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VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps have moved to solve their ongoing goalkeeper woes, acquiring veteran netminder Evan Bush from the Montreal Impact.
Montreal will receive Vancouver’s third-round pick in the 2021 Major League Soccer SuperDraft in exchange.
Bush, 34, has been with the Impact since 2011, appearing in 176 regular season games where he made 562 saves and earned 40 clean sheets.
The native of Concord Township, Ohio, has not played for Montreal this year, however, with Montreal coach Thierry Henry relying instead on Clement Diop.
Vancouver has struggled to keep goalkeepers healthy this season. Maxime Crepeau has returned to training after suffering a fractured thumb at the MLS is Back tournament in July.
The injury forced the club to call on 21-year-old Thomas Hasal, who appeared in nine games for Vancouver before he was injured in the club’s 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake last week.
The Whitecaps announced Monday that the Saskatoon native will “miss an indefinite period of time” with a concussion and a stress fracture to his left tibia.
Bryan Meredith has taken over the Whitecaps net for the last two games, suffering a brutal 6-0 shelling at the hands of Los Angeles FC on Wednesday, and taking a 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
The Whitecaps also have 18-year-old homegrown ‘keeper Isaac Boehmer on their roster.
Still, the club needed to bring in Bush because of the “uncertainty around (its) goalkeeper position,” sporting director Axel Schuster said in a release.
“We explored a number of possibilities and Evan Bush is an experienced professional who will provide us another strong option in net along with Bryan Meredith,” he said.
Bush will be among familiar faces in Vancouver. Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos originally brought Bush to Montreal in 2011, and Bush played seven years under the ‘Caps current goalkeeper coach Youssef Dahha.
Impact sporting director Olivier Renard said Montreal made the trade because the club is happy with the work from their other goalkeepers, including Diop, James Pantemis and Jonathan Sirois.
“We want to thank Evan for the ten seasons he played in Montreal and for his great professionalism,” Renard said in a release.
All three Canadian MLS teams are currently stationed south of the border due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Whitecaps have set up a home base in Portland, Ore., and will be back in action on Saturday when they battle the Sounders in Seattle.
The Impact are living and training in Harrison, N.J., where they will host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020.
The Canadian Press