Hanover Soccer Club’s MMSL seasons off to slow start

The Hanover Kickers haven’t had much luck to start their Manitoba Major Soccer League Division 1 season.

Home games on June 2 and 9 were both cancelled due to lightning, with a 1-0 lead against Bonivital 2 eliminated due to the weather.

“Better that it happens early in the season so you have chances to re-schedule than late in the season when everybody is wanting to move on with life,” Kickers manager Brian Froese said, noting the make-up games have already been set.

“It’s good to see the league is really on top it this year.”

The team, which is the highest rated in the Hanover club, opened their season with a 5-2 loss to Ser-E-Punjab FC and a 2-2 draw with Winnipeg FC. Those are the only points Winnipeg has dropped this season through four games.

The Kickers had a much more competitive pre-season this year, as Froese admitted the Hanover program benefited from the Niverville Force folding.

The Kickers earned promotion back to Division 1 in 2025 after dropping down a division in 2024. The top division in the MMSL is the Premier Division, just above Division 1.

“Guys were just excited to come back,” Froese said, noting spring training was unusually well-attended.

“There was a bit of a buzz in the air. We’ve got a very healthy group… Two years ago we were almost begging players to play. Now we had to make cuts. It’s exciting to see the rebound.”

Hanover has been advocating to the MMSL to introduce stronger penalties for any teams that forfeit games. Last season a pair of Kickers home matches were cancelled when the opposition didn’t show up. Those teams received a loss and a single point deduction in the standings.

“When our entire team shows up, we warm up, the ref shows up and the other team just doesn’t show, there should be harsh penalties for that,” Froese said, adding when teams don’t show up it’s tough to build a fanbase.

The Division 2 Strikers were set to play June 11 against Stonewall, but the Interlake team asked to re-schedule their match after a massive rainstorm June 9 left many of their players still pumping out their basements a couple days later.

Froese isn’t just the manager for the Kickers. He also suits up for the Division 3 Hanover Sting and serves as the Hanover Soccer Club chair. Froese said Hanover soccer was on pace to have a slower year after strong growth since COVID-19, but a late surge of registrations meant they were back on pace.

“We just can’t seem to say no to players,” Froese said with a chuckle.

“I would say when we do the final audit of the number of players, we’ll be at or exceeding last year’s numbers.”

Hanover hosted their mini-soccer jamboree June 11, the opening day of the World Cup, with dozens of kids playing games all around the Steinbach Soccer Park.

“It’s very heartwarming and exciting,” Froese said.

“I think we’re going to be knocking on the door of maybe making a fourth team at some point if all these players are going to want to play.”

The club is adding a fall season to their grassroots soccer offerings this season for the first time.

“We haven’t really offered soccer in August and September, at least not at this level,” Froese said, adding the club will be welcoming players from the surrounding region, not just Steinbach.

“That’s where the word needs to be spread.”

Hanover has three teams across the MMSL, with Blumenort fielding a team in Division 4 (Latino Power) and Landmark FC suiting up in Division 5.

The Kickers next home game is scheduled for June 22.