Former teammates there for Montford’s big night
Eskimos on hand as Hall of Fame player inducted into Tiger-Cats Wall of Honour
The Edmonton Eskimos were on hand to see one of their own inducted into the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Wall of Honour at Tim Hortons Field on Thursday.
While Joe Montford played the majority of his 12-year Hall-ofFame CFL career with the Ticats, the defensive end finished off in Edmonton as a member of the 2005 Grey Cup champions.
“That’s kind of cool because one of my former teammates, Tim (Prinsen), who was No. 53 when I got there, he was so willing to give me the number,” Montford said of the former Eskimos offensive lineman, who is now the club’s running backs coach. “And for me, I’m real humble. I knew he built up that number before I got there. That’s the CFL.
“A lot of times, people are like, ‘Give me a couple of dollars for this number,’ and they get into the politics and stuff that isn’t real. But for us, Hamilton was my city, but my second child was born in Edmonton. She’s half-Canadian. Canada is my second home and Edmonton is another part of me, which is a great part.”
Besides Prinsen, Montford also played with former Eskimos quarterback Jason Maas, now the team’s head coach.
“He was a formidable force when you played against him, you always knew where he was,” said Maas, who was traded to the Ticats in 2006 — Montford’s final year in the league. “Playing against him, I had a lot of faith in our O -line, but you still knew no matter how great we were on the O -line that he was going to get opportunities in the game just because he was that great of a player.”
CELEBRATION TIME
Thanks, in part, to leagueleading receiver Duke Williams’ post-touchdown antics, the CFL announced ahead of Thursday’s game it is relaxing its stance on how players are allowed to celebrate touchdowns.
Things came to a head last week when the Eskimos receiver was penalized 10 yards for objectionable conduct after crawling through an A-frame advertising board in the end zone with a couple of teammates. However, when Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver Darvin Adams celebrated a touchdown by commandeering a TV camera, there was no penalty.
The blanket prohibition on the use of props has now been lifted, provided nothing is hidden in a player’s uniform or a field goal post, is discriminatory, mimics a weapon or delays the game.
“The stakes in our league are very high and the intensity level is second to none,” said CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie. “But at the end of the day, football is a game and it should be fun for players and fun for fans.”
DONE DEAL
Whatever is going on in Montreal, Chris Williams doesn’t have to worry about it.
The Ticats receiver was part of the blockbuster deal on July 22 that sent Johnny Manziel, Tony Washington and Landon Rice to the Alouettes in return for him, Jamaal Westerman and a first-round draft pick in 2020 and 2021.
On Thursday, the Alouettes released Rice after just four games, as his salary was due to be guaranteed following Montreal’s game Friday.
“It seemed like it was a big deal,” Williams said of the trade that sent him back to the Ticats club he made his CFL debut with back in 201012, before spending the next two seasons in the NFL. “When you’re in this business, it comes with the territory. You’ve got to be prepared for everything. It was the first time I had an in-season trade, so it was a little different in that regard.
“But it means that somebody wants you, they value your service and they value what you can do.”
Which isn’t to say the Als didn’t feel the same way about Rice. Presumably there are salary cap factors at play for the 1-7 team.
“For those guys over there, it was coming off a season where they lost 15 games,” said Williams, who spent the 2017 season with the B.C. Lions. “It wasn’t a good feeling. You could feel the tension and you could feel the angst to just go and get the win.
“Then, when we beat Saskatchewan, you could feel it kind of let loose and get off of everybody’s chest. Things went wrong and we ended up not winning another close game and, all of a sudden, boom, I’m on a different team.”