CFL Beat: Playoffs – Grey Cup

It’s the final weekend of CFL action. I’ll miss Canadian football greatly when it’s done, of course – but I have so much to do between now and May 2026 with this whole new baby thing going on that I feel like I’m barely going to have time to catch my breath. At least my report cards were done this year before the deadline of this article. And this article was done before the baby got here! I’ll take the small solaces where I can find them. Now if only I can finish next week’s season finale before kiddo gets here…

In league news this week:

• The Ottawa REDBLACKS will be getting a major stadium renovation over the next few years; in a hotly contested debate at Ottawa City Council, the Lansdowne 2.0 project received final approval by a narrow 15-10 vote. Of most concern to citizens and representatives alike is the fact that this publicly-owned facility, which includes both TD Place Stadium and Arena, is giving over $400 million of taxpayer money to subsidize the construction and operation of the facilty by private company Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), a group of billionaire real estate developers that own the REDBLACKS and the Ottawa 67s major junior hockey team. Lansdowne Park is significantly improved from its previous existence as predominantly a sea of asphalt parking spots attached to a football stadium and hockey rink, but it still, in eleven years since its grand re-opening, has never turned a profit, including in the associated retail and entertainment venues on the site. I have serious doubts that throwing bad money after worse is going to turn things around, unfortunately. As part of the re-development, the north side grandstands of the stadium will be demolished, which includes the 9500-seat hockey rink beneath them; replacing them will be a new north grandstand – notably lacking a roof, which the current one has, due to cost – as well as a smaller, 5500-seat arena in the east edge of the property that is currently open parkland. There will also be some additional large condo towers included as part of the site’s redevelopment. This reduction in amenities is also putting the future of the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge in jeopardy, as the new arena would be among the smallest in the new league’s facilities, and the team has led the league in attendance through its first two seasons. Construction on the arena begins early next year; upon its completion in early 2028, the north grand stands and old arena will then be demolished and replaced.
• In a league-wide meeting earlier this week, the CFL approved its players to participate in the 2028 Summer Olympic flag football events in Los Angeles. While I think this opens a huge amount of possibilities for Canadians and aspiring hopes of gold medals, I am still curious about two main logistical considerations of how this will all work; firstly, it falls directly in the middle of the CFL regular season – something that NFL teams don’t have to contend with in the same manner due to August being when training camps are underway for the league. Second is of course the fact that flag football is its own unique sport separate from traditional tackle football, both American and Canadian rules; and not only that, flag football teams have been training, practising and competing in their own little bubble for quite some time and are probably more familiar with the game’s nuances than pro tackle players might be at the onset. Still, the media hype of some sort of Nathan Rourke vs. Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson matchup does sound pretty sweet indeed.
• Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, who led the team to five straight Grey Cup appearances and two victories, is without a contract for 2026. As such, he’s a hot commodity on the coaching market; Toronto has spoken with him already this week about filling the job after Ryan Dinwiddie departed the week before to become the dual HC & GM of the Ottawa REDBLACKS… A longtime Argo, a reunion with O’Shea certainly makes a lot of sense on paper, but there’s always the possibility that O’Shea wants to expand his focus after spending so long as the Bombers’ field chief. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have HC Scott Milanovich under contract for another season through the end of 2026, but are currently without a GM due to the unfortunate passing of Ted Goveia to cancer earlier this season; as such, the Tabbies have requested permission to speak with both O’Shea and Winnipeg assistant GM Danny McManus for the GM position. McManus is another intriguing name for the job; not only was he the QB who led the Tiger-Cats to their last Grey Cup championship in 1999, but he got his start in front office positions with Hamilton before being hired by Winnipeg in 2013. Both O’Shea and McManus worked extensively with Ted Goveia, as he was hired over from the Bombers to become the team’s GM at the end of last season.

Onto the games!

DIVISION FINAL RECAPS

EAST DIVISION FINAL

(2) Montreal 19 vs. (1) Hamilton 16: This was a knock ’em down, drag ’em out defensive battle; in an unusual turn of events, the Alouettes had a fairly difficult time sustaining drives for most of this game. With both teams often starting deep in their own territory, touchdowns were hard to come by; it took until the third quarter, when Davis Alexander found Tyler Snead for a major to take a 13-3 lead. Bo Levi Mitchell then found Shemar Bridges in the end zone to cut the lead to 13-10. After several field goals to knot the score at 16-16, Davis Alexander, dealing with a hamstring injury – the same one that sidelined him for much of this season – still managed to engineer a game-winning drive, which allowed kicker Jose Maltos Diaz to kick the winner from 45 yards out right as time expired to send the visitors to the championship game, and extended the Tiger-Cats’ Grey Cup drought to 26 years and counting.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Montreal

WEST DIVISION FINAL

(2) BC 21 vs. (1) Saskatchewan 24: It was another strongly defensive game; in frigid temperatures, receivers on both sides struggled tremendously with catching the ball – drops abounded. The Lions led for much of this game, with Nathan Rourke a one-man show once again – he threw for a TD and ran for two others – but with eight two-and-outs, the offence as a whole was sporadic for BC, from both the cold weather and the strong defensive effort put forth by Saskatchewan. The Riders had a number of two-and-outs themselves, but when the chips were down and time was running out, Trevor Harris managed to orchestrate the go-ahead game-winning drive with less than a minute left on the clock, carving up the Lions’ defence in five plays and hitting WR Tommy Nield in the end zone with just eleven seconds to go in the fourth quarter. It was a fantastic end to the game; I have no doubt the Lions will be making a title game appearance of their own very soon considering how excellent Nathan Rourke was in this game.

PICK: BC

RESULT: Saskatchewan

112th GREY CUP PREVIEW

PRINCESS AUTO STADIUM, WINNIPEG, MB

(2E) Montreal (12-8) ) vs. (1W) Saskatchewan (13-6), Sunday, November 16th, 6:00 PM EST (CTV, TSN, CBSSN, CFL+): For the first time since 2013, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are heading back to the Grey Cup. For one of the league’s best-supported franchises, their lack of success in title games (just four victories in 115 years of existence) is well-known… and fans are nervous. That said, last week’s defensive effort was one of the best we’ve seen all season from the Riders, and their top record in the CFL is still absolutely warranted. On the other side of the matchup, the Alouettes just have juice right now. Davis Alexander is now 13-0 as a starter – a truly amazing record – and while he’s absolutely held up his end of the bargain in each of those victories, the Als’ balanced defence is similarly contributing to the team’s success. Last week’s 16 points conceded against Hamilton was an excellent game, and in particular, their ability to neutralize the passing game has been key to success recently. If there’s a reason why Montreal may lost this one, it’s that Alexander may have tweaked his hamstring yet again – which would make it the third time this season he’s suffered the same injury. However, in his postgame interview last week, he stated he was absolutely going to play and that it didn’t feel as serious as the previous two times. That said, that will similarly make Montreal fans nervous, considering that hammy cost him eleven games this year. I’ll be interested to see what the game plan is for Saskatchewan – they certainly have the ability to run the ball, and lead rusher AJ Ouellette has looked excellent in recent weeks – considering this is almost certainly going to be another cold weather game, this contest may end up appearing a bit more like an old-school ground & pound game for both teams. We have had some excellent Grey Cups between these two teams before – the most memorable of these was probably the 97th, back in 2009, when Saskatchewan appeared to have successfully blocked the game-winning Montreal field goal by Damon Duval… only to be called for too many men on the field, allowing Duval to re-kick and hit successfully. I wrote a play-by-play of this game back in July 2020, trying to kill some time for the Beat back before the league cancelled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, if you want to know more about that crazy game, click the link!

PICK: Montreal

Enjoy the game, everyone.