Canadian Premier League final: Atletico Ottawa’s ‘icicle kick’ lights up blizzard-hit final

It’s being coined the “icicle kick” – the stunning bicycle kick that lit up the Canadian Premier League final.

The match, played in a blizzard in Ottowa with the temperature dropping to -8C, had everything and delivered in the most Canadian of ways.

Home side Atletico Ottawa won their inaugural title – the North Star Cup – with a 2-1 extra-time win over Cavalry FC of Calgary.

But that barely tells the full story.

The game was repeatedly delayed so snow could be cleared from the pitch with the lines cleared every 15 minutes, the goalkeepers clearing their boxes with shovels and the match becoming almost unplayable in the second-half. A snowplough had to come onto the pitch before extra-time.

Former Rangers midfielder Fraser Aird, playing in short sleeves, had put Cavalry in the lead with a 33rd-minute penalty and celebrated with a knee slide on the snow and was then pelted with snowballs by the home fans.

Seven minutes later came a moment of magic from 23-year-old David Rodriguez, who levelled the match with an acrobatic effort which crashed off the underside of the bar, before he scored the winner in the 107th minute with a chip over Cavalry keeper Marco Carducci.

Rodriguez, who was born in Mexico, said he had “zero” experience until he joined the team in February.

“I came to a locker room and I was excited. I saw it was snowing, and I was like ‘it’s gonna be a good day’,” he said.

Atletico goalkeeper Nathan Ingham added: “The whole night feels fake.

“You play us in sand, you play us in snow, you play us on the moon, this team is going to win.”

The Canadian Premier League started in 2017, while Atletico Ottawa, are a franchise of Spanish side Atletico Madrid and were founded in 2020.