‘Icicle’ goal, blizzard: Canadian Premier League final goes viral internationally

It was a game for the ages on Sunday in the 2025 Canadian Premier League Final, and it’s drawing massive international attention due to a goal and heavy snow.

Calgary’s Cavalry FC looked to defend the North Star Cup in the nation’s capital against Atletico Ottawa.

Five hours before the game was set to kick off, Ottawa was sunny, with no snow in sight. Then things changed, which made the game unforgettable.

Prior to the game, crews had to plow the field at TD Place, as the snowfall made it impossible to see the lines, and this would not change for several hours.

During the game, several stoppages had to be taken to shovel the field. Ottawa’s goalkeeper, Nathan Ingham, even helped with the snow-clearing efforts.

Cavalry would open the scoring with a penalty kick from Fraser Aird, who sent Ingham the wrong way, and put the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

A couple of minutes later, Ottawa pressed for an equalizer and won a corner kick. This led to one of the CPL’s most viral moments in the league’s history.

The corner kick would be swung in, and the Cavalry got the initial clearance, but it wasn’t a great one. Ottawa played the ball back into the box, and it popped up into the air, and David Rodríguez bicycle kicked a shot past Cavalry goalkeeper Marco Carducci.

This moment went viral internationally, drawing the attention of 786 million people in 48 hours, according to a tweet from the Canadian Premier League.

BBC and ESPN called the goal the “icicle,” while others were left simply mind-blown.

One of those left mind-blown was streamer iShowSpeed. “Nah, this can’t be real. It’s like snowing. How can you play football in this?” Speed asked while reacting to the goal. “In the snow,” he said after a moment of shock, seeing the bicycle kick, before adding, “Damn. They playing like that in Canada?”

As far as scoring would go, there wouldn’t be another goal in the 90 minutes of play, and the game was sent to extra time.

Despite this, the teams were forced to wait longer than normal between regular time and extra time, as a 45-minute “Zamboni” delay was needed for crews to clear the field once more.

By the time the game resumed, nearly an hour later, the snow had let off, and teams were able to see a lot better.

During the extra time, both teams battled on the slick turf, and Rodríguez capitalized on an error from the Cavalry defence to give Ottawa the go-ahead goal, which would end up being the game-winner.

Atletico Ottawa held off the Cavalry and take the game 2-1, securing their first-ever North Star Cup.

With the victory, they’ll join Forge FC and FC Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.