By james art The first CPL award nominees for 2024 have just been revealed by the league.
The Canadian Premier League has announced all three goaltenders in the running for the CPL Golden Glove Award, which recognizes the best overall goaltender during the league’s regular season (not including the Canadian Championship, CONCACAF Champions Cup or playoffs).
The award winner will be announced at the 2024 CPL Awards Ceremony on Thursday, November 7, with league officials and select media participating in the voting process.
One of the three who 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:
FC Pacific – Emil Gazdov
It’s no shock to see the young Pacific number one get a nomination: the 21-year-old enjoyed a strong campaign between the sticks, finishing second in the clean-sheet race with seven in 21 league appearances.
Flashback: Gazdov: Pacific is the ‘perfect place’ for young number one goalkeeper
The North Vancouver-born shooter finished second in goals per ninety (0.94) despite facing the third-most shots per 90 (12.28) among goalies with at least ten starts during the campaign. While he may not have recorded as many appearances as his competitors, when he was on the pitch he proved to be among the best in the league.
Vancouver FC – Callum Irving
Iron Man Callum Irving defended his team for every possible minute during the regular season, leading by example as the stalwart captain notched a league record 96 saves, leading the entire league in saves per ninety with 3.43.
The 31-year-old still managed to keep five clean sheets in a difficult campaign for The Eagles after being subjected to the proverbial ring and earned his third Gold Glove nomination as a result.
York United – Thomas Vincencini
After almost quitting the professional game to become a plumber, Thomas Vincencini has proven to be a huge asset since signing for York United this year: twice earning goalkeeper of the month nods, the striker has been busy but still kept six clean sheets , 73 saves, and a 28 game campaign where he helped the Nine Stripes reach the playoffs.
Yes, the Carducci cavalrymen were rejected
Fans may have been surprised not to see Marco Carducci on the roster, especially since he led the regular season in clean sheets with nine. If we include him in the consideration, he has the second highest clean sheet percentage (29.63% to Gazdov’s 33.33%) and the second best goals per game (0.96 to Gazdov’s 0.86), although has been called on in fewer games (2 saves per game is, for example, much less than Irving’s 3.5).
Our best guess is that Carducci’s lack of a nomination may have been caused by some really excellent defenders in front of him—simply put, he didn’t get to see as much action and lost the opportunity for a third Gold Glove because of it.