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.

Hometown Hero an All-Star

New England Revolution and MLS all-star team coach, Steve Nicol, chose Jim Brennan from the Toronto FC to be one of the reserves for the All-Star game to be played next Thursday at BMO Field in Toronto. With this selection, the first member of Toronto FC can also claim to be the first Toronto FC player to be selected for an all-star team. The all-star team coach selected five reserves for the game while the commissioner selected an additional two. One of the commissioner's picks was Scarborough, ON native Dwayne De Rosario of the Houston Dynamo. While Brennan's selection marks his first selection to an all-star team, De Rosario will suit up for his third straight. The MLS All-Stars will take on the West Ham United club on July 24 at 7:00 PM Eastern. The game will air on ESPN, Telefutura, and CBC.

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.

Streak Ends at Four

After going 0-4-0 to start the season and being held scoreless in all four contests, Toronto FC finally earned their first win, stopping their losing streak at four. Being outscored 10-0 in their first four games, Toronto FC was in desperate need of a goal and Danny Dichio fulfilled that need in the 24th minute of their fifth game last Saturday afternoon. Toronto FC went on to score two more goals in that contest en route to a 3-1 victory. That win stopped the longest losing streak in Toronto FC history at four and became the first win in their current two-game winning streak, also the longest in club history (don’t worry fans, the team is new so there will be streaks lasting longer…on both ends).

Toronto FC earned their second straight win Wednesday night, again in front of their home crowd, by shutting out the Houston Dynamo 1-0. The two wins have propelled the team out of the league basement and has, more importantly, given the team and their fans hope.

A New Season, A New Hope

As many professional sports leagues are in the midst of their playoffs, some of the smaller amateur (?) leagues are underway or are set to begin. The OLA and Can-Am Senior “B” lacrosse leagues are heading into their fourth week of play while the Intercounty Baseball League began this past weekend. Not to forget the Major League Soccer league that started April 7.

In OLA action, the Ajax-Pickering Rock and the Brooklin Merchants are atop the East division with a 2-1 record while in the West, the defending President’s Cup Champion Wellington Aces are leading with a 3-1 record. The host team for the President’s Cup, the Owen Sound Woodsmen, is off to a slow start losing all three of their games so far. The OLA season consists of a 14 game schedule for each of the six competing teams with seven home games and seven games on the road. The OLA regular season ends on June 30 while the playoffs will be over by August 15 at the latest. The Can-Am season is two games longer than the OLA with the nine teams playing a total of 16 games (eight at home and eight on the road). Tonawanda Braves are leading the league with a perfect 3-0 record while the Newton Golden Eagles and the Six Nations Sting are close behind with a perfect 2-0 record.

Turning to baseball, the Intercounty Baseball League began play this past weekend with three games Saturday and four more on Sunday. The result of these games: the Guelph Royals are tied with the defending champions Brantford Red Sox at 2-0 while the Hamilton Thunderbirds and the Kitchener Panthers are sitting in the cellar with an 0-2 record. The IBL consists of nine teams scattered throughout Southern Ontario playing 36 games each, including several scheduled double headers. The regular season goes until July 22 and includes an all-star game on July 7 in Brantford.

Finally, Major League Soccer, with the new addition Toronto FC, is already a month into their season. The league leaders after about five games played are the Kansas City Wizards in the East at 4-1-0 while the Houston Dynamo and the Colorado Rapids both have an even 2-2-1 record in the West. Toronto FC is in last place overall with a 0-4-0 record while Real Salt Lake only has three ties in five games for second worst overall and bottom rank in the West.

The OLA Junior “B” lacrosse season has also started and is into its fourth week. Other seasons starting this month include Major League Lacrosse starting May 12, OLA Junior “A” lacrosse starting this weekend and Major Series Lacrosse starting May 24. This summer is sure to be packed with sports. The only question is which event to attend?