	Winnipeg Fury	28	9	7	12	33	46	−13	25	Playoff quarterfinals
3	Calgary Kickers	28	6	6	16	39	70	−31	18	Playoff quarterfinals
4	Edmonton Brick Men	28	4	5	19	33	74	−41	13

Source: Canadian Soccer History Archives 1988 CSL Stats
(O) Play-off winners

Playoffs

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

1W

Vancouver 86ers

3

West

2W

Winnipeg Fury

1

2W

Winnipeg Fury (a.e.t.)

2

3W

Calgary Kickers

1

1W

Vancouver 86ers

4

1E

Hamilton Steelers

1

1E

Hamilton Steelers

1

East

3E

Toronto Blizzard

0

2E

Toronto Blizzard

2

3E

North York Rockets

1

Quarterfinal

September 14, 1988	Toronto Blizzard	2–1	North York Rockets	Toronto, Ontario
	Gilbert 78' Šegota 86'	[^[5] Report]	John Coyle	Stadium: Varsity Stadium Attendance: 3179

September 15, 1988	Winnipeg Fury	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Calgary Kickers	Winnipeg, Manitoba
19:30	Cambridge 17' Wade Gibson 119'	[^[6] Report]	Phillips 44'	Stadium: Winnipeg Stadium Attendance: 3606

Semifinal

September 17, 1988	Hamilton Steelers	1–0	Toronto Blizzard	Hamilton, Ontario
13:00	Bunbury 13'	[^[7] Report]		Stadium: Brian Timmis Stadium Attendance: 2102

September 18, 1988	Vancouver 86ers	3–1	Winnipeg Fury	Vancouver, British Columbia
16:00	Mobilio 10', 59' Mitchell 86'	[^[8] Report]	Doug Leeis 29'	Stadium: Swangard Stadium Attendance: 4226

Final

September 25, 1988	Vancouver 86ers	4–1	Hamilton Steelers	Vancouver, British Columbia
13:00	Valentine 9' Ion 18' Catliff 21' Mitchell 76'	[^[9]^[10] Report]	Gasparini 52'	Stadium: Swangard Stadium Attendance: 6443 Referee: Gord Arrowsmith

Statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	John Catliff	Vancouver 86ers	22
2	Domenic Mobilio	Vancouver 86ers	20
3	Amadeo Gasparini	North York Rockets / Hamilton Steelers	18
4	Željko Adžić	Hamilton Steelers	14
5	Eddy Berdusco	North York Rockets	12
6	Nick Gilbert	Toronto Blizzard / Calgary Kickers	11
6	Geoff Aunger	Winnipeg Fury	11
8	Arthur Calixte	Montreal Supra	10
	John Rich	Calgary Kickers
	Dallas Moen	Ottawa Intrepid
	Dale Mitchell	Vancouver 86ers
12	Alex Bunbury	Hamilton Steelers	9
	Ivor Evans	Vancouver 86ers
	Lucio Ianiero	Hamilton Steelers
Reference:^[11]

Honours

The following awards and nominations were awarded for the 1988 season.^[11]

Most Valuable Player

Player	Team
John Catliff	Vancouver 86ers

League All-Stars

Player	Position
Paul Dolan (Vancouver 86ers)	Goalkeeper
Diego Castello (Toronto Blizzard)	Defender
Burke Kaiser (Calgary Strikers)	Defender
Bob Lenarduzzi (Vancouver 86ers)	Defender
Paul James (Hamilton Steelers)	Defender
Gerry Gray (Ottawa Intrepid)	Midfielder
Lyndon Hooper (Montreal Supra)	Midfielder
Mike Sweeney (Toronto Blizzard)	Midfielder
John Catliff (Vancouver 86ers)	Forward
Amadeo Gasparini (Hamilton Steelers)	Forward
Domenic Mobilio (Vancouver 86ers)	Forward

Reserves

Player	Position
Pat Harrington (Toronto Blizzard)	Goalkeeper
Peter Sarantopoulos (North York Rockets)	Defender
Željko Adžić (Winnipeg Fury)	Midfielder
Alex Bunbury (Hamilton Steelers)	Forward

Front office

Person	Role
Bob Lenarduzzi (Vancouver 86ers)	Head Coach
Alan Errington (Vancouver 86ers)	Assistant Coach
John McGrane (Hamilton Steelers)	General Manager

Average home attendances

Pos.	Team	GP	Average Attendance
1	Vancouver 86ers	28	4,919
2	Winnipeg Fury	28	3,207
3	Montreal Supra	28	2,993
4	Toronto Blizzard	28	2,757
5	Hamilton Steelers	28	2,750
6	Edmonton Brick Men	28	2,638
7	Calgary Kickers	28	2,387
8	North York Rockets	28	1,655
9	Ottawa Intrepid	28	1,546
Total Attendance		252	2,761
Reference:^[10]

References

^ Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer - 1988". Sover. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009.
^ "National Capital Pioneers/Ottawa Intrepid (1987-90)". CSL Memories.
^ Crossley, Andrew (August 29, 2015). "1988-1989 Ottawa Intrepid". Fun While it Lasted.
^ MacDonald, Archie (February 26, 1987). "Soccer rebirth". The Vancouver Sun. p. F3.
^ "Blizzard grounds Rockets". Calgary Herald. September 15, 1988. p. 49.
^ "September 16, 1988". Times Colonist. September 16, 1988. p. 20.
^ Campbell, Neil A. (September 19, 1988). "Rebuilt Steelers follow same old script". The Globe and Mail. p. D8.
^ "86ers win CSL West". Nanaimo Daily News. September 19, 1988. p. 7.
^ Stinson, Dan (September 26, 1988). "86ers cap magical season with victory over Steelers". Vancouver Sun. p. 29.
^ ^a ^b Jose, Colin (2001). On-Side - 125 Years of Soccer in Ontario. Vaughan, Ontario: Ontario Soccer Association and Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. pp. 130, 131.
^ ^a ^b "1988 CSL Stats" (PDF). Canadian Soccer League.

External links

[sover-1] Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer - 1988". Sover. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009.

[memories-2] "National Capital Pioneers/Ottawa Intrepid (1987-90)". CSL Memories.

[3] Crossley, Andrew (August 29, 2015). "1988-1989 Ottawa Intrepid". Fun While it Lasted.

[rebirth-4] MacDonald, Archie (February 26, 1987). "Soccer rebirth". The Vancouver Sun. p. F3.

[5] "Blizzard grounds Rockets". Calgary Herald. September 15, 1988. p. 49.

[6] "September 16, 1988". Times Colonist. September 16, 1988. p. 20.

[7] Campbell, Neil A. (September 19, 1988). "Rebuilt Steelers follow same old script". The Globe and Mail. p. D8.

[8] "86ers win CSL West". Nanaimo Daily News. September 19, 1988. p. 7.

[9] Stinson, Dan (September 26, 1988). "86ers cap magical season with victory over Steelers". Vancouver Sun. p. 29.

[:1-10] Jose, Colin (2001). On-Side - 125 Years of Soccer in Ontario. Vaughan, Ontario: Ontario Soccer Association and Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. pp. 130, 131.

[1988stats-11] "1988 CSL Stats" (PDF). Canadian Soccer League.

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v t e Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992)
Teams	Calgary Kickers/Strikers Edmonton Brick Men Hamilton Steelers Kitchener Spirit/Kickers London Lasers Montreal Supra North York Rockets Nova Scotia Clippers Ottawa Pioneers/Intrepid Toronto Blizzard Vancouver 86ers Victoria Vistas Winnipeg Fury
Seasons	1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
International cups	Pepsi Cup (1990) Professional Cup (1992)