The 2024 CPL Golden Glove Nominees (And One Big Absentee)

The first nominees for a 2024 CPL Award have just been unveiled by the league.

The Canadian Premier League has announced all three goalkeepers in the running for the CPL Golden Glove award, which aims to honour the best overall goalkeeper during the league’s regular season (not including the Canadian Championship, Concacaf Champions Cup, or playoffs).

The winner of the award will be announced at the 2024 CPL Awards ceremony on Thursday, November 7, with league officials and select media taking part in the voting process.

One of the three to follow will collect an Inuit soapstone carving of an Inuit Dog, representative of their protective nature for their club and community.

Without further ado, here’s who is in the running for the 2024 CPL Golden Glove award:

Pacific FC – Emil Gazdov

It’s no shock to see Pacific’s young number one receive a nomination: the 21-year-old enjoyed a strong campaign between the sticks, finishing second in the clean sheet race with seven after 21 league appearances.

Flashback: Gazdov: Pacific Is The ‘Perfect Place’ For The Young Number One Goalkeeper

The North Vancouver-born shotstopper finishes second-place in goals against per ninety (0,94) despite facing the third-most shots per 90 (12.28) amongst goalkeepers with at least ten starts in the campaign. While he may not have tallied a as many appearances as his competitors, when he was on the pitch he proved to be amongst the best in the league.

Vancouver FC – Callum Irving

Iron Man Callum Irving protected his side for every possible minute in the regular season, leading by example as the steadfast captain faced a league-record 96 saves, leading the entire league in saves per ninety with 3.43.

The 31-year-old was still able to claim five clean sheets in a tough campaign for The Eagles after being put through the proverbial ringer, and earns his third Golden Glove nomination as a result.

York United – Thomas Vincensini

Having nearly left the professional game to be a plumber, Thomas Vincensini proved to be a huge asset after signing with York United this year: twice earning goalkeeper of the month nods, the shotstopper was kept busy but still maintained six clean sheets, 73 saves, and a full 28-match campaign where he helped the Nine Stripes reach playoffs.

Yes, Cavalry’ys Carducci Got Snubbed

Fans may have been surprised not to see Marco Carducci on the list, especially because he led the regular season in clean sheets with nine. If one includes him in consideration, he has the second-highest clean sheet percentage (29.63% to Gazdov’s 33.33%) and the second-best goals against per game (0.96 to Gazdov’s 0.86), though he was called into action less (2 saves per game is, for instance, far less than Irving’s 3.5).

Our best guess is that Carducci’s nomination miss might have been caused by some truly excellent defenders in front of him – simply put, he didn’t have to perform as many actions, and lost out on an opportunity for a third Golden Glove because of it.