When it comes to Forge FC, there is one player who has become synonymous with the identity of the club over the years: Kyle Bekker.

The club’s captain and emotional leader, Bekker has been one of the CPL’s best players since he first graced the turf at Tim Hortons Field back in April 2019. 

The talent has never been in question with Bekker. Dating back to when he was Toronto FC’s third overall draft pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, there was no doubt that the wiry blond midfielder had skills that made him special as a player. 

Over the years, however, he has really refined his craft, turning his ability to pull strings in the midfield into a fine art — one that he conducts with grace and class. Able to spray passes all over the field, shoot with tremendous power and accuracy, as well as dribble through obstacles (all with both feet), he shows those skills on a regular basis. 

? OLIMPICO GOAL ?

KYLE BEKKER with some @ForgeFCHamilton MAGIC, giving his team a 4-0 lead over @FCEdmontonNow directly from the corner kick #CanPL | ? https://t.co/hishXepRT3 pic.twitter.com/N9FPNDgChG

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 19, 2022

At the same time, he’s also someone who has developed into a key leader for the club, one who often wears his heart on his sleeve in games. Much like the city in which he plays, Hamilton, he’s embraced the mentality of wanting to roll up his sleeves and go to battle for his teammates, the club and the city, which has made him a fan favourite from day one. 

Therefore, as Bekker goes, often so does Forge, and seeing Forge’s success over the years gives an idea of how big of a role the 32-year-old midfielder has had over his time in Hamilton. 

“Yeah, I think everyone knows how important Kyle Bekker is to this team,” Forge teammate Triston Henry said last week. “He makes the team click in a different way when he’s on the pitch. We definitely missed him in the games when he was gone.”

This season was no exception to that. Despite having to play an even bigger role than usual as Forge dealt with a heavy amount of injuries, Bekker was his usual reliable self in midfield, putting in a shift on both sides of the ball. 

He took a big step forward offensively, too, recovering from a 2021 CPL campaign where he scored three goals and one assist to rack up two goals and five assists, his best offensive campaign since 2019, when he had four goals and five assists. 

In a league that has continuously improved over the time he’s been in the league, that’s no small feat, but it shows how Bekker has been consistently trying to improve his craft every season. 

Plus, most impressively, his stock doesn’t dip even despite his heavy workload, which was once again among the biggest in the league this year. In fact, other than a red card suspension that saw him miss three games at the end of the season, he played in all but two of Forge’s other games this season, for a total of almost 2,300 minutes. 

After playing almost 3,000 minutes in 2021, and 1,300 minutes in 2020 (impressive considering the shortened nature of that campaign), that means he’s accumulated almost 7,000 minutes since August of 2020. That would wear on most players. 

Instead, however, the league’s first Centurion has just continued to attack games with that same hard-working mindset that has made him a leader for this Forge side, trying to remain a beacon of consistency for his team to emulate and learn from.

“I think in many ways, he’s the flag of the club,” Forge head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis, said of Bekker. “He’s the guy that has been here since day one, who has not just lived all the big moments, but been an integral part of them.”

“[There’s a reason why he’s] been up for CPL Player of the Year for three seasons in a row in the first three seasons of this league, a player that’s led us to championships, to the top of the league standings, to Concacaf league runs, to Canadian Championship runs, to leading out our team at the Azteca in Concacaf Champions League.” 

Through that role, he’s arguably made his biggest contribution this year, as this 2022 Forge team has dealt with some heavy injury trouble. A likely byproduct of the heavy minutes the club has played over the past three years, it has seen Smyrniotis dip into a younger pool of players, with many of his trusted veterans from past teams spending lengthy bouts on the sidelines. 

Despite that, Forge haven’t skipped a beat, with those youngsters doing a good job of stepping up and grabbing roles. Guided by Bekker’s leadership, he has ensured they maintain the standard that the club is known for, something that can always be tough for a young player to emulate when playing for a club like Forge.

Through that, they were able to not just qualify for the playoffs, but do so rather comfortably, too, finishing second place in the regular season, which is not a bad achievement for a team that dealt with as many injuries as they did. 

Yet, if you ask Bekker what worked in their quest to get those achievements, the midfielder will be the first to deflect any credit to the collective, just further showing what worked so well for him and his team this season.

“Being apart of this group is knowing that every single player matters, whether you play one minute or whether you play 90 minutes,” Bekker told CanPL.ca this week. “It takes a collective. I’ve had to lean on a lot of guys in this locker room, they’ve helped me out a lot, the support staff have also helped me a lot, and to use a cliche, it takes it takes a village, and with us, it truly does.”

Now, however, any regular season success they were able to achieve this season pales in comparison to what lies ahead for Bekker and Forge in their next task of 2022: winning the North Star Shield for a third time, as they’re now looking to add to their 2019 and 2020 titles.

Of course, that’s been a goal since opening day, but given the injury struggles, and the rise of some new contenders, this is arguably their toughest attempt at that yet. 

As seen last year, when Pacific usurped them to win the title, the level of teams around Forge is improving, and rapidly, leaving those days of it being just Forge and Cavalry dominating behind.

Because of that, just making it back to the final for a fourth consecutive time is going to be a challenge, given that Forge are going to have to go through a hungry Cavalry side across two legs just to make that happen, without mentioning Pacific or Ottawa in the Final should they make it that far. 

At the same time, while that’s a big challenge, that’s one that Forge is looking forward to. In fact, they’re almost relishing it.

“(It’s great) that we’re in a position to play these meaningful games,” Bekker said. ” It’s a responsibility, it’s an honour, it’s a privilege. And that’s exciting. This is the stuff that you dream about when you’re a kid, and you have wide-eyes and you want to play for trophies, so it’s just about embracing the opportunity, embracing what’s in front of us, but we have to go out and respect our opponents, remember that 90 minutes of football, and that whatever happens, happens.”

Plus, this isn’t the first time Bekker nor Forge have faced a similar challenge. From their past CPL accomplishments, as well as Concacaf League, Concacaf Champions League and Canadian Championship tribulations, this is a team that is hardened by similarly difficult experiences. 

Led by their grizzled captain, Bekker, they’re going to attack this latest challenge head-on, something they’re looking to prove as soon as their first matchup against Cavalry kicks off, as they try to return to the top of the CPL’s playoff mountain once again. 

“I think if you look at players who have played in this league, nobody’s done that more than he has to date,” Smyrniotis said. “Maybe in the future, we’ll have some more players who will have done more, and that will only be a positive thing.”

“But I think at this moment, he’s the standard-bearer of what it takes to be a successful player in this league.”