While many listed Ottawa as the underdogs for the 104th CFL Grey Cup, others were hoping for an upset and pulling for Henry Burris.
Why – well it seems that he has been described in various ways with numerous terms being used, such as Smiling Hank, Good or Bad Hank or controversial Hank, but put those aside as today he’s known as Winning Hank.
Everyone has their choice of pro-football to watch and some in the Toronto area would rather watch the Bills play than attend a CFL game, regardless of the team playing.
In Canada it’s known to many as three-down football and this match up proved to be not only a memorable finish to the 2016 season, it was a historic finish to the season for the Stampeders.
The Stamps were coming into the game sporting a season record of 15-2-1, but the only thing that stood between them and the Grey Cup was a full four quarters of football.
The drama started long before the opening kickoff when Burris limped off the field at the end of warmups after tweaking his left knee.
Speculation was that backup Trevor Harris would start for the Redblacks, but prior to the game to the delight of many Burris took to the field and the 41-year-old showed age means nothing.
Rather than just fold it was the Redblacks with a 41 year-old QB Henry Burris that pulled off one of what many call the biggest upset’s of the year, let alone Grey Cup history.
Burris guided the Redblacks to the championship helping them become just the sixth (6th) team in league history to win the Grey Cup following a losing record of 8-9-1 during the regular season.
Burris connected on 35 of 46 passes amassing 461 yards with five TD’s in the game, becoming the first QB to surpass the 400-yard mark in a Grey Cup since Danny McManus in 1996.
Managing to pull off the win that needed overtime dating back to the Alouettes and the Eskimos to decide the season in 2005.
It was a terrible first half that did in the West Division champions, as they dug a hole too big to climb out of.
The Stamps were looking at grabbing their second championship in three seasons in the name of their fallen 23 year-old teammate Mylan Hicks.
Returner Roy Finch fumbled away a punt, while Mitchell was picked off twice with the three turnovers leading to 10 points for the Redblacks.
This gave them a 20-7 halftime lead that saw Burris pick apart the Stamps on 20-of-25 passing for 266 yards and one TD.
The second half saw the Stamps narrow the lead getting within three (33-30) with 1:38 remaining.
The Redblacks simply out played Calgary and they couldn’t complete the comeback and were forced to settle for a late field goal that gave them another chance in O/T but they simply were no match to the Redblacks.
Redblacks 39, Stampeders 33 O/T
