It was called the “ICICO Kick” – The shocking bicycle kick that lit up the end of the Canadian Premier League Final.
The match, played in a blizzard in Ottowa at a temperature of -8C, had everything and was delivered in the most Canadian of ways.
Home Atletico Ottawa won their inaugural title – the North Star Star Cup – with a 2-1 extra time win over Cavalry FC.
But it almost tells the whole story.
The game was repeatedly delayed so that the snow could be cleared from the pitch with the lines removed every 15 minutes, the goalkeepers cleaning their boxes with shovels and the match almost unstoppable in the second half. A snowplow must arrive on the pitch ahead of time.
Former Rangers midfielder Fraserer Franer, who played with short arms, put Calvary in the lead with a married snow slide and then snowballed the home fans.
Seven minutes later came a moment of magic from the 23-year-old David Rodriguez, who flicked the match that prompted the bar in the 107th minute of Cavalry 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 that it was raining, and I was like ‘this is a good day’,” he said.
Atletico Goalkeeper Natan Ingham added: “The whole night felt fake.
“We play us in the sand, we play us in the snow, we play us on the moon, this team will win.”
The Canadian Premier League began in 2017, while Atletico Ottawa, a franchise of Spanish side Atlipico Madrid and was founded in 2020.