It had to be penalties.
Forge's first-ever meeting with CF Montréal back on Oct. 27, 2021 was decided from the spot. After 11 rounds of penalties in that year's TELUS Canadian Championship semifinal, Montréal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza scored the winner.
On June 4, 2022, in their first appearance in the Canadian Championship final, Forge again lost on penalties to Toronto FC at Hamilton Stadium.
So when Forge's Manjrekar James slotted home the winning penalty in the 2026 Canadian Championship final to defeat CF Montréal at Stade Saputo on Wednesday night, past Breza no less, it was nothing short of poetic.
After years of close calls and heartbreak, Forge finally lifted the one domestic trophy they had yet to get their hands on: The Voyageurs Cup. For a club that is forever achieving firsts, they became the first Canadian Premier League club to win the Canadian Championship.
Forge have always carried themselves like one of the country's big clubs. For eight seasons, they have proved it in Canada's top domestic league and in continental football. Now, they have a national title to put it beyond doubt.
Like any big club in global football, Forge has woven winning into its DNA. From being the CPL's first champions to its first Canadian Champions, a relentless ambition and self-belief have carried them through it all.
"Every first we've had, we've built off that," Forge captain Kyle Bekker told OneSoccer's Kristian Jack post-match. "You take it, you put it in the bank, and you lean on it the next one you have."
Bekker, the club's first signing, captain and most-capped player, watched from the Stade Saputo stands on Wednesday. After suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the second leg of the semifinal against FC Supra, he had announced his retirement a few weeks ago.
But his legacy undoubtedly influenced the match's outcome. Fellow club legend Tristan Borges acknowledged as much when he decided the victory to Bekker post-match. From the club's beginning, the ambitious standards and goals set on and off the pitch by players like Bekker and Borges and, of course, head coach Bobby Smyrniotis have manifested in triumph after triumph.
That ambition has played out in the club's recruitment as well. The hero on Wednesday, goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud, is a DR Congo international who spent the past eight seasons playing in the top flight of French football with his hometown Montpellier.
Forge's goalscorer, Antoine Batisse, came to the club this year following over a decade of playing in French football and became a club legend with Pau FC.
Returning central defender Manjrekar James, who has played in top competitions around the world, including the UEFA Champions League, scored the winning penalty and provided many vital defensive interventions throughout the match.
Big signings, with crucial experience, all of whom played a massive role in Wednesday's outcome.
"It's a blessing to have these types of players playing in your club," said Smyrniotis. "A lot of these players are meant for different places, and I always hope more for them as they go, but like I always tell them, as long as I have you here, we're gonna keep on competing to do the best things possible."
These are players who were attracted by the ambition of Forge, where winning is the standard and a responsibility for anyone who pulls on the orange shirt. Before Wednesday, neither Bertaud nor Batisse had ever played in a cup final in their long and accomplished careers. It took crossing the Atlantic to Hamilton, Canada, to experience that winning feeling.
Forge's ambitions, of course, will only be further fuelled by Wednesday's victory. They now head across the country to Victoria with a chance to win a third straight CPL Shield as the league's regular season champions.
Even if they come up just short in the regular season, Forge will go into the CPL playoffs with mountains of confidence and as significant contenders.
And, as they qualify for the Concacaf Champions Cup for a fifth time, they can dare to dream of someday even becoming continental champions as well.
Because if the Hamilton club have proven anything over the past eight season, it's that after they cross each new frontier, they Forge on.
"Eight years on, a team from Hamilton. Who would have thought?" Bekker told OneSoccer.
"But we've just went and done it again."
