GREY CUP, SNOW GO TOGETHER IDEALLY
A winter wonderland is perfect backdrop for our uniquely Canadian spectacle
There’s only one thing better than a Grey Cup with snow, that’s a Grey Cup with snow followed by the Monday morning musings and mediations on the world of sports.
Before Sunday, the last Grey
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Cup snow bowl came back in 1996 in Hamilton when Toronto and Doug Flutie edged Edmonton and Danny McManus in a thrilling 43-37 shootout.
To be clear, Sunday’s contest in Ottawa wasn’t a shootout. But, like all snowy Cups, it was thrilling. Great plays. Crazy plays. Moments of inspiration. Moments of desperation. And 27 momentum changes before it all came down to an end zone interception by the Argos’ Matt Black, which followed a lastminute Lirim Hajrullahu field goal which followed a 109-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Toronto’s Cassius Vaughn when the Argos looked deader than Sonny Corleone.
I mean, it’s exhausting just describing it and that was just the last couple of minutes.
There was a bunch of other stuff. Here’s a good one, Vaughn’s touchdown was the Argos’ second 100-yard plus touchdown play in the game. The first, a 100-yarder to DeVier Posey, was the longest play from scrimmage in the 105-year history of the big game. But you get the gist. It all added up to a 27—24 Argos’ win and after almost 50 years, payback for Leon McQuay.
As for the elements, it would have been a great game regardless of the environment. But there was something about the snow and the setting in my hometown which only enhanced the drama. It was everything we love about the CFL and some of the stuff we’re not crazy about, but this one will be remembered.
That’s the ultimate measuring stick of a great championship game.
The Canucks could have
■ used one more save from Jacob Markstrom on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan but the faithful shouldn’t get too emotional about the 4-3 shootout loss. There were enough positives in this game to mitigate against the loss of a point. The most notable of these was the play of the Sedins and Loui Eriksson, who scored the first goal, generated nine shots on Henrik Lundqvist and were around the Rangers’ goalie most of the game.
If that trio can produce consistently, it changes a lot of things for the Canucks. The Horvat line has carried the offence to date but the twins and Eriksson will draw more favourable matchups and should have opportunities to produce.
There’s an adage in hockey that you can always check a one-line team. Two scoring lines is a different proposition and Sunday’s game suggested the Sedins might not be done just yet.
Then there’s Jake Virtanen,
■ now the NHL’s most-talked about three-goal scorer.
Look, Travis Green isn’t stupid. He can see the same things we all see with Virtanen — the size, the speed and the shot. Green also had the 21-year-old winger for a year in Utica and, presumably, knows him better than most.
While we’re presuming, the guess here is Green believes Virtanen still needs to mature in both his game and his approach to the game; needs to learn what it means to be a pro on a night-in night-out basis. The kid remains a work in progress but games like Sunday — one goal, five shots — should accelerate that process.
At least you hope that’s the case because, as it is, playing him 10 minutes a game just doesn’t make any sense.
One more Canucks’ item.
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There were some encouraging signs before this season but there was also a belief this team was at least a year away from turning a corner.
That means they were staring down the barrel of another bottom-five finish. That would have meant more empty seats and further fan alienation.
It’s hard to see how Jim Benning would have survived another season like that.
But based on what we’ve seen so far, the rebuild appears to have been accelerated by a year. We’re not going through the whole organization but, based on what they have in Vancouver and what they have in the pipeline, there is ample reason to be optimistic about the future.
On that basis, Benning has earned a contract extension.
Randy Ambrosie is handling
■ the David Braley question as well as can be expected but the CFL’s rookie commissioner gave a telling answer when he was asked about the B.C. Lions owner before Sunday’s Dominion final.
“We’re talking to David about that,” Ambrosie said.
Translation: Ambrosie is taking an active interest in the Lions’ sale and Braley will be, ahem, encouraged, to resolve the situation. The commish can see this isn’t a healthy situation for the league or the franchise. So can most people.
There’s been a lot of chatter
■ around Ty Ronning and his goal-scoring exploits with the Vancouver Giants, but the player to watch on that team is 16-yearold defenceman Bowen Byram. A prototypical modern blue-liner, Byram has poise, skill and size and, barring injury, projects as a top-10 pick in 2019. The best part? He figures to a Giant for a while yet.
And finally, the Toronto Argos
■ first won the Grey Cup in 1914. The Calgary Stampeders, by way of comparison, are arrivistes. They won their first Cup in 1948.
Think about that for a minute, think of what it says about our country and its traditions. The first Grey Cup was presented in 1909 and, since then, its been part of Canada’s connective tissue, part of the narrative we all share. Over the last 100 years, the Canadian game has — let’s be diplomatic here — ebbed and flowed but, always, it’s endured. That’s made it a part of our narrative.
That’s why it grieves me that this generation doesn’t always see what the Cup and the CFL represents; something that’s uniquely Canadian, something which is our own.
As the years go by, it feels like we’re losing more and more of those things which tie us together. The Grey Cup will always be a part of our story. That story must be preserved. We lose a part of ourselves if it isn’t.