THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Chill haven’t played a game at Chapples Park since 2014.
They haven’t played a game of any kind since 2019.
Both droughts are set to come to an end this spring, when the Chill rejoin the United Soccer League 2 schedule. After opening against FC Manitoba on May 28 and May 29 in Winnipeg, a week later the Chill will welcome the defending USL 2 champion Des Moines Menace to Thunder Bay.
Tony Colistro, the team’s founder and executive director, said it’s been a long time coming, and it was tough to sit on the sidelines for two summers, but it’s great to finally be back.
“From a league perspective, last year was a little bit of a different scenario, where they asked us to take a leave of absence because of all the border restrictions. When those were lifted we felt there shouldn’t be an issue this year,” Colistro said.
“We had to look internally to make sure that it was safe for us to be part of the league. We didn’t want to take another year off. Our absence has been difficult for our players, for our coaching staff.”
As it stands, the Chill will have to recruit solely fully vaccinated players and opposing teams will only be able to travel to Canada with fully vaccinated team members, unless the Canadian government loosens current border restrictions.
“Our recruiting strategy has kind of taken a pivot here,” Colistro said. “In the past it was ensuring you’ve got a passport, what country you’re coming from and visas, where now I think our top question is are you vaxxed and are the vaccinations approved in Canada?”
It will be a new look USL 2 the Chill return to in 2022, the North American circuit expanding to a record high 110 teams.
The Chill are still part of the 25-team Central Conference, but have moved out of the Heartland Division and into the newly formed Deep North Division, alongside Des Moines, FC Manitoba, St. Croix SC, Peoria City and Minneapolis City SC.
There are 35 news teams playing in USL 2 this season, which means more playoff rounds, Colistro said, adding the top two teams in each division will advance.
Colistro said despite the fact coach Gio Petraglia is essentially starting from scratch in his quest to build a team, the Chill, who won it all in 2008 and went to the league final in 2010, 2013 and 2017, plan to put together a contender in 2022.
“That’s always been our philosophy. We like to win. We’re about winning and the team that we want to put on the field is to ensure that we’re playing in August at the national championship,” Colistro said. “That’s the approach that we’ve been taking and that’s the approach we’ll continue to take as we move forward.
“We’ve learned that’s what our fans want and so we’ll try to bring the top players we can possibly get to Thunder Bay.”
In addition to Des Moines on June 3, the Chill will host Peoria City on June 10, Minneapolis City SC on June 17, St. Croix SC on June 24 and FC Manitoba on July 15 and July 16. The team is playing a 12-game schedule.
