We’re down to the final three games of the 2022 CFL season – I certainly hope we have some entertainment left here. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate turning 30 this weekend – hope you join me in double-screening your football Sunday!

In league news this week:

• On Friday, the CFL announced the BC Lions will host the 2024 Grey Cup in Vancouver, the first time that BC Place stadium will host the CFL’s championship game since 2014. With new ownership under Amar Doman, the local interest in the CFL has really blossomed once again – the Lions have done a really good job of connecting with the team’s fan base on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley. I look forward to seeing how the festivities go – with the team playing well on the field and with the rise in attendance for the first time in a while, I hope the Lions continue to lead the way in modernizing the game and the league.
• The league also announced this year’s halftime show will be a series of country “stars”, I suppose – Jordan Davis, Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, and Canadian Josh Ross. Do I know any of their tunes? No. Is it going to cater to a diverse audience to try and gain widespread appeal for the game? Also no. Inexplicable decision to leave the announcement so late, and to get such lacklustre names considering in recent years we’ve had stars like Shania Twain and Bryan Adams lead the festivities. Indigenous country artist Teagan Littlechief will sing the anthem in Cree, English, and French – which I do think is a cool way to provide representation for Indigenous peoples of Canada and to perhaps to get football to make some further inroads with the Indigenous communities of this nation.
• The Toronto Argonauts will open the upper east side of BMO Field due to high ticket demand for the East Final – which is unusual for them, but a positive thing to see. Brampton hip-hop artist Roy Woods will do the halftime show for the team – for young rap fans of the GTA, he’s a known popular commodity, having signed with Drake’s record label back in 2015.

Onto the games!

DIVISION SEMIFINAL RECAPS

EAST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Hamilton 17 vs. (2) Montreal 28: The Alouettes’ defence came to play in a serious way, and the front seven just pummelled the Tiger-Cats into submission. Montreal racked up six sacks on quarterbacks Dane Evans and Matthew Shiltz, while limiting the run game to just 37 yards – a really impressive effort. They also forced Evans and Shiltz to each throw interceptions, and forced fumbles on both QBs – turnovers, which dogged Hamilton through much of their season, proved to be their Achilles’ heel, and it ended their season. Montreal’s offence was tidy enough in its time on the field – Walter Fletcher led the ground game with seven carries for 77 yards and a TD, while former All-Star William Stanback, still rounding into form after missing so much of the season with a broken ankle, had ten for 66. Trevor Harris went 27-34 for 243 yards, a TD, and an interception off of a tipped pass. Dominique Davis added a QB sneak into the end zone for a TD.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Calgary 16 vs. (2) BC 30: You can’t sugar-coat it: the Stamps just fell apart. For a team known for playing disciplined, rigorous football, it was very weird to see penalties costing them so dearly throughout this game – of BC’s six scoring drives, four of those came as a direct result of an inopportune Calgary penalty. The run game, the Stampeders’ bread and butter, similarly fell apart, with just 83 total yards gained on the ground. Full credit to the Lions for sticking to their game plan – with such staunch defence (which, in addition to stopping the run, drove Jake Maier from under centre due to his ineffectiveness in passing), the door was open for the BC offence to take over. Nathan Rourke’s foot is clearly not 100% – but he didn’t commit any turnovers and still racked up 321 passing yards and two touchdowns, revitalizing the passing game and elevating the Lions to a home playoff win. Enjoy him while he’s here, Lions fans. Bum foot aside, hard not to see him making the jump to the NFL very soon.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: BC

BYE: (1) Toronto (11-7), (1) Winnipeg (15-3)

DIVISION FINAL PREVIEWS

EAST DIVISION FINAL

(2) Montreal (10-9) vs. (1) Toronto (11-7), Sunday, November 13th, 1:00 PM EST (TSN, ESPNews): The Argos might have RB Andrew Harris back for this game. While AJ Ouellette has emerged as a really solid, reliable RB in Harris’ absence – and I would expect him to still take the bulk of the workload on – it would be a useful thing to have more than one rusher that the Toronto offence can trust. Rushing aside, the Argos’ bread and butter this season has been their defence, and I fully expect them to be the deciding factor in this game. Montreal faced some defensive struggles early in the season, but they really appear to have gelled much better as a unit later this year – and coming off of such an impressive performance last week against Hamilton, the idea of going up against an immobile QB like McLeod Bethel-Thompson must seem quite appealing right now. Still, they’ll have their work cut out for them – Toronto won their season series two games to won, with each of their wins coming by just a single point; had they not rested their starters in Week 21, it’s quite reasonable to assume they could’ve taken the third one too. The Argos may not play the most entertaining football, but they seem to have an effective system that’s paid dividends these last two years, with two straight trips to the East Final. Maybe this is the year where they can take things to the next level.

PICK: Toronto

WEST DIVISION FINAL

(2) BC (13-6) vs. (1) Winnipeg (15-3), Sunday, November 13th, 4:30 PM EST (TSN, ESPNews): Nathan Rourke has only faced Winnipeg once this season – all the way back in Week 4, which the Bombers won by a 43-22 margin. He still threw three TDs in that game. These are the two clear-cut best teams in the CFL this year – it’s a shame that we’re forced to see them duke it out in the West Final, rather than the Grey Cup itself. Rourke’s foot, still recovering from plantar fasciitis, somewhat limited him last game – I am curious to see if another week will give him a little bit more explosiveness when rolling out of the pocket. In addition to two dynamite QBs in Rourke and Zach Collaros, we also see two teams with an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver; despite this, I still think it’s unlikely that this turns into a shootout due to the nature of both defensive units, particularly with the strength of their ability to defend against the pass. If, for some reason, it does turn into a track meet, we might see one of the highest scoring West Finals in history. Great for everyone without a rooting interest in the game – murder for Litre_Cola, BC Dick, and our wayward PortPalPat, I suppose.

PICK: Winnipeg

Enjoy the games, everyone.