Thunder Bay Chill

Thunder Bay Chill
Full name Thunder Bay Chill Soccer Club
Founded 2000
Stadium Chapples Park Stadium
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Capacity 2000
Owner Thunder Bay Elite Soccer Inc.
Head Coach Tony Colistro
League USL League Two
2023 1st, Deep North Division
Playoffs: Conference Semifinals
Website Club website

Thunder Bay Chill Soccer Club is a Canadian soccer team based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2000, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.

The team plays its home games at Chapples Park Stadium. The team's colours are white and blue. The club also has a large youth program, with over 2000 youth players.

History

The Thunder Bay Chill were established in 2000 by founder Tony Colistro. They played their first home match on May 27, 2000, against the Wisconsin Rebels, losing 4–0. In 2002, they were named the PDL Organization of the Year.

In 2007, the Chill won their first Heartland Division title. In 2008, the Chill became the first Canadian club to win the PDL National Championship, after the defeated the Laredo Heat in penalty kicks in the final. In 2009, the four Ontario-based PDL teams (Forest City London, Toronto Lynx, Ottawa Fury, and the Chill) created a pre-season round robin tournament called the Victoria Challenge Cup, with the Chill emerging as champions, after winning all three of their matches.

From 2007 to 2013, they won the Heartland Division six times in seven seasons (finishing 2nd in 2009), and qualified for the playoffs ten times in an eleven-year span from 2007 through 2017 (missing only in 2014), as part of a dominant stretch in their history which included a five-year period, where they did not suffer a home loss until 2014. In 2015, they moved their home stadium to Fort Williams Stadium, after splitting the past two seasons between the turf stadium and the natural grass field at Chapples Field. They finished as Central Conference Champions five time over this period, earning them trips to the playoffs Final Four. After their PDL Championship title in 2008, they advanced to the Championship final an additional three times in 2010, 2013, and 2017, but ultimately lost in the finals on each of those occasions.

In 2018, the Chill formed a partnership with English Premier League club West Ham United through Global Image Sports, who are West Ham's North American partnership mechanism.

In 2020, the Chill announced they would not play in the 2020 USL League Two season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the league later cancelling the entire season anyways. In 2021, the Chill once again withdrew from the league due to continuing travel restrictions associated with the pandemic (although the league did return to operate a season in 2021).

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chill returned to the league for the 2022 season, also marking their return to newly reconstructed Chapples Park, which previously served as their home field until 2014.

Current squad

Updated 5 June 2023. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK GER Nathanael Sallah
2 DF ITA Mattia Rolli
3 MF GER Jan Engels
6 MF ITA Federico Tempestilli
7 FW BRA Sullivan Silva
8 MF CAN Hugo Tavares
9 FW NIR Brandon Bermingham
10 MF IRL Jamie Wynne
11 FW CIV Karim Pare
12 GK USA Andrew Schlaefli
13 DF CAN Alexander Pike
14 FW CAN Muslim Umar
15 MF CAN Jag Arena
16 MF CAN Brian Ananias
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 DF CAN Devan Jorgenson
18 DF FRA Pierre Lurot
19 MF GER Luis Lehr
20 DF BRA Tulio Melo
21 DF ITA Davide Viola
22 FW ENG Elliot Cutts
23 DF ITA Edoardo Calzola
24 DF CAN Moses Kafeero
25 DF SCO Thomas Gray
26 MF USA Bradley Sample
27 MF ENG Jordan Alonge
28 FW CAN Nick Phyllis
29 FW Kwesi Vin-Nnajiofor
30 GK CAN Erik Aegard

Coaching staff

As of 5 June 2023
Role Name
Manager/First Team Coach Tony Colistro
Assistant Manager Sean Pierce
Goalkeeping Coach Francesco Leuzzi

Notable former players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the PDL/USL2 team:

Year-by-year

Year League Record Regular season Playoffs Reference
2000 PDL 4–1–13 6th, Heartland (6) did not qualify
2001 6–1–13 4th, Heartland (5) did not qualify
2002 5–1–12 6th, Heartland (8) did not qualify
2003 10–1–7 3rd, Heartland (8) did not qualify
2004 11–0–7 4th, Heartland (10) did not qualify
2005 6–1–9 4th, Heartland (7) did not qualify
2006 2–3–11 7th, Heartland (7) did not qualify
2007 10–3–3 1st, Heartland (7) Conference Semi-finals (R16)
2008 13–1–2 1st, Heartland (6) Champions
2009 8–5–3 2nd, Heartland (7) Divisional First Round (R32)
2010 12–2–2 1st, Heartland (7) National Finalists (F)
2011 12–2–2 1st, Heartland (7) Semi-Finals (SF)
2012 13–1–2 1st, Heartland (7) Conference Semi-Finals (R16)
2013 12–1–1 1st, Heartland (7) National Finalists (F)
2014 6–1–7 3rd, Heartland (6) did not qualify
2015 9–3–2 2nd, Heartland (6) Conference Semi-Finals (R16)
2016 7–5–2 2nd, Heartland (6) Conference Semi-Finals (R16)
2017 9–2–3 1st, Heartland (6) National Finalists (F)
2018 6–1–7 5th, Heartland (6) did not qualify
2019 USL League Two 6–2–6 3rd, Heartland (6) did not qualify
2020 season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 did not play due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions
2022 6–3–3 3rd, Deep North (6) did not qualify
2023 9–1–2 1st, Deep North (7) Conference Semifinals

Honours

Head coaches

  • Tony Colistro (2000–2014, 2023-Present)
  • Giovanni Petraglia (2015–2022)

Stadiums