Saskatchewan will host the 2013 Grey Cup

So the province of Saskatchewan will be hosting the 2013 Grey Cup which will be their third time to host the game since Earl Grey donated the Cup in 1909 and has been award to the best Football team in the country and it will be the 101st time the cup will be award. An announcement to make it official will be made on October 13 with CFL commissioner Mark Cohon in attendance along with Premier Brad Wall, the Mayor of Regina Pat Flacco, and from the Riders chairmen of the board Roger Brandvold and CEO Jim Hopson.

The first time was in 1995 and it was a very cosy affair as people coming into the city for the game taken in by residence of Regina because Regina at the time did not have enough hotels to hold the fans that came in for the game. The game also mark the first and only time that a team from the US came over the boarder and took the Grey Cup back over the boarder with them when the Baltimore Stallions beat the Calgary Stampeders 37 to 20 with Tracey Ham putting up 213 yards through the air and was named MVP of the game. The wind at Taylor field got as strong as 85 KM a hour and the game ended up being called the wind bowl.

The second time around was in 2003 by which time the city Regina had a number of hotels with lots of rooms and where more able to support the mop of fans coming into the city for the all week party leading up to the 91 Grey Cup and Edmonton Eskimos beat the Montreal Alouettes (who were the Stallions who had moved to Montreal right after winning the Grey Cup in '95) 34-22. Jason Trucker was award the MVP of the game with a 7 catch performance for 132 yards and Ricky Ray went 22 for 32 for 301 while the all-time CFL passer Anthony Calvillo went 22 of 37 for 371 yards and Montreal RB Mike Pringle who is the all-time rushing leader broke the all-time rushing yards record in the Grey Cup which was 359 by Leo Lewis.

The 2013 Grey Cup will be an extreme party and it is about time that Saskatchewan host another Grey Cup and they are left behind by the need for Cities like Toronto and Vancouver who need the cash cow more than the Riders do to survive in the league.

Go Riders Go

Tom Mehegan

Greg Marshall and the roughriders get a rude awakening

The Saskatchewan Roughriders faced the Edmonton Eskimos in their home opener at Mosiac Stadium in Regina Saskatchewan and the teams were meet with hail the size of snowball at the time when the game was to start but the game was delayed almost 10 minutes to get the hail of the field. After the pasce of the game went smoothly but the Eskimos came out and beat the Roughriders defense like a rent moue as Eskimos quarterback Rick Ray did what he wanted against the defense the Roughriders put in front of him as his receivers were wide open as he hooked up with Jason Barnes twice in the first quarter that sandwiched a Roughriders drive that was capped off by a 14 yard td pass from Darian Durant to Efrem Hill and the Eskimos lead 14-7 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter the Eskimos added to their lead with two David Duval and then a TD run from 5 yards out by Daniel Porter made it 27-10 but then the Roughriders came back into the game with 10 straight points capped off by a Wes Cates TD leap into the end zone as he had a 24 yard TD run to cut the Eskimos lead to 27-20 at half time.

In the third quarter the Eskimos demonstrated their muscle in the second by continuing to pick a part the riders defense by scoring when Ray hooked up with former roughrider Adarius Bowman on a 4 yard TD pass and then another former roughrider Kerry Joesph came off the bench and scored on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter to give the Eskimos a 42-20 lead and then finally Darain Durant put up a second half score hooking up with Jason Clermount to make the finally score 42-28 Eskimos.

Darian Durant completed a lot of passes but it was the 2 interception that hurt the roughriders offense along with the lack of defense to get a 2 and out as they only had 3 or 4 in the entire game which means that defensive coach Hall will need to work with his defense on assignments before the next game and hopefully the injured defensive players soon.

Durant is now 3 and 5 against the Eskimos which is the other losing record against the 8 teams in the CFL besides Montreal who he is 2 and 3

Tom Mehegan

Roughriders Canadian draft 2011

CFL Draft 2011

The Saskatchewan Roughriders decided to go out in the 2011 Canadian draft and go a little younger on the offensive line by picking up both linemen Matt O'Donnell (Queen's) and Alexander Krausnick-Groh (Calgary) which is great because over the next few season the Offensive line will a lot younger and these picks could fill in sooner than later. They also went after kicker Christopher Milo (Laval) who may be able to fill in for Luca Conga who may not be ready to start the season and he has had to kick in cold weather which is needed as it can get cold and snowy in the praire winters along with picking up Kyle Exume (Bishop's) in the 5 round to be a special team player being able to run down the field and tackle the returner.

The Roughriders with their first pick (12 overall) choose Safety Craig Butler (Western Ontario) and had 48.5 and 5 interceptions last season and will hopefully be able to eased onto the defense and fill into one of the safety spots as a starter down the line.

The also traded their 6 round draft pick to Eric Tilman and the Edmonton Eskimos for RB Graeme Bell and he can be like another kickoff/punt guy covering down field and can be one of the guys filling for Wes Cates when he needs a blow.

Canada Day is coming and that means the beginning of another CFL season

Tom Mehegan