With the BC Lions eliminated from the 2016 Grey Cup this year, it’s time to pick your favorite team from either Ottawa or the Stampeders.
The Stamps had a solid game against the Lions and made short work of them from attending the party and the Eastern final was no different, well except the weather conditions.
The 104th edition of the CFL Grey Cup is being played at BMO Field in Toronto and given the fact that Toronto was eliminated, it’ll be interesting to see what type of crowd turns up?
We are hearing that the stadium has been temporarily expanded to seat 35,000 and that ticket prices were lowered due to a difficulty in selling tickets to the public.
For those who purchased their tickets in advance of the mid-October date, they were offered upgrades or compensation and with opening kick-off set for Sunday, ticket sales had increased.
If you have a look at the stats it does seem that the game could be a mismatch, but only on paper and not necessarily to the bookies or odds-makers.
The Stampeders had 15 victories this season, while Ottawa managed only 8, but those are only numbers and depending on several factors, it’s anyone’s game.
Redblacks defensive back Abdul Kanneh likes his teams chances and told the media “We’re not worried about the doubters and there have been doubters all year. That’s what we like. We like doubters, we like being the underdogs. We like being in that position. That way when we do beat people, we just have more people on the bandwagon.”
The CFL West Division had four teams finish the regular season managing better overall records than the Redblack who had a record of 8-9-1 but managed to earn the first seed in the East Division.
Ottawa out scored Edmonton by a 35-23 margin, while Calgary defeated the Lions 42-15 with a season record of 15-2-1.
Bombers play BC Liions
Bryan Chiu the O-line Coach for Ottawa played for Montreal and entered the 2000 Grey Cup as the favourite only to lose to the Lions that won only eight regular season games.
While they will be on opposite sides of the field, Redblacks Head Coach Rick Campbell and Stamp’s Head Coach Dave Dickenson both worked together as assistants under Calgary’s Head Coach John Hufnagel from 2012-13.
Campbell left and became the Head Coach of Ottawa while Dickenson stayed and eventually replaced Hufnagel as Calgary’s Head Coach earlier this season.
Both Coaches are after their first title as Head Coach, so it’ll be a gentle rivalry between the foes on opposite sides of the field.
Age means nothing in the world of coaching as Dickenson is 43, while Campbell if 45 and both have football in their blood-lines.
Dickenson’s Father (Bob) was a football coach while older brother (Craig) served this year as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ special-teams co-ordinator.
Dave Dickenson, is a stand-out and exceptional QB in the league and turned to coaching after 10 of his 12 pro seasons in the CFL with Calgary and the BC Lions.
He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2015, while Hugh Campbell was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Campbell’s father (Hugh) helped drive Edmonton to a record five straight Grey Cups (1978-82) as the Head Coach and also coached south of the 49th with the NFL’s Houston Oilers.
He also won a Grey Cup as a receiver with Saskatchewan Roughriders and was the CFL’s coach of the year in ’79 before serving as a long-time executive with the Eskimos.
