Weekend of Champions - Day 2

The Montreal Alouettes had the cards stacked in their favour for the 96th Grey Cup. They had home field advantage, the league's most outstanding player (Anthony Calvillo) and despite finishing the regular season with four fewer points than their opponents, they were favoured to win. Unfortunately for them, they were facing a team with something to prove in the Calgary Stampeders.

The game started as a carbon copy of the Vanier Cup one day previous as the team from Quebec ended the first quarter with a 3-0 lead. Montreal even looked dominant throughout the second quarter and seemed to be on the verge of busting the game wide open but they had trouble getting through the Stamps defence. At the end of the half, the Als were unable to expand upon their three point lead finishing the half with a 13-10 lead. Calgary made the right adjustments at halftime and came out in the second on a mission. Although they were unable to score a major, the Stamps allowed only one point against in the entire second half while converting on four field goals, including a 50-yarder for the 22-14 Grey Cup victory.

Earlier in the day another championship was battled out, this one on a soccer pitch in California. The Columbus Crew faced off against the New York Red Bulls for the 2008 Major League Soccer Cup. Columbus scored the first goal in the 31st minute but New York tied the game early in the second half. The Crew retook the lead less than 90 seconds later and never looked back, putting the game out of reach in the 82nd minute. Columbus 3, New York 1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto was named game MVP with three assists, setting a MLS Cup record. Coincidentally, Columbus was the top team at the end of the regular season. Visit MLSnet.com for a more complete story.

Weekend of Champions - Day 1

The championship weekend got underway Saturday as the Universite de Laval Rouge et Or took to the field at Ivor Wynn Stadium in Hamilton against the University of Western Mustangs in the 2008 Vanier Cup. The first quarter of the game was rather uneventful, at least on the scoreboard, as it ended with a 3-0 Laval lead. The second quarter was much more lively as Laval increased their lead to 20-0 with a two yard TD run and a lengthy punt return for a TD before Western got on the board with a field goal...check that, a penalty by Laval gave Western a second chance and they turned the field gal into a TD. The scoring of the first half ended with an 82-yard pass completion by Laval to make the lead 27-7. Both teams exchanged converted TD's to start the third quarter; 37-14 Laval. They traded another 7 points before Laval put the game away with a field goal to make it a 44-14 final.

Laval earned a spot in the national final by routing the Dinos from the University of Calgary while Western had it a bit tougher in the Mitchel Bowl winning by a mere 16 points, 28-12 against the Saint Mary's Huskies.

While the CIS football championship was being fought out the final game of the 2008 World Sledge Hockey Challenge was being played in Charlottetown, PEI. Canada finished first in the round robin took on the second team in the round robin in Norway. Canada jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Bradley Bowden scored just 23 seconds into the game. Todd Nicholson of Canada scored the second and last goal of the first almost ten hard fought minutes later. The second period was over two thirds finished before Canada took a 3-0 lead on a goal by Marc Dorion. A late goal by Greg Westlake gave Canada a 4-0 lead going into the second intermission. Norway's Rolf Pedersen laid a hard hit on Canada's Danny Verner at the end of the second that got Canada riled up some.

As a result of the hit at the end of the second, Canada started the third with a 5-minute power play (hit to the head penalty) and Norway lost the services of Pedersen as he was also given a game misconduct. The power play failed to score but Marc Dorion scored his second of the game at 7:29 of the period to extend the lead to five. Just over a minute later PEI's own Billy Bridges made it 6-0 then with just over two minutes left, Canada ended the scoring as Greg Westlake notched his second of the game. Canada's Paul Rosen earned the shutout in the 7-0 victory by stopping all eight shots by Norway. Raymond Grassi along with the rest of the defense had a great game in limiting the shots for Rosen.

Earlier in the day the USA defeated Japan 9-0 for the bronze medal lead by Brad Emerson (2G, 1A), player of the game Taylor Lipsett (2G) and Adam Page (1G, 2A).

Go Balls

Amongst a sea of red, a sign is visible as it adds a comic relief to the otherwise blue coated concrete of the second level seating at the once popular Skydome (now just another concrete eyesore of Toronto’s landscape that was renamed the Rogers Centre when Canada’s media mogul Ted Rogers and his Rogers Communication Inc. purchased the building). The sign reads Go Balls in encouragement for the Ball State Cardinals football team as they play in their first International bowl game against the Scarlet Knights from Rutgers University.

The domed stadium has not been treated to such an exciting atmosphere since the Blue Jays captured their second consecutive World Series. The Rutgers fans seem to far outnumber those supporting the opposing Ball State University as the lyrics of their fight song “The Bells Must Ring” are heard clearly above the seemingly quiet din of the Cardinals cheers. The beer lines are the only things longer than the side-lines while the anticipation of opening kick-off reaches its peak as the school’s marching bands take to the field one after the other adding to the pre-game drama.

Once the game begins, the Scarlet Knights don’t disappoint their minions and quickly take control of the game as they “march to another score”. Rutgers ends the first half of the game up 24-9 and has no intentions of letting up in the second half. Ray Rice runs for a Rutgers school record 280 yards complete with four touchdowns in his eighth straight game rushing 100-yards or more (another school record). Rice also becomes the fifth player in the history of NCAA Division 1 football to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season as he leads Rutgers to a dominant 52-30 victory and their second consecutive bowl game win.

As the gatorade splashes over the coaches at the end of the game, the chant of "one more year" echoes throughout the building while the Ball State portion of the 31,455 fans make the long walk up the stairs. As a junior, the star of the game, Ray Rice, has the option of entering the NFL draft and hence forefeiting his last year of eligible play in NCAA sports. But that question will have to wait, for now, he will enjoy every moment of the victory for that sparkling grape juice will taste even sweeter out of the International Bowl. Congratulations Rutgers, your flag will definately fly high tonight.

Canadian Football is Alive and Well

Adding the Vanier Cup to the Grey Cup weekend turned out to be a brilliant idea. I am sure having a team from the same province (Manitoba) playing in both games helped the attendance and energy some. From my understanding, the CIS championship usually draws between 10,000 and 14,000 fans (that may even be a high estimate) but almost 27,000 people witnessed this year’s edition. Next year’s Grey Cup is in Montreal and I hope they do the same as this year and link the CIS championship with it as I am sure the Montreal fans (perhaps the best fans in North America) will come out in full force. And if history is any indication, Laval, winners of three of the last five championships, will be one of the competing teams.

The multitude of fans in attendance were not disappointed either. The 2007 Vanier Cup was as exciting, or more so, than Sunday's big event. A backup quarterback started the game for Saint Mary’s and he handled himself fairly well as he opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Unfortunately for Saint Mary’s, he could not rally his team to victory. Manitoba was too determined to win and repay the Huskies for a 2001 Vanier Cup defeat. Mike Howard of the Bisons tied a Vanier Cup record by intercepting three passes to lead Manitoba to a 28-14 win.

The big show on Sunday also saw a backup quarterback get the start, and like the Vanier Cup, his efforts were not enough to get the win. The Saskatchewan Roughriders took advantage of key turnovers to come out on top of the first Grey Cup meeting with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The game remained close throughout and it wasn’t until early in the fourth quarter before the Roughriders seem to take control en route to a 23-19 victory. The 2007 Grey Cup was played in front of 52,230 at Rogers Centre.

Waiting For Godo

After scoring the first point of the game (on a missed field goal attempt), the Toronto Argos offence, defence and special teams were shut down by the Blue Bombers from Winnipeg for the rest of the first quarter and into the fourth quarter. All game the faithful in the Rogers Centre were waiting for the double blue’s offence to kick in and take over the game. With the score 19-1 and less than twelve minutes to go in the game, the Argos offence finally cracked the scoreboard with a converted touchdown and the fans voiced their hope of a late comeback. Despite the turnovers by the Winnipeg offence, the fans acted the role of the characters in Waiting for Godo because as it turned out, they were waiting for nothing. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers held on to win the East Division 19-9.

In the West Division final, the Saskatchewan Roughriders capitalized on an early fumble by B.C. Lions’ punt returner to open the scoring about six minutes into the first quarter. Further turnovers by the Lions resulted in a 13-10 deficit leading into halftime. It was more of the same in the third quarter as Saskatchewan increased their lead to 23-17 by the end of the quarter. The Roughriders add a field goal in an otherwise uneventful fourth quarter to win the West 26-17 and earn a berth in the Grey Cup. The Grey Cup will be held next Sunday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. One day prior to the CFL divisional final games, the CIS held their version of the divisional final games as the University of Western Mustangs played the University of Manitoba Bisons in the Mitchell Bowl and the Universite du Laval Rouge et Or played Saint Mary’s University Huskies in the Uteck Bowl. Defence was the theme for these bowl games as the Huskies allowed only two points on route to a 24-2 Uteck bowl victory to earn a spot at next Friday’s Desjardins Vanier Cup. Manitoba continued their perfect season (11-0) as they took a 31-5 lead into halftime on their way to a 50-20 Mitchell Bowl victory to claim the second spot at the Desjardins Vanier Cup. The Vanier Cup will be played on Friday night at 7:30 PM at Rogers Centre in Toronto as part of the Grey Cup festivities.

In other, unrelated news, the Houston Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution to claim their second straight Major League Soccer Cup Final. New England took a 1-0 lead into the second half but Houston tied the game in the 61st minute with a goal by Joseph Ngwenya. Houston took the lead for good in the 74th minute when Dwayne De Rosario scored his second of the playoffs. This game was played at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. in front of 39,859.