IMPACT HOPES BUSH CAN FIND MORE MAGIC
When Evan Bush joined the Impact in March 2011, he knew almost nothing about Montreal.
The American goalkeeper had played a couple of games against the Impact at Saputo Stadium the previous year with Baltimore Crystal Palace. One of those games ended 0-0, during which the Impact totally outplayed Baltimore — outshooting Crystal Palace 24-7 with a dozen quality scoring chances — but couldn't beat Bush.
“You can call him Harry Potter,” former Impact coach Marc Dos Santos told reporters after the game.
The Impact is hoping Bush can find some more of that magic during the MLS Eastern Conference final against Toronto FC, with Game 1 Tuesday night at Olympic Stadium in front of a crowd expected to be more than 60,000. Game 2 of the two-game, aggregate-goals series will be Nov. 30, in Toronto, with the winner advancing to the MLS Cup Dec. 10 against Colorado or Seattle.
Montreal is now home for Bush, who has settled on the West Island with his wife, Colleen, and their two young children. Daughter Isabella is three and son Canaan is 15 months, and they are both dual citizens after being born in Canada.
Bush is from Ohio and as a child, his family visited Toronto a couple of times on vacation because his parents realized it was a great deal with the low value of the Canadian dollar.
“Toronto's a great city, but Montreal was kind of off the radar for us," Bush said. "I don't think that my parents had ever been here before I came up here. I knew nothing about the city.
“There's a stereotype in North America that it's completely different and wants to be different,” the goalkeeper added about Montreal. "But certainly now that I've been here, I think it's one of the top seven or eight cities in all of North America, including Mexico City, Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, L.A., New York.”
The adjustment to living in Montreal wasn't easy at first, especially for Bush's wife. Bush met Colleen while they were both at the University of Akron. He was on the soccer team and she was on the volleyball team. Colleen studied nutrition and dietetics, but when they came to Montreal she could no longer work as a dietitian because the test to be registered in Quebec is done only in French.
“From that standpoint, it's been hard," Bush said. "But now that we have two kids, she doesn't work at all — she stays home with the kids. I think she enjoys that.”
Bush is making a comfortable living with the Impact, earning US$117,500, according to figures released this season by the MLS Players' Union. While he dreamt as a youngster about playing professionally one day, he didn't really think it would be a possibility until he was about 18.
“But even then, MLS (which started in 1996) was a completely different league at that point The salaries weren't good — it wasn't really something that you made a living doing it. People did it and they got paid to do it, but it wasn't like it is now. The minimum salaries in the league now (US$51,500 for reserve players and $61,500 for roster players) are better than pretty much anything you're going to get right out of college.”
Bush started playing soccer when he was four and his parents put him in a local YMCA league, but he only became a goalkeeper when he was 12.
“I always liked soccer. … I liked scoring goals, which is kind of ironic,” said Bush, who also played baseball and basketball growing up.
Basketball was his favourite sport, but the 6-foot-1, 186-pounder realized he wasn't built to succeed at that game. The 30-year-old isn't tall for a goalkeeper, either, but makes up for his lack of height with fantastic fitness and athleticism. Bush says the fact he played more than one sport as a child really helped him and he now encourages youngsters to do the same. The goalkeeper hopes to get into coaching after his playing career.
“I think playing basketball and the explosive nature of jumping, rebounding, eye-hand co-ordination, all those things really helped me with my soccer goalkeeping,” Bush said.
The Impact locker-room is a melting pot — just like Montreal — with players from Argentina, France, Belgium, Italy, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Belize, Costa Rica, the U.S. and Canada, with many languages spoken.
“It's a tough city to come to if you're an American because it's completely different than any other city in the league,” Bush said. "Even going to Toronto or Vancouver would be much easier for Americans because they don't have the language thing to work with.
“I think that perception has changed a little bit,” Bush added. "Teams that come here and train here see the (Centre Nutrilait) facility and play in Saputo Stadium and see the fan support. I think it's an intriguing place for guys to come now. I'm not sure if it's still one of the top places for American guys to willingly go to. But I think that perception of not being a friendly place for American guys is kind of changing.”
“I think for a lot of the American guys, their mindset is ‘If I'm going to go to a place where I don't know the language, I'd rather just go to Europe.' ”
Impact fans are happy Bush didn't take that route.
So is he. scowan@postmedia.com twitter.com/ StuCowan1