Grey cup: Transforms city
The big game was here, where were you?
STEVE BOHRN STAFF
It’s this time every year that one Canadian city suddenly gains a new life. Parties take place where there were none before, and the city gets a lot busier almost overnight, hotels are impossible to book, and bars, don’t even try getting in after 9 p.m..
Grey Cup week is, simply put, the greatest party of the year in Canada. Oh, and there was some football game played to boot.
Winnipeg was chosen as the host city for the 94th Grey Cup in March of 2005. Since then, for the past 18 months, the anticipation has been brewing. As the CFL season wound down, anticipation continued to build, climaxing on Nov. 12 when the stage was finally set for the CFL’s final game.
This year, the Montreal Alouettes represented the Eastern Division, and matched up against the Western Division champs, the B.C. Lions. With the match-up set, there was only one thing left for people from all across Canada, some who had their Grey Cup tickets for months, to do: party!
And party they did. Winnipeg was transformed into a hotspot for all kinds of activity. Concerts including Kenny Rogers, Doc Walker, and the PowerBall, football-themed parties all over the place, and just about every social gathering place had something going on to commemorate the occasion.
It is estimated that more than 15,000 people came to the city to partake in the festivities and watch the highest-touted Canadian sporting event all year. There was so much demand for tickets to the game in fact, that they had to add an entire new section of seating on the south end of the stadium to accommodate the huge crowd.
So with all the excitement throughout the week, the crowd can be forgiven for reaching a fever pitch before the coin was even flipped to begin the actual Grey Cup game.
As the game began, things, if it’s possible, got even crazier. Fans of both the Alouettes and Lions, and fans of the CFL in general, were absolutely deafening inside CanadInns Stadium.
Of course, there was a football game to be played. The game began slowly, but excitement built slowly through the quarters to an exciting final-minute finish.
Montreal’s offence sputtered throughout the same, starting out with several two-and-out busted possessions. The Lions didn’t fare much better, struggling to put the ball in the end zone, instead having to settle for a total of six Paul McCallum field goals.
In fact, each team scored only one major apiece. Montreal scored on a two-yard Robert Edwards run, and B.C. scored a 25-yard Ian Smart scamper.
This game was totally dominated by both defences, as the teams played up to their billing as the best in the league. Veteran quarterbacks Anthony Calvillo and Dave Dickenson were plagued by pressure all night and neither offence ever really got into a rhythm.
After building a strong 16-0 lead at half-time, B.C. allowed the Alouettes to come back in the second half. The game turned, however, with the Alouettes in position to score, when the Lions made a huge goal-line stand that forced Edwards to fumble the ball. The Lions recovered, erasing all hopes of an Alouettes comeback.
As the game went on several historic marks were broken. McCallum’s six field goals equalled a record held by three other kickers, including Sean Fleming of the Edmonton Eskimos.
B.C. would wind out the clock, and win their fifth Grey Cup in franchise history with a final score of 25-14.
In a losing effort, Calvillo also eclipsed Doug Flutie’s record for the most career yards in a Grey Cup final, while his favorite target, Ben Cahoon, also broke the all-time Grey Cup receptions record of 29, making it 31 with his 11 catches for 137 yards.
The game was a fitting end to the week that was in Winnipeg, containing as much excitement as could be felt throughout the city.
Now the preparations begin for next year and everyone will be gunning for the champs. The 95th Grey Cup will take place in Toronto, and the party will be just as good next time around.
