The United Women's Soccer season might be over, but the effects of the St. Albert Impact’s U.S. road trip continue to linger. The team was one of the few in Canada able to make the trip across the border to play games during the pandemic and, while it might sound like an exciting thing to be a part of, there were many obstacles the team had to overcome.
All the players needed to be fully vaccinated and tested to be sure everyone was negative, which was the easy part. Then it was time to fly from Vancouver to California for a game against the Santa Clarita Blue Heat.
Troye Flannery, head coach and general manager, said this is where things started to get difficult.
“I was sitting on the plane with no problem when my assistant called me and said that we have to get off the plane,” said Flannery. “Air Canada was refusing to accept the tests that we had done, although it was done through an official lab that was recognized through Alberta Health Services.”
The problem came from one of the gate agents who wasn’t happy with how things were done. There was a bit of a dispute and, once everything was resolved, the plane the team was scheduled to fly on had already taken off without them.
“We were told that we wouldn’t be able to fly out until the next morning, which was going to be problematic to get us there in time for the game,” said Flannery. “After much negotiation and discussions with Air Canada, they managed to break us up and get us on other flights throughout the remainder of the day ... I think the longest delay was just over 12 hours.”
With the team touching down in Los Angeles, Calif., it was official: They were playing cross-border games during the pandemic – a rare feat for even professional teams, let alone a pro-am team based in St. Albert.
Their game against Santa Clarita didn’t go quite as planned, as they lost to the eventual national champions in a 3-0 game. Olivia Chu, a player on the Impact, said the travel stress might have limited them from achieving their full potential, but won’t be using that as an excuse.
“We didn’t get a well-rested sleep before the match and we could only have access to food around our hotel, so maybe it wasn’t the most healthy,” said Chu. “We managed to put up a really good game against them despite everything we went through.
“Obviously, had we been more prepared, maybe the result would have been a little closer than 3-0.”
Things slowed down after getting into the U.S. The team went did the required testing before and after their game in Santa Clarita, and then traveled to Salt Lake City for their next match. This one had a much more desirable result, as they took home a convincing 5-1 win over Conga FC.
With the games over, the return to Canada wasn't quite smooth sailing, as a parade of problems presented themselves.
These came in the form of a lost passport and a positive COVID-19 test.
“One of our players had lost their passport and another had a positive COVID test ... a false positive,” said Flannery. “I stayed behind with those two players and took Ubers all over Salt Lake City to get another rapid test for the player with the false positive.
“We had her tested another two times in Salt Lake City and both came back negative.”
After confirming the positive test result was faulty, they needed to navigate getting back to Canada without a player's passport. Flannery said they got a ton of help from St. Albert MP Michael Cooper.
“His office in St. Albert was unbelievable in respect to helping us out,” said Flannery. “The team eventually got home, but the three of us flew to Seattle and we took an Uber from there to Vancouver and crossed the border on foot.”
They opted to do this because a Canadian citizen can cross into the country without a passport if they hold some sort of identification. After all that hassle, they finally arrived home and Flannery is only now starting to unwind from the whole ordeal.
“Overall it was a positive experience, although if you would have called me the day after I got back I wouldn’t have been too chatty,” said Flannery. “It took me a couple of weeks to recover from that.”
The team was dedicated to making this trip happen. Even after all the stress and delays, they were grateful for the opportunity.
Chu said it will be something the team won’t soon forget.
“It was exciting, it was nice to be a part of a team where we could go out and play competitive games,” said Chu. “It was one heck of a trip and we will all remember this.”
