7 KEY stats from the preliminary round of the 2025 TELUS Canadian Championship
The preliminary round of the 2025 Canadian Championship is now over, and we know which seven teams will join the three-time defending champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps, in the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately for those who follow this tournament for upsets, of which there have been quite a few over the past couple of years, this preliminary round didn’t deliver in that regard, but there were still some intriguing results to note.
Now, that sets up an interesting quarter-final round, where there are six CPL sides and two MLS outfits, with two all-CPL clashes and two CPL vs. MLS matchups on deck.
Could there be some upsets in this round? This is where the most chaos happened in 2024, with Forge knocking out CF Montréal, and the Vancouver Whitecaps squeaked past Cavalry FC on away goals, so one can only wonder what kind of surprises the 2025 quarter-finals have in store.
Before looking ahead, however, here’s a look back at seven key stats from the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship.
CF Montréal improves to 5-0-1 in the last six CanChamp games vs. TFC:
The marquee matchup of the first round, this marked the earliest CF Montréal and Toronto FC had ever met in this competition, guaranteeing one of the tournament favourites would make a premature exit - this marked the earliest an MLS side has ever left this competition in terms of date, with that side joining the Whitecaps as the only MLS side to be eliminated in the preliminary round.
In the end, it’d be Montréal who’d triumph, as they continued a good run against their Canadian Classique rivals in the Canadian Championship - this was their fifth win in their last six games against Toronto in this tournament, dating back to 2019.
Other than a 4-0 loss to Toronto in the 2022 semi-finals, Montréal has gotten the better of this matchup in this competition over the past six years, which has included triumphs over Toronto in the 2019 and 2021 finals, as well as elimination from the 2023 quarter-finals.
Now, the big goal will be for Montréal to turn this into later tournament success - they’ve made the final just four times in the last nine editions, and were eliminated by Forge FC in last year’s quarter-finals, something they’d love to avenge given that same Forge side awaits in this year’s quarter-finals.
GOAL 🔔🔔
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
TAKE A BOW GIACOMO VRIONI 😱
This TELUS #CanChamp match is tied again late, and would go straight to penalties if it stays this way 🔥
🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/eI5nZZg5C4
Cavalry finds six different goalscorers vs. Edmonton:
It’s a credit to the competitive level of the Canadian Championship that there haven’t been a whole lot of blowouts over the years, with it being rare to see teams log more than five goals in a game.
As a result, Cavalry joined a pretty small group when they beat Edmonton Scottish 6-0, in which they achieved a tournament first - they had six different goalscorers in that 6-0 win.
When diving into the tournament archives, all other instances of teams that scored six or more goals never featured more than five goalscorers. Because of that, it makes Cavalry’s win that much more special, as Tommy Wheeldon Jr. was able to rotate his squad and get some contributions from across his squad, which is exactly what his manager would want to see out of a match like this.
Plus, it’s fitting that they achieved something like this against Edmonton - Cavalry is yet to lose a club from Edmonton since their inception. Safe to say they love a provincial derby matchup.
GOAL 🐎🐎
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 30, 2025
Niko Myroniuk makes it 2-0 for @CPLCavalryFC vs. Edmonton Scottish United with this thundering shot off the crossbar ⚡️
🔴 Watch TELUS #CanChamp on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/BYXqc5Msab
Atlético Ottawa have outscored opponents 12-1 in last three preliminary round games:
Now in their fifth season in the Canadian Championship, Atlético Ottawa have made a habit of taking care of business in the preliminary round. After losing their first two Canadian Championship games in club history, falling 3-2 to Valour in the 2021 preliminary round and 7-6 on penalties (1-1 in regular time) to York United in the 2022 preliminary round, they’ve now won three straight preliminary round games after they defeated Scrosoppi FC 2-0 last week.
Not only that, but they’ve won those three games by a combined score of 12-1, with a 7-0 win vs. Valour last year a large source of those goals.
Now, the big goal will be to make a deep run - Ottawa have never made it past the quarter-finals, and are one of two CPL sides to never face an MLS team in this competition (along with Vancouver FC). Given that they’re set to face off against rivals York United in the quarter-finals, no better time than the present to reach their first semi-finals, which could lead to that first MLS matchup. 
High-flying York scores five goals for the second time:
As mentioned earlier, instances of teams scoring five or more goals in a Canadian Championship game are rare, especially among CPL teams. Because of that, when York defeated FC Laval 5-0, they became just the fourth CPL side to score five or more in a game in this tournament, joining Cavalry (2025), Atlético Ottawa (2024), and… themselves, as they also beat League 1 Ontario side Masters FA 5-0 in the 2021 tournament.
For context, only one other side has scored five or more goals in a game multiple times in this tournament, and that’s eight-time winners, Toronto FC, who have done so three times. Otherwise, five-time winners, CF Montréal, have done so just once, while the four-time champions, Vancouver Whitecaps, are yet to achieve the feat (something they might change this year, given their current form, to be fair).
Credit to York, who were excellent offensively against Laval, as they created seven big chances, had 11 shots on target, and generated 3.8 xG, (including 3.02 non-penalty xG), leading the way in those categories by a landslide among preliminary round teams.
Julian Altobelli just can't stop scoring 🔥#CanChamp #CanPL pic.twitter.com/SgaQTanizj
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 7, 2025
Vancouver breaks CanChamp duck:
Of the eight teams in the CPL, Vancouver was the last team who were yet to progress in this competition heading into this year. Granted, that wasn’t anything outrageous - they were the newest team in the league, after all, having made their debut season in 2023.
No doubt, however, was that finding a way to change that statistic this season was crucial. Of the other seven active CPL teams, all of them had advanced past at least one round within their first three times participating in this competition - six of them had done so by their second Canadian Championship, with Ottawa the lone one to have to wait for their third.
Because of that, Vancouver will be pleased they got the job done against rivals Pacific, beating them on penalties, ensuring they wouldn’t have to wait until their fourth Canadian Championship participation to advance past a round.
Ironically, it’s fitting they beat Pacific via penalty kicks, too - that was Pacific’s fourth shootout in the past four years, all coming at Starlight Stadium. Now, after this loss, Pacific’s record in those shootouts is perfectly split - they’ve won two and lost two. 
Another Forge win vs. non-MLS opposition:
Ever since they lost 3-2 on aggregate to CPL rivals Cavalry in the second qualifying round of the 2019 Canadian Championship, Forge have dominated CPL and League 1 Canada opposition, and that continued in the first round, as they defeated the Halifax Wanderers 3-1.
With that, they’ve now won six straight matches against CPL and League 1 opposition (four against CPL, two against League 1), as they’ve done well in these games.
Now, they’ve set up a familiar matchup in this competition - a clash with CF Montréal, who they’re now facing for the fifth straight year (!), having also met in the 2021 semi-finals, 2022 quarter-finals, 2023 semi-finals and 2024 quarter-finals. Forge will be feeling good about this battle, as they beat Montréal 3-2 on aggregate after losing their 2021, 2022 and 2023 meetings, so look for them to keep up the momentum from last year.
Since that Cavalry matchup in 2019, only MLS teams have been able to stop Forge (Toronto defeated them in the one-off Canadian Championship final in 2020, and eliminated them from the 2024 semi-finals on away goals), something worth watching in this latest matchup between Forge and an MLS side.
GOAL 🔨🔨🔨
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 8, 2025
Mo Babouli puts a bow on it for @ForgeFCHamilton, jumping on a loose ball in the box to give his team a 3-1 lead over @HFXWanderersFC and all but assure a #CFMTL rematch 👀
🔴 Watch TELUS #CanChamp on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/taDd221mCU
Valour gets first CanChamp clean sheet:
Having entered this tournament with a record of 1W-0D-6L in seven previous Canadian Championship matches, one glaring stat stood out from that run of seven games - Valour had conceded 20 goals, and had never kept a clean sheet.
Because of that, they’ll be pleased they grinded out a 1-0 win vs. a TSS Rovers side that looked very capable of causing another upset against the team they famously beat in 2023, allowing them to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021.
LAST-GASP SAVE 🧤🤯
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 8, 2025
Eleias Himaras keeps @ValourFootball alive in this TELUS #CanChamp clash vs. @TSSRovers with this on-the-line save late in this one 👀#CanPL pic.twitter.com/WdzyqF7kgx
In the end, they’ll feel they could’ve done better to score more on the day, as they struggled to generate shots against a solid Rovers backline, but sometimes these cup games are all about survival, and Valour did that. Now, they’ll get a chance to test themselves with a red-hot Vancouver Whitecaps side in the quarter-finals, which could be a valuable learning experience for this team, especially as they look to build some momentum in CPL play.
