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Here Are The 2023 CPL Golden Glove Nominees
By The 2023 Canadian Premier League season saw a lot of goals, but it also saw a spectacular amount of acrobatic saves, too.
The league recognizes these performances with its Golden Glove award in the form of a beautiful Inuit soapstone carving of a qimmit – or dog, rather – which symbolizes a brave and loyal a protector of the community.
Without further ado, here are the three goalkeepers up for the Golden Glove this year:
Marco Carducci – Cavalry FC
It was another standout year for Marco Carducci, who recorded eight clean sheets as he helped Cavalry finish champions of the regular season with the best defensive record from all eight CPL sides.
The club captain stepped up in big moments, but also set the standard for organizing the back line: in the entire league, he was the busiest goalkeeper passing out of the back and the only one to enter the four digit mark for passing.
This marks Marco Carducci’s fourth nomination in five years, with the goalkeeper having won the award in 2019 and 2022. Should he repeat the feat in 2023, he’ll be setting the gold standard for personal trophy wins in the league.
Triston Henry – Forge FC
Recording a league-leading nine clean sheets, Forge goalkeeper Triston Henry has made several key stops to keep Forge from dropping results as the hammers fought to a second place finish in league standings.
Through the regular season, Henry led his Golden Glove competitors in recoveries with 227, earning five team of the week nods and two goalkeeper of the month honours.
Appearing in all but one of Forge’s games, the 2020 CPL Golden Glove winner has been a consistent brick wall who has come up with some gasp-worthy saves in his fifth CPL campaign.
Rayane Yesli – Valour FC
While Valour FC has had disappointing year, Yesli’s performances at the back helped the side record a better defensive record than even playoff-bound York United. The 24-year-old made an incredible 81 saves this season, well ahead of his golden glove competitors.
Given that he trained with AJ Ajaccio in the offseason, it’ll be interesting to see whether the six-foot-seven shotstopper remains in CPL or lands in Europe as his next step. In any case, you don’t get nominated for a Golden Glove after your team finishes second-last if you aren’t doing something exceptional.
The 2023 CPL Awards will take place in CPL Final host city of Hamilton, Ontario one week from now October 26, so it’s not a long to wait to see who will ultimately win the soapstone carvings.
The exciting build-up to the league final will see all of the awards handed out, including the Golden Boot (which finished as a tie for Ollie Bassett and Myer Bevan, each on eleven goals), the Coach Of The Year award, the Player Of The Year award, the Defender Of The Year, the Best Canadian U-21 Player Of The Year, and the aforementioned Golden Glove award.
Tomorrow will see the nominees for the Player Of The Year Award unveiled at 12:30PM EST.