And this time will be no exception: just as Nick De Santis’ squad is preparing to play a double-header against the Rhinos — Saturday in Rochester (7:35 pm, Sport Plus XM-172) and Wednesday at Claude-Robillard Sports Complex (7:30 pm, RDS, CJAD 800, Sport Plus XM-172) — Montreal finds itself two points away from the Rochester... and first place in overall USL D1 standings.
“It’s definitely why we have one of the biggest rivalries in the league,” says defender Nevio Pizzolitto, who scored one goal and tallied one assist in games played in Rochester last season. “The Impact and the Rhinos are consistently among the better teams in the league, year after year. So once again, it’ll be a good test for us.”
The Montreal players have responded well to these crucial games against the Rhinos in recent years. Last summer, a 2-2 tie collected in Rochester in spite of torrential rain allowed them to stay in first place, one point ahead of the Rhinos, and a 2-0 win in Sherbrooke subsequently gave them a playoff bye straight into the semifinals. And in 2004, identical 1-0 wins in Montreal and Rochester, July 7 and 9, pushed them in first place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of the Rhinos.
“Many of the games we remember the most against the Rhinos have been key games in the standings, or playoff games,” notes midfielder Patrick Leduc. “The rivalry is even bigger when first place is at stake.”
Add to that a good dose of mutual dislike — fostered by the Impact’s domination over the Rhinos in Montreal (lifetime record of 13-1-2) and the Rhino’s edge over the Impact in Rochester (10-6-2), as well as by numerous playoff match-ups (1996, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004), and you have the ingredients for an intense rivalry.
“We would always expect to get the short end of the stick when we would come into Montreal, and I guess it was the same for the Impact (in Rochester),” says Kirk Wilson, who joined the Impact this winter after five seasons with the Rhinos and will therefore be getting his first taste of ‘the other side’ of the rivalry. “It probably all balances out in the end.”
Except that this year, with the help of the single-division format that was instituted last season, the Impact and the Rhinos aren’t alone on top. Also in the thick of things are the Portland Timbers and the Puerto Rico Islanders, tied with Rochester, as well as the Vancouver Whitecaps, sandwiched between first place and the Impact.
“It’s tight this year,” ackowledges Pizzolitto. “Several team have improved. A team like Seattle won the championship last year, and right now they’re towards the bottom. It goes to show how competitive it is.”
“There’s a lot of traffic on top,” says Leduc. “It’ll be interesting to see what’ll happen once we’ll have caught up with the others in terms of games played. That’s when we’ll have a better idea of how things will be shaping up.”
The Impact presently has one to five games in hand on the teams ahead of it in the standings. De Santis’ squad is therefore in a position to improve its situation.
“Our main objective is to try and get better from game to game, and to be playing well once playoff time comes around”, says Pizzolitto.
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