The high school team that put St. Albert football on the map will huddle up Friday for the 20-year Storm reunion.
About 35 players from the 1990 tier I provincial finalists are expected gather at the Ferbey Rink to relive the glory years of arguably the most talented gang of gridiron players ever assembled in the city.
"That team at that time brought attention to football in St. Albert," said Bob Brayman, head coach of the 10-1 Storm. "We had a bunch of really talented players. We had great leadership at quarterback with Trevor Lovig and toughness with guys like Danny Prockiw and Shaun de Bruijn and Dave Granowski and Christian Bullock and Adam Cassidy.
"But the lasting memory for me was the character of the team and the characters on the team and we really did have some characters on the team."
The Storm roster was made up of players from St. Albert's three high schools.
"The guys got along really well. You would never guess we were from different schools and had different groups of friends, but when the football season started everybody came together," said de Bruijn, a linebacker on the Storm's vaunted defence. "Because we were from different schools, you only saw a lot of those people through football and once the football season wrapped up, you didn't really see them anymore. We all kind of all ended up going our own direction.
"After graduating from high school, some people went on to play university ball, some people went down to the states and other people just retired."
The last time the players gathered en masse was 10 years ago.
"That was the first time I had seen a lot of those guys since we finished playing. Everyone was just recently married or getting married and had finished university. It will be interesting to see where everybody is at, how many kids they have and how old they are and how out of shape they are. Some of them were even losing their hair at the first reunion," de Bruijn said. "It will be a lot of fun to reminisce about the good old days and the fun we had."
The team was also tighter than a drum.
"One of the biggest factors that contributed to our success was how close-knit we were," said the versatile Cory Albrecht. "We were all good friends, as is evident through this reunion. A lot of us grew up playing peewee, bantam and high school together, so we knew each other really well. We had some talent for sure but the camaraderie was what put us over the top."
Team of destiny
The Storm were the talk of the town that year while going 6-0 in the regular season without surrendering a touchdown. In that span, they allowed only 10 points.
"We were just living the moment. There was no feeling of invincibility or anything like, it was just a fun group of guys who had fun playing football and we were really a success at doing it," said de Bruijn, 37. "When you look back, you remember the fun you had, the group of guys you hung out with and that's really the memories you take away."
The Storm would go on to win the Carr conference championship in the metro Edmonton league's third year of existence. The Storm collected two more Carr titles under the direction of Brayman, the Storm's long-time field general, but the 1990 championship was the sweetest of them all.
"It's like this: you love all your grandchildren but the first one seems to be pretty special," Brayman explained. "That was our first major championship and there were such solid, talented players on the team and really courageous too."
It wasn't until the Storm defeated the Salisbury Sabres 27-16 in the Carr final that Brayman knew his team was super good.
"I really thought then we had a shot at provincials," he said. "That was the first year we played against the premier teams like Sal. Before that, we had won that lower level championship when we were all part of Edmonton football when the leagues [metro and public] were together.
"Unfortunately we weren't good enough to win the whole thing in 1990, but hey, we did better than a bunch of other schools in the province."
Albrecht, 37, remembers vividly how emotional and hard-fought that playoff victory was.
"It was a really intense, physical game against Sal and I can still remember Bob talking about Lee Grant at halftime," Albrecht said of the former Storm player who died of a brain tumour.
In the provincial playoffs the Storm crushed the Grande Prairie Warriors 33-0 in the quarter-finals and in the semifinal knocked off the Wetaskiwin Sabres 17-3.
Snowed over
In the final against the undefeated LCI Rams in Lethbridge, the Storm's dream season turned into a nightmare as the Rams won their third straight provincial championship with a convincing 42-0 shutout. LCI finished 11-0, while giving up only one point all season.
"I vaguely remember the first 21 points being scored off of our offence's turnovers," laughed de Bruijn. "That loss was a real letdown, especially how strong the team was and what a positive season we had. We were definitely firing on all cylinders going into that last game.
"It had snowed a whole bunch the night before and we went out there and nothing was clicking and it was really the first time that happened to us that whole season. It was pretty disappointing but it doesn't seem so bad anymore, looking back 20 years."
As fate would have it, Lovig's favourite receiver turned out to be Rams' linebacker Nathan Thompson. He returned two passes by the former Bishop's Gaiters' standout for touchdowns of 20 and 34 yards to put the Rams up early. It was 14-0 after the first quarter and 22-0 at halftime.
"We got clobbered," said Lovig, 37, who noted the Storm sent the Rams game tape as part of a friendly exchange prior to the final, but what was delivered to St. Albert was an edited version of the LCI games.
"There were four or five plays that stand out for me in that game but other than that I don't remember much, maybe that's why I didn't play so good. What I do remember was the bus ride back and everyone was pretty devastated. It was pretty quiet and then one of our backup offensive linemen, Jonathan Widlake, all of a sudden started making jokes and by the end of it we were all killing ourselves laughing. I remember some of those jokes moreso than our wins or that loss."
Great memories
Looking back on that memorable season, Brayman recalled several incidents that made him smile.
"The boys taped Dr. Albrecht up when we were in Lethbridge and he took it so well and that sort of typified the fun we had.
"One time I came to practice [at St. Albert Catholic High School] late and I remember thinking, 'My God, this is intense tonight.' Little did I know that [defensive co-ordinator] Smoky McLeod had bet [offensive co-ordinator] Larry Olexiuk that the offence couldn't score against the defence and Larry said no way and the intensity out there was unbelievable.
"In one game, Danny Prockiw played hurt with a pretty bad ankle but he wouldn't come off the field.
"Trent Nordholm, our nose tackle, slipped on the frozen track in Grande Prairie [in the quarter-finals] and we missed him for the final.
"Dean Rozgo had a big game where he ran back a punt and had a couple of interceptions and I think he scored 21 points before the offence did."
It was, as Albrecht stated, "the time of our lives."
"We played right until the week before the Grey Cup and could've kept going. Everybody loved football and we were 100 per cent dedicated to the team."
