How Stefan Frei's story came full circle with dominant performance in Toronto

It's exactly three years to the day that former Toronto FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei was traded to the Seattle Sounders, and the Swiss shot-stopper marked the date with the sweetest of exclamation points, helping his team defeat the Reds on penalties to win the MLS Cup.

Related: Sounders win MLS Cup without recording shot on target

In a match where the Sounders failed to register even a single shot on goal, it was the goalkeeping heroics of Frei that highlighted the 2016 champion's night. Playing between the sticks of his old haunt, Frei denied Jozy Altidore by making a huge, dramatic save in extra time, the kind the TFC faithful remember all too well.

For his part, Frei has now registered more appearances with Seattle and is very much an integral part of the Sounders' makeup; but, he admitted to theScore that the victory was a little bittersweet as it came at the expense of his first MLS club.

"It hurts a little bit because I wish them (Toronto FC) nothing but the best," Frei told theScore.

"Like I said, I've been here (in Toronto) for five years and those five years were more negative than positive in terms of results on the pitch. Regardless, the fans always stuck with the team and that's very commendable. Ultimately that allowed the team to get to where they are now.

"Obviously there needs to be a winner, and it sucks for the fans. I'm sorry they couldn't win but I'm really happy for our fans that we've won, and especially for my teammates."

Related: 3 reasons why Seattle won the MLS Cup

It is fitting, perhaps, that Frei found success at last in the familiar confines of BMO Field, where he first played in 2009 as a goalkeeper fresh out of college. Drafted 13th overall, Frei went on to make 99 appearances with Toronto FC before being traded to Seattle.

Former players tend to haunt Toronto FC.

Frei proved an unstoppable figure over 120 minutes, though Toronto did little to truly test him until late in the match when an Altidore header looked set to sail into the back of the net. But, Frei's one-handed save denied Altidore, and his stop on Michael Bradley in the shootout capped a fantastic evening.

It's a save that will be replayed over and over as the 2016 season becomes nothing more than a memory.

Still, Frei says it didn't quite matter what the venue was for this moment in club history. He's just glad it happened at all.

"It could have happened in Columbus, I couldn't care less to be honest with you," Frei told a few reporters as his teammates celebrated in the locker room. "It's making history with the team. That's what's at the forefront.

"It's not about me coming back or (former TFC players) Herc (Herculez Gomez) coming back or (Nathan) Sturgis or anybody else. It was an opportunity for us, the team, to make history. It could have happened anywhere else, I wouldn't have cared."

It took penalties to separate these two teams on the day, with Roman Torres scoring the winner after Justin Morrow hit the crossbar with his side's sixth - and ultimately final - strike.

It's a method of victory Frei says he's not too keen about, but one that he'll take nonetheless.

"There's the opportunity, right? One strike and you've got it," Frei told theScore. "I get it, as the goalkeeper, I have to say I'm not a big fan of PKs. I mean, I guess somehow you have to decide the game, but for me, football's a team sport. That's the beauty of it. It sucks that it has to come down to individuals.

"Roman (Torres) actually missed a PK yesterday in training, but I'm glad he missed that one and not the one today."

In the end, Frei will celebrate the MLS Cup and Toronto FC will rue the evening as an opportunity lost to erase the past. Yet, it is exactly that ghost of the club's past sins that denied Toronto - quite literally - in its quest for glory.

It's all come full circle for Frei, a talented 'keeper, Rave Green through and through.