OttawaThe team in charge of the turf at TD Place battled bitter winter conditions to keep the ball rolling during the Canadian Premier League final between Atlético Ottawa and Calvary FC.TD Place turf-clearing team kept the game going despite extreme winter conditionsGuy Quenneville · CBC News · Posted: Nov 12, 2025 3:50 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Crews work to clear snow from the TD Place turf during the Canadian Premier League championship game between Atlético Ottawa and Calgary’s Cavalry FC on Sunday. (Jonathan Jobin/Radio Canada)Playing surface supervisor Aiden Maher arrived at TD Place Arena at 7 a.m. Sunday, his eyes glued to the weather radar.Around 10 a.m, the first flakes started falling on the Lansdowne Park’s stadium’s artificial turf.Three hours later, a sheet of snow covered the field where Atlético Ottawa was due to square off against Calgary’s Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) finals at 5 p.m.By 3 p.m., with the snowstorm showing no signs of letting up, Maher knew “the panic was going to come.””So then we just went into action,” Maher said of his crew of three, plus more than a dozen teenage volunteers.Aiden Maher, the playing surface supervisor at Ottawa’s TD Place stadium, uses a leaf blower to clear snow from the lines during the Canadian Premier League championship game between Atlético Ottawa and Calgary’s Cavalry FC on Sunday. (Submitted by Aiden Maher)As anyone who watched Sunday’s match or the post-game commentary online knows, Atlético’s overtime triumph over Calgary has become world famous for the tempest the players endured on their path to victory.There was a reason Maher was dragged over to join Ottawa’s winning team when players posed for photos with the CPL Shield.Maher and his crew had used leaf blowers and shovels throughout the night to clear the lines on the pitch. Their attempts to hold the barrage back as best they could even inspired some players, including Atlético goalkeeper Nathan Ingham, to join the cause. Atlético Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham carries a snow shovel following a break in play. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)At the end of regulation time, Maher’s crew spent nearly an hour clearing the field of the snow that had hampered passes and limited scoring opportunities throughout the evening.Maher didn’t get home until 12:30 a.m. Monday, and it was 2 a.m. before he got his first glimpse of the online reaction, or that shot of Ingham with a shovel.”There’s only so much you can do with Mother Nature honestly here in Canada, as people around the world are starting to see,” Maher told Radio-Canada. At the same time, “the game can still be played as long as you put effort into it.” Ottawa’s David Rodriguez rings his spectacular game-tying ‘icicle kick’ off Calgary’s crossbar during the first half of the CPL final at TD Place stadium on Sunday. (Jonathan Jobin/CBC)According to the club, 13,132 hardy soccer fans braved the bitter conditions, and most stayed until the final whistle. Looking back, Maher says spending nearly an hour to clear the pitch before overtime was “the best decision,” as it allowed for the best playing conditions of the day. “All the players … got a fair advantage with the turf being freshly plowed, and the best it was going to be, honestly,” he said. WATCH | A game they’ll remember forever:’Game we’re gonna remember forever’: Atlético Ottawa players talk snowy CPL finalAtlético Ottawa players spoke with reporters Wednesday, days after winning the team’s first ever North Star Cup in blizzard conditions.Maher said he paused once or twice to take in the snowy scene and thought to himself, “OK, this is cool.” Then: “Alright, now back to work.” Maher has been playing surface supervisor at TD Place since 2016. (Nick Persaud/CBC)With files from Trevor Pritchard and Radio-Canada’s Jonathan Jobin
When a snowstorm threatened Atlético’s championship game, this crew kept its cool
