It must have been tempting, but their captain emphatically reminded them not to surrender to it.
As Forge FC mobbed each other in congratulations after clinching their second successive CPL Shield with a thorough 3-0 dismantling of 905 Derby rivals York United, Saturday afternoon, Kyle Bekker yelled into the ecstatic scrum, “Don’t touch the Shield.”
So the Shield, wheeled onto the field for presentation to the Hammers, remained untouched except by head coach Bobby Smyrniotis, who hoisted it so the appreciative Hamilton Stadium throng of 6,521 could roar their approval of another objective completed in a memorable 2025 campaign.
“I think we wanted to do something different,” Choinière said of the players’ self-dictated allergy to Shield-touching. “Last year, we did lift the trophy (then lost the semifinal and final to Cavalry), so we wanted to change it; it was a bit of superstition in that. There’s a bit of hockey in it. In hockey, you don’t lift any trophy before you win the final one. So that was the thinking behind it, we want the double this year. So we won’t touch this one.”
Forge needed only a draw to guarantee first place and, in the end, finished two points up on Ottawa Atlético, who won 1-0 in Halifax as all eight teams played at the same time on Saturday’s decision day. With three draws and a massive 2-0 home victory over Ottawa Aug. 17, they held the tie-breaker if the two teams were deadlocked at the top. It is the third time Forge has finished first, but they were edged out in the final both previous times, last year by Cavalry and in 2021 by Pacific.
No CPL team has ever won the double: finishing first in the regular season and winning the playoff championship game.
Forge wants to amend that and will now play host to Ottawa in the Championship Semi-Final this Sunday (2 p.m.). The winner of that earns the right to host the CPL Final Sunday, Nov. 9, at 5 p.m. The loser gets a second semi-final shot; however, hosting the Contender Semi-Final on November 1 or November 2 against the survivor of Cavalry, HFX Wanderers, and York, who finished 3-4-5.
Since both Ottawa and Hamilton, unbelievably, finished undefeated at home this season, earning the right to host the “A” Semifinal with the dominant performance against hungry York was huge.
“We knew what we were playing for, so it’s kind of easy to get up for those games,” said Choinière, an original Forge who’s been front and centre for all six of the team’s appearances in the league final, which has led to four titles and two narrow losses, including 2-1 in Calgary last year.
“It’s always a good feeling to win the league. It’s not an easy season. There are a lot of ups and downs, a lot of training and hard work, so getting it done is always special. It’s a different feeling every year, but it’s special every time.”
Choinière battled through injury much of the year, often playing hurt, “but I’ve been feeling healthy for a while,” and has been rounding into the form that’s made him one of the franchise’s big-moment players. And he showed that on Saturday on a forward line that included him on the right side and 20-year-old Hoce Massunda on the left, with striker Brian Wright in the middle.
Choinière and Massunda were creative and penetrating all night and Wright scored the second and third goals, both off Choinière's true assists which were quite different; the first was a low feed which Wright took perfectly in stride for a 2-0 lead in first-half stoppage time; the second in the 54th minute was a long pass up the right side which Wright then thundered into the upper right corner for a classic goal scorer’s goal. It was his career-high 12th goal of the year, as he finished third overall in the Golden Boot parade.
“Brian has so many great qualities as a striker that we sometimes don’t take enough advantage of,” Choinière said. “We kind of did well last game with that.”
Choinière also had a “hockey assist” on Ali Hojabrpour’s ice-breaker in the 11th minute. He dished to Tristan Borges, who delivered it perfectly for Hojabrpour’s excellent header. Choinière had six won possessions, also forced a tremendous save on a labelled sho,t and fired one off the crossbar and left numerous defenders flailing at air, as did Massunda. It was only the fourth time, but the second in a row, that the two were in the starting 11 as wings together.
“I had a good game Saturday,” Choinière quietly conceded. “I was feeling good out there, just being myself and doing what I do best, not really over-thinking anything, just playing my game. This year has been a lot of ups and downs for me personally, but if I can finish strong, that’s the goal.
“Most of the guys are healthy and ready to go. So it can be a tough selection for the coach to decide who’s going to start the game against Ottawa on Sunday. After winning the league, the spirit is high and the motivation is there. Playoffs are a short run; you win two games, you win the playoffs. I think we’re going to have the right mindset and go for it.
“When we start the year, we always set goals. Forge is very ambitious, so we try to go for everything. Winning the league means qualifying for the Champions Cup, and that was one of the goals. It’s always a big platform for everybody, so it’s exciting to be back there.
“It’ll be a short off-season.”
Ottawa comes in with the runaway Golden Boot winner, Sam Salter who fell one short of his bid to be the first CPL'er to score 20 in a season. David Rodriguez and Ali Musse finished first and second in assists, and Noah Abatneh, the still-dangerous Manny Aparicio, and Loic Cloutier swept the podium in total passes. And Canadian Richard Ennin, who scored in the 89th minute to beat Wanderers in a tough setting Saturday, is now finding his CPL legs after spending the past eight seasons in several European Leagues.
The two teams have spent long stretches in first, Ottawa from the second week on, Forge through the past dozen weeks or so.
“Ottawa is a really patient team, they’re trying to attack you to create space between their lines for guys like Ballou (Tabla) and Rodriguez to get on the ball, try to break us down,” Choinière says. “That is their biggest strength this year, and they’ve been doing a really good job. I know they’ve been slowing down toward the end of the season, but when it comes to playoffs, sometimes it’s a different game, energy, and intensity, so I’m curious to see how they will show up and how we are.
“I know we’ll look at it the way we always do in playoffs, putting our best foot forward. We’ll see if they can come to Hamilton and deal with the pressure of us being on the front foot and trying to break them down.”
Forge has enjoyed an incredible season so far with a league-record 20 straight games without a loss, setting a CPL mark for fewest losses in a CPL season with stunningly, only two, crafting a dominant elimination of CF Montréal in the Canadian
Championships and earning a home draw with Vancouver Whitecaps, one of the top five teams in MLS, and establishing franchise records of 58 points, 51 goals scored, and the fewest goals (22) conceded. And keeper Jassem Koleilat smashed the CPL record with 13 clean sheets.
The big crowd Saturday was fully aware of all of that, and the Hammers are hoping it will swell even larger for yet another high-impact game this Sunday.
“Of course,” Choinière nodded. “It’s a big advantage, as you can see. We’re undefeated at home this year, and they are undefeated at their home this year.
“It was another one of our goals, to win the double.”
If they do, maybe then the players will go back and actually touch that CPL Shield they just won.