Storm Open Playoffs with Win
(July 31, 2000)

The last article on this web site about the Tampa Bay Storm was titled: Storm on the Road to Playoffs? After a postseason victory over Milwaukee at the Ice Palace Saturday, the Storm will now take to the road to play Orlando this Thursday.

After the last regular season game at the Ice Palace, it looked as if the Storm might have to open the playoffs away from home. A 62-52 loss to Milwaukee put them in the position of having to win two road games to host a first round playoff game. At that point they had 1-4 road record, but two nail bitting victories later, the postseason came to Tampa.

Andre Bowden became just the second player in league history to run for 1,000 yards, behind former teammate Les Barley, then a John Kaleo 1 yard TD run with 42 seconds left provided the margin in a 35-31 victory at Nashville. The team's first trip to Raleigh saw the highest scoring game in Storm history. It took Andre Bowden's third touchdown run of the night, with 18 seconds left, to secure a 72-69 victory. John Kaleo was optimistic heading into the playoffs, "Tampa Bay's always had the ingredients here. So, who knows, let's see what happens these next four games."

Thanks to the new expanded payoff format, the Storm opened the playoffs at home. Milwaukee returned to the Ice Palace, but this game featured a different result. The Storm scored the most points in team postseason history, but also allowed the most. In a 72-64 Storm victory, the teams combined for an AFL record 80 points in the second half and the second highest scoring game in league postseason history set a Storm record for total points (136). James Bowden had a big night. Bowden caught four of John Kaleo's team record tying seven touchdown passes, ran for two scores and added a two point conversion. His 38 points and six touchdowns set Storm playoff records. The were a bunch of other records set in the game, but the bottom line is the Storm advanced.

Winning in the playoffs can cure the ills of the regular season. After the season started 0-3, it was hard to imagine the Storm would be alive as one of the final eight teams in the postseason. The team won eight of the next eleven games, including six of the last seven, to finish the year 8-6. Yes, it did equal the worst record in team history and the third place finish was the first time the team ever finished lower than second. But, with each playoff victory, those memories fade.

Now, it's off to Orlando for the latest installment in the league's oldest rivalry dubbed the "War on I-4." A measure of revenge needs to be extracted on the Predators for knocking the Storm out of the playoffs the last two seasons. About a month ago, this site featured an article titled Storm-Predators, It's Still Huge. Thursday, will once again prove this fact.