MONTREAL- Like a kid in the candy store, Shea Emry took the box he had been presented with, ran up the stairs, disappeared behind a door at the Chalet on Mont-Royal and went into the bathroom.

When he finally appeared, what seemed like an eternity later, he couldn’t conceal his ecstasy.

“I’m speechless,” said Emry, 24, who became the Alouettes’ starting middle linebacker in only his second Canadian Football League season. “Ask me my thoughts in a couple of hours.”

Emry, please understand, could probably count on the fingers of one hand - with plenty left over - the amount of times he has been rendered speechless. But that’s what winning a Grey Cup championship will do. And Friday night, during a ceremony that seemed to last forever, he and his fellow teammates received the fruits of their labour, slightly more than six months after the Als’ come-from-behind 28-27 victory against Saskatchewan. Montreal trailed, 27-11, early in the fouth quarter.

“I had to look at it in the bathroom, and now I’ve got to put it away,” Emry said. “It’s crazy. It brings the feelings back again.”

Championship rings in pro sports, by nature, are large and ostentatious. And the Als’ latest bauble appears even bigger than the one they received in 2002.

The ring, made of white gold, features 17 diamonds - the amount of wins the team recorded in 2009. Montreal is encrusted in diamonds across the face. Six jewels stand out on the face - two diamonds, signifying the two titles under owner Robert Wetenhall; two rubies and two sapphires representing the Als’ other championships. One side of the ring’s shank features each player’s name and jersey number, while the other side includes mountains, since the game was won in Calgary, a goal post with a marquis diamond football, signifying the winning field goal.

The ring, which cost approximately $3,000, was designed by four players with the most tenure - Bryan Chiu, Anthony Calvillo, Scott Flory and Anwar Stewart - along with general manager Jim Popp. Every member of the organization, no matter their title or contribution, received one. Even rookie defensive-lineman Nickolas Morin-Soucy, a 2009 draft choice, who suffered a season-ending injury at training camp and failed to play one game.

The Als’ organization has always conducted itself with class. By holding the festivities at this time - with training camp workouts beginning tomorrow morning at Bishop’s University - both Keron Williams and Davis Sanchez, no longer with the team, could attend. Both signed with British Columbia as free agents this winter.

Both players flew to Montreal Friday afternoon and are scheduled to return to the west coast Saturday morning.

“It feels great, like a big family reunion,” said Williams, a defensive tackle. “This is a great group and to see them again feels no different than winning the Grey Cup in November.”

Sanchez, too, was embraced by his former teammates. “I don’t feel any different than if I was going to camp with them tomorrow. Or lining up against them in three weeks,” the cornerback said.

The Als also brought in former quarterback Tracy Ham and rush-end Elfrid Payton. Both are being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame this September. Running back Mike Pringle had also been expected but failed to appear due to logistics.

“Some people are foundation builders, while others finish the work,” said Ham, who played for Montreal at the end of his career, from 1996-99, and will enter the Hall as an Alouette although he spent the majority of his career with Edmonton.

“We established a winning tradition,” added the 46-year-old, now an account manager for Sony Electronics and based out of Atlanta. “We had several chances to get to the championship game, but didn’t. Still, to see how far they’ve come from, I’m ecstatic.”

Owner Wetenhall failed to address the assembled media, but waxed poetic while lavishing praise on the players, the GM and head coach Marc Trestman.

“You men finished an incredible year and you finished it with bringing the Grey Cup back to Montreal,” he said. “People will remember that game for decades to come. You were so far behind, but everybody did their part. Everybody. You all, in the end, did it.

“The motto last year was everything matters. And, in the last nine minutes in Calgary, everything (italics) did (italics) matter. The Grey Cup’s here, you are here looking over the city of Montreal and you symbolize champions.”

There’s never a right or wrong time to hand out championship rings. In 2003, for example, the ceremony took place eight days before the Als’ regular-season opener. President Larry Smith, who wasn’t part of the organization when it triumphed in 2002, said the timing was predicated on availability. But it also officially closed the book on last season.

“We thought it was appropriate before (training camp) as a reminder to the players of the potential that exists,” Smith explained. “We’re the 2009 champs, but not the champs of anything in 2010. Every team’s in the hunt, and it starts tomorrow.

“It’s an honour to achieve this objective. Now we need to achieve another, put it in the back of our minds quickly and build new memories.”

No CFL team has won consecutive Grey Cups since Toronto, in 1996 and ‘97. “To keep that edge is very difficult,” said Smith, a former Montreal running back.

hzurkowsky@thegazette.canwest.com

Read more: http://bit.ly/bp2Di3