It all comes down to this. While the four sides who will be competing in the 2022 CPL Playoffs have been confirmed, the regular season title race is still alive heading into the final weekend of the season.
After Pacific ended Forge’s hopes of winning the title, they are now the only side who could possibly catch Atlético Ottawa at the top of the CPL table.
Ottawa, for their part, has a rather simple scenario, win against York United at home on Sunday and they are the 2022 regular season champions.
“Everyone in the league is envious of where we are because we have to go back home and win one more game, and no matter what anyone else does, we have won the league,” said Atleti goalkeeper Nate Ingham on the CanPL.ca newsroom podcast this week. “We owe it to ourselves to see it out, we have put in too much work in preseason and through the year to not finish the job at this point.
“Home this weekend, in front of the best fans in the league, get the job done and we get the first bit of silverware for Ottawa in the CPL, and we get to share that with the fans, that would be very, very special. It is why we play the game, for these exact moments.”
Pacific meanwhile, must win against Cavalry on Saturday at Spruce Meadows to keep their hopes of winning the regular season championship alive. Considering, however, they were below the playoff line as recently as September 27, the fact that they still have a chance to finish top of the table is impressive.
“You want to finish at the top of the league, you always want to finish as high as possible and then you give yourself a chance to achieve the maximum but also potentially host [the final],” said Pacific coach James Merriman. “So it is really important for every team in this league, and that is an extra motivation and a push and a drive for us right now.”
CPL commissioner Mark Noonan recently announced that the league will be officially recognizing its regular season champion. This season, that will mean a financial award, which is equal value to winning the playoff championship. In 2023, a new trophy will be introduced as well.
“When you have a 28-game season grind you need to recognize the team that has been the best day in and day out,” said Noonan at the time. “We haven’t done that as a league and I felt it was really important to do that. Any team that qualifies for the playoffs can get on a run; they may not necessarily be your best team, they are the best team at that time. So I want to make sure that the regular season champion is properly recognized and rewarded, as well as our playoff champion.”
It is worth noting that Atlético Ottawa still needs an additional 27 domestic U-21 minutes in order to be eligible for the 2022 playoffs.
Below are the league’s tiebreakers. Should Pacific FC defeat Cavalry this weekend, and Ottawa draw with York, they will finish tied on 49 points. Should this occur, Pacific would be named regular season champions as they would have 14 wins this season, compared to Ottawa’s 13. The full scenarios are laid out below.
Tiebreakers:
- Total number of wins
- Goal differential
- Goals for
- Away goals differential
- Away goals for
- Home goals differential
- Home goals for
- The Club that accumulates the most U-21 Domestic Player Minutes during the regular Season
- Coin toss (tie of two Teams) or drawing of lots (tie of three or more Teams)
Atlético Ottawa will win the regular season title if:
- Atlético Ottawa wins vs York United on October 9
OR
- Pacific FC loses or draws vs. Cavalry FC on October 8
Pacific FC will win the regular season title if:
- Pacific FC wins vs. Cavalry FC on October 8
AND
- Atlético Ottawa loses or draws vs. York United on October 9