As the Sudbury Cyclones opened their 2024 revival tour with a 1-0 loss at the hands of London FC in League1 Ontario Cup play last weekend, some lamented the fact that in assembling a roster that includes a majority of talent from the post-secondary institutions in northern Ontario, the local crew could not benefit from the same access to players at practices as their opening game opponents – at least not until school is out at Nipissing and Algoma and the likes.
Cry me a river.
No, that wasn’t one of the quotes from Billy Shkrabek as we met to discuss the original Cyclones, circa 1976 – 1980 or so – though one can’t help but feel that he would have been well entitled to say so.
“Back then, we didn’t have the opportunity to practice in the (indoor) bubble,” recalled the now 65 year old former goalkeeper. “We practiced (in the winter) in the gymnasium of the old Cambrian College (now Ecole secondaire catholique Sacré-Coeur).
“When the weather got better in the spring, we were training in the New Sudbury Shopping Centre parking lot, playing on pavement.”
That most certainly wasn’t the case for Toronto First Portuguese, St Catharines Roma, the Hamilton Italo-Canadians or the Montreal Stars, the upper tier of the competition that was being provided in the NSL (National Soccer League) during the summer of 1980 (when Stars Wars – The Empire Strikes Back was monopolizing movie theatres across North America).
“When we first played some of these other teams, we couldn’t quite understand why they were so much more advanced than us,” said Shkrabek, a Sudbury native who grew up in the Donovan and played locally with the Italia Flyers before signing on with the Cyclones. “They had been playing all winter at indoor facilities.”
“We really didn’t start until the spring.”
Even the youthful soccer lead-in for most of the nickel city gents differed notably from their opponents. “We played in backyards with friends,” Shkrabek suggested of his earliest touches on the ball. As organized play began, it was time for a move, the field in front of the old Cambrian College along Notre-Dame Avenue home to the kids for a stretch.
“We had a field there that was pretty much all clay,” said Shkrabek. “There was no grass and if it rained the night before, there were big puddles everywhere. I can’t remember how old I was – probably ten – but I went out and never looked back.”
Already a goalie in hockey, the youngest of three children in the family (Shkrabek has two older sisters) also cannot recall exactly what possessed him to venture to the same position when the snow faded away and it came time for the beautiful game. He did acknowledge a level of transferrable skills or characters traits in staying between the posts for both.
“The angles, for sure – and positioning – and communication between you and your defense,” said Shkrabek. “Hockey goalies can be vocal but in soccer, they’re even more vocal. I had a great career and loved every minute of it. Sorry – I didn’t like the injuries.”
In a competitive outing, these things can happen. The problem, according to Shkrabek, is that every outing was competitive – at least in their minds.
“We were all kids playing but we all played to win. With the Cyclones, we played an exhibition game against Laurentian and I was facing Oscar Albuquerque on a penalty shot. I stopped him – but he broke my jaw on the rebound.”
In diving out to recover the ball, Shkrabek inserted his face directly into the path of the foot of the Voyageurs’ star.
Yet for as much as the locals were willing to push themselves to the limit, there was a discrepancy in talent that was always a going to be a difficult gap to bridge. “We all thought that we were pretty good soccer players,” said Shkrabek, with a good number of his Italia Flyers’ teammates also making their way to the club owned by car dealer Wolf Mildenberger.
“We all made all-star teams (in Sudbury). We would beat Sault Ste Marie. We were good – for this area - but we were really outplayed by a lot of these teams. Playing against higher level players, I think it brought our game up.”
And for as much as there was a certain prestige to the Cyclones name within local soccer circles, Shkrabek still chuckles at the notion that they were semi “professional” athletes. “Apparently, at the start, it was $25 for a loss, $50 for a tie and $100 for a win – but we never got paid. We got our expenses covered, our meals, out accommodations, but we never got paid.”
In fact, Shkrabek was juggling a summer job at Inco with his NSL involvement, a scenario that most it not all of his teammates could relate to. “There was always somebody who couldn’t make the bus (for road trips),” he said.
“There would be two or three of us leaving on Saturday mornings and we would get a demo from Wolf’s lot and drive down.”
It certainly wasn’t as though those involved with the Cyclones did not make an effort to field a more competitive team – but one could only do so much.
“We had two guys my first year from Jamaica,” said Shkrabek. “I don’t even know how they recruited them. They lived in an apartment above the old American Motors building that’s not there any more.”
“My second year, a couple of the players from Laurentian played with the Cyclones.”
And when the door closed on the Cyclones, Shkrabek would pivot to Laurentian, suiting up in 1981 and 1982 and earning a trip to a national semi-final versus Alberta before making his way back to the Italia Flyers for another decade or so.
Thankfully, by then, practices in the parking lot of the New Sudbury Shopping Centre were clearly a thing of the past.
