Sirois gaining confidence in Valour net

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This article was published 01/07/2021 (1561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jonathan Sirois was more than happy to be playing between the posts for Valour FC Wednesday night.

But the goalie from LaSalle, Que., won’t lie, he was originally a little bummed to miss Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals featuring his hometown Montreal Canadiens.

It turns out Sirois didn’t miss much as his Habs lost 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning to put themselves down 2-0 in the series, but it was a much different story for Winnipeg’s professional soccer club as they defeated HFX Wanderers FC 2-0.

Valour has opened the season with back-to-back wins and Sirois, who got the start in both matches, has yet to allow a goal.

He’ll need quite a few more clean sheets to be in the same class as his favourite Canadien, Carey Price, but Sirois sure looked like his role model on Wednesday as he stopped eight shots en route to being named the man of the match.

“The guy’s a hall of famer already. He’s the best in the world,” said Sirois on Price.

“He’s very, very calm and composed in all of his games and I think that’s what brings confidence to the team. If I can try to reproduce that in the games and help my team, for sure, I’ll try to do that. The other thing I’d say is consistency. The guy’s been at the top of his level for a while now and that’s what I want to do and what I want to try and achieve.”

Unlike Price, Sirois is in the early stages of his career as these have been his first starts as a professional. Sirois is a product of the CF Montréal academy and played for the MLS club’s U15, U17 and U19 teams. He was signed to a professional contract by CF Montréal in 2020 to make him their third-string goalie, but in an attempt to get him some valuable minutes, the club loaned their prospect to Valour.

He wasn’t guaranteed anything as Valour head coach Rob Gale told Sirois he’d have to battle it out in training camp with 30-year-old veteran Matt Silva. But Gale and his staff saw enough from the young talent to make him their starter in the season opener last Sunday against the two-time defending Canadian Premier League champions, Forge FC.

Not only was it Sirois’ professional and Valour debut, but it was also his 20th birthday. He was gifted his best birthday present yet as Gale gave Sirois the match ball after helping Valour to a 2-0 win, their first victory against Hamilton’s Forge.

“It gave me a lot of confidence. The head coach, even the ‘keeper coach, put their trust in me to be the No. 1 ‘keeper for the first game. I had to go out there and do my best and show them that they were right for putting me in that position… For sure, it’s nice, it’s a nice story and everything, but during the game, I really wasn’t thinking about that. On the day of the game, I was really just focused on my pro debut and getting a good first performance. After the game that’s where I celebrated a bit,” said Sirois.

It’s the second straight year Valour has acquired their starting goalie on loan from CF Montréal. At last summer’s Island Games, Valour rolled with James Pantemis for all seven matches. Pantemis has since returned to CF Montréal and also went on to play for Canada at the 2020 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship. Montreal was happy with the experience Pantemis gained, so they decided to not only send Sirois, but also 19-year-old attacking midfielder Sean Rea to Winnipeg this year.

Pantemis left big shoes to fill, but so far, Sirois has been up to the challenge.

“He’s a quick learner and he adapts very well,” said Valour goalie coach Patrick Di Stefani.

“Mentally, he’s very composed. He’s got a bright future, but at the same time, I told him ‘Hey, it’s only two games. It’s a long season. You’ll go up, you’ll go down.'”

Valour has had a lot of turnover in net as they bounced back and forth between Tyson Farago and Mathias Janssens in 2019 with neither player getting it done on a consistent basis. They struck gold with Pantemis in 2020, but with the pandemic forcing the league to replace the regular season with a single-site tournament, Valour didn’t get to enjoy the full benefits of having a strong netminder for the course of an entire season. Sirois might provide them with that luxury in 2021, but Di Stefani is quick to remind you to not forget about Silva or Valour’s top pick in the 2021 CPL U Sports Draft, Yuba-Rayane Yesli.

“It’s important, especially for the defender, to get used to their goalie always being the same. But you know what, I have to say I’m not afraid with Matt in or afraid of Rayane playing. I’ve got three outstanding goalies and the players are actually very comfortable with the three of them,” said Di Stefani.

“But, yes, it does bring a little extra confidence to always have the same figure when you look over the back of your shoulder.”

Valour will return to IG Field for their next match on Saturday at 9 p.m. against Atlético Ottawa (1-0-1).

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @TaylorAllen31