Toronto Olympians
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| Full name | Durham Storm Soccer Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
The Storm, Durham's Own |
| Founded | 1998 (as Toronto Olympians) |
| Dissolved | 2005 |
| Ground |
Oshawa Civic Stadium, Oshawa, Ontario |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Chairman | John O'Neill |
| Manager | Rob Shaufler |
| Coach | Doug Paterson |
| League | CPSL |
The Durham Storm were a Canadian soccer team that last played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) in 2005. The club was founded as the Toronto Olympians in 1998 and played in Toronto, Ontario through 2001, before being renamed the Mississauga Olympians for 2002 and 2003. The team relocated to Oshawa, Ontario in Durham Region for the 2004 & 2005 seasons and was renamed Durham Storm.
The team won three consecutive regular season championships from 1998 to 2000 and won the league playoffs, earning the Rogers Cup, once in 1999. They also finished as regular season runners-up in 2001, and were two-time Rogers Cup finalists in 1998 and 2000.
Despite the early success, the team's performance went downhill from 2002 onward, and the franchise eventually folded after the 2005 season.
In 1998, the Canadian Professional Soccer League was formed as a result of a merger between the Canadian National Soccer League and the stillborn Ontario Professional Soccer League with the Toronto Olympians entering the league as a new franchise. The Olympians were owned by Tom Michalopoulos, which as a result allowed the club to receive sponsorship money from Coffee Time which Michalopoulos founded. The organization brought in former Toronto Lynx general manager and assistant coach David Gee to coach the newly franchise. Gee's roster consist of a mixture of CNSL alumni and players with USL A-League experience. He brought in the likes of Eddy Berdusco, Dino Lopez, Loukas Papaconstantinou – former Lynx players Gong Lei, Ian Carter, Peyvand Mossavat, and the Toronto Supra's 1997 championship finalist squad players Paul Moore, Chris Handsor, and Gus Kouzmanis. The newly formed club received territorial rights in Scarborough and would call Birchmount stadium their home venue.
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