Completed seasons major victory for football in Canada

Andrew Harris (#33) and the Bombers are champs again.

Those involved with football in Canada should be popping the champagne corks to toast the completion of the 2021 season.

That has to be considered a major victory.

The campaign was capped in spectacular fashion on Sunday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers downed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-25 in overtime to capture the Grey Cup as CFL champions. A sellout crowd of 26,324 spectators at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., were treated to a highly entertaining contest, even though their hometown Tiger-Cats weren’t able to win.

Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros was named the Grey Cup MVP. He forever cemented himself as a hero in Winnipeg having quarterbacked the Bombers to Grey Cup wins the last two times the trophy was awarded.

Bombers receiver Nic Demski was named the Grey Cup’s most valuable Canadian player, and it seemed fitting that award went to a Winnipeg product who is a proud grad of the University of Manitoba Bisons football team.

Had the Tiger-Cats made one or two more plays, they would have been walked away with the Grey Cup. With six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Tiger-Cats kicker Michael Domagala booted a 13 yard field goal to create a 25-25 tie and force overtime.

One play before Domagala’s kick, a pass to the end zone that was tipped by Bombers defensive back Deatrick Nichols and still found its way to the hands of Tiger-Cats receiver Jaelon Acklin. Acklin was unable to make a catch, which would have allowed the Tiger-Cats to win the game.

In overtime, Collaros threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to veteran receiver Darvin Adams. Winnipeg sealed victory on an interception by linebacker Kyrie Wilson on Hamilton’s ensuing OT possession.

The Roughriders could host games without capacity limits.

Of course in a contest that was as thrilling as Sunday’s Grey Cup, people could point to a handful of other plays that could have changed the outcome of that game.

In the overall big picture, it was incredible the football season in Canada got to this point. With the world coming into the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with the first shutdown occurring in North American in March of 2020, the entire CFL season was lost in 2020.

The Bombers had beaten the Tiger-Cats 33-12 in the 2019 Grey Cup before the 2020 CFL campaign was nixed.

Actually, there was a decent amount of speculation thinking that the CFL might not comeback at all.

The Vanier Cup game, which crowns the U Sports football champion, was cancelled in 2020, and most U Sports conferences didn’t take the field. The CJFL campaign in 2020 was also cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tackle football was played in Canada in 2020, but those contests happened in pockets here and there mainly at the high school level.

When the CFL season kicked off on August 5 with the Bombers beating the Tiger-Cats 19-6 in Winnipeg, there were no guarantees the season would be completed.

When the Saskatchewan Roughriders downed the British Columbia Lions 33-29 on August 6, a sellout crowd of 33,350 was on hand at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Sask. Up to that point in time, that gathering was the largest crowd that had watched a sporting event in Canada since March of 2020.

Mason Nyhus and the Huskies went to the Vanier Cup.

The CFL was the first league in Canada where some teams were able to start hosting games at the start of the season without capacity limits since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020.

By the end of the campaign, most teams played without capacity limits, but showing proof of COVID-19 vaccination was standard practice.

The CFL successfully completed a season where each team played a 14-game regular season and the circuit held playoffs in its standard format where champions of the East and West Divisions met for the Grey Cup.

In U Sports, the Vanier Cup was handed out on December 4 in Quebec City, Quebec, when the University of Western Ontario Mustangs downed the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 27-21 at Stade Telus – Universite Laval.

Out of the four conferences that make up U Sports, three played a shortened six game regular season as opposed to an eight-game regular campaign, but the season got done. The football for the most part was outstanding.

Also on December 4, the CJFL crowned a champion as the Langley Rams blanked the London Beefeater 37-0 to win the Canadian Bowl at Western Alumni Stadium in London, Ontario. 

The CJFL had many exciting contests and the Prairie Football Conference and Ontario Football Conference held their usual eight-game regular seasons.

The Saskatoon Hilltops 33-31 victory over the Edmonton Huskies in a PFC semifinal played on November 7 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field will always be an all-time CJFL classic. Hilltops receiver Dillan Heintz caught the winning touchdown with 21.3 seconds to play in that contest.

Dillan Heintz scores the winning TD in a PFC semifinal.

With all that said, there are warts and worries when it comes to the game in Canada. In the CFL, attendances across the league for most of the season have to be a concern outside of the draws that came for a handful of games.

Adverse weather still seems to push a lot of fans away for games late in the campaign, and this had been a pre-existing problem for about five to six years at all levels of the sport.

There are other concerns, but those can be bantered about on another day.

After the exciting Grey Cup that was played on Sunday, those involved in football in Canada get to feel like they are with the WWE faction The New Day, where everything is coming up rainbows and unicorns and it is all about the power of positivity.

The fact the football season in Canada was played from start to completion should be celebrated.

Ochs takes final bow at Hilltops team awards banquet

Mason Ochs picked up Hilltops team awards on Saturday.

Mason Ochs took one last hurrah with the Saskatoon Hilltops during the team’s annual awards banquet which was held around the lunch hours on Saturday at the Delta Marriott Hotel.

The Hilltops all-time great took home the team’s Courtice Inspiration Award and the Drs. Landa-Doig Awards as the club’s most outstanding graduating player. Ochs was also awarded the Sadownick Family Scholarship and a Hilltop Club Scholarship.

The star left tackle was both a PFC all-star and a CJFL all-Canadian all-star in the last four straight CJFL seasons.

The graduate of Saskatoon’s Tommy Douglas Collegiate Tigers football team was named the PFC’s most outstanding offensive lineman for this past season.

Defensive end Riece Kack captured the Past President’s Trophy as the team’s rookie of the year. Boundary corner Jared Giddings claimed the Blue and Gold Award for outstanding commitment to the team.

Graduating right tackle Jonathan Chisholm won the Ron Atchison “True Grit” award, Konner Johnson claimed the Don and Jim Seaman Memorial Award as the club’s top linebacker and defensive tackle Jaxon Funk captured the Ray Syrnyk Trophy as the team’s top lineman.

The Hilltops handed out a number of scholarships on Saturday too.

Funk took the Harold Mitchelmore Memorial Scholarship and the Carl Hoath Memorial Affinity Credit Union Scholarship.

Lachlan Horsley and Wade Keating were recipients of the Bill Trout Memorial Scholarship and Boston Davidsen was awarded the TCU Financial Group Scholarship.

Jonathan Chisholm won the Ron Atchison “True Grit” award.

The Don McDonald Memorial Scholarship went to Brady Fossen, the EY Scholarship was awarded to Ben Marce, the Dr. Gryba Academic Scholarship was given to Brant Morrow and the Rempel Brothers Construction Scholarship went to Matt Wist.

Ethan Paslowski and Jayson Kehler were recipients of the SMF Joe Baier Memorial/Tundra Electric Scholarship.

The recipients of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation Scholarships were Dillan Heintz, Evan Mantyka, Dylan Cook and Presley Peterson.

Football Saskatchewan Scholarships went to Giddings, Ethan Godson, Erik Barsness and Noah Flaman.

Evan Mantyka claimed the Ignite Conditioning Scholarship.

The Evan Kyba Memorial Scholarship went to Josh Wiebe and Carter Wingert.

Kinsmen Club Scholarships were awarded to Johnson, Boden Marley and Daylen Hartz.

Along with Ochs, Hilltops Club Scholarships went to Johnson, Funk, Giddings, Godson, Morrow, Wist, Matt Turple, Justin Adamko, Connor Bevans, Trent Kehrig, Pavel Lalonde, Jordan Levesque, Reace Michnik, Zach Moehler and Andy Scrivens.

The Hilltops posted a 6-2 regular season record in 2021, won the PFC title and concluded their campaign falling in a CJFL semifinal contest to the Langley Rams 17-14.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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