No planned Cup upgrades for stadium
Stampeders were frustrated spectators last time the game was played in Calgary
The memory is still raw, just as painful as it was back in 2009 when the Calgary Stampeders missed the chance to star in their city’s own show.
But losing in the West Division Final to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a 27-17 belly flop in Regina on Nov. 22, wasn’t even the worst part.
“Then, Saskatchewan moves into our dressing room,” Rob Cote recalled with a groan.
The Grey Cup-bound Riders made McMahon Stadium their temporary home turf and utilized the facility of the home side — their biggest Canadian Football League rivals — to the fullest.
It certainly wasn’t how the Stamps drew it up a few years prior, when an announcement revealed that Calgary would host the 96th Grey Cup.
The Stampeders had their eyes on a repeat following their 2008 Grey Cup victory in Montreal.
“It was part of the trap — we won it before, now we’re hosting it,” said the former Stampeders fullback who announced his retirement this past winter. “Half of us in the room are counting our second Grey Cup rings, which is a dangerous thing to do, as we proved shortly after, losing in the playoffs.”
So, they were forced to watch the game on TSN.
That is, if they could stomach it. “I was like, ‘I’m not watching it,’ ” said Cote
“Then all of a sudden it comes on and I’m like, ‘OK. I’ll watch.’ And I’m not too proud to say that I was almost as happy as the Saskatchewan fans were unhappy ... I’m sure everyone knows the infamous ending of that game. I did NOT want Saskatchewan to win that game.
“It was a tough day.”
For Jon Cornish, it was even worse. The former Stampeders running back lived nearby the stadium, just close enough to hear the action off University Drive.
On the other hand, he was also able to tell exactly what was going on at the end of the infamous Roughriders vs. Alouettes final.
“I also heard that collective, ‘Ohhhhh,’ that collective disappointment sound. That sigh. It was the loudest I’ve ever heard,” said Cornish, who retired in 2015. “I was like, ‘What happened?’ I turned on the TV because I wasn’t watching it. Then I saw they had the 13th man on the field.”
The come-from-behind victory by the Alouettes went down to the wire as Damon Duval missed a 33-yard field-goal attempt. But because the Roughriders had too many men on the field, he was given another attempt and hit it.
Cornish, now able to explain his true thoughts at the time, wasn’t shedding tears for the guys in green.
“I was elated by that,” he said with a grin. “Saskatchewan was playing out of our locker-room. That’s one of the greatest insults to a team — when someone else wins a Grey Cup in your locker-room.
“If it’s not you celebrating in there, you don’t want that.”
Of course, the Roughriders got it right in 2013 when they hosted the Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium and beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 for the ultimate redemption story.
“That’s the pinnacle of sport — when you think back to 2013, and they had a huge blowout victory at home in the Grey Cup,” Cote said.
But, truth be told, any team has to battle and grind through a full slate of regular season games plus the post-season to get there. It isn’t easy.
The Stampeders couldn’t accomplish the feat back in 2009, which should be a cautionary tale for the 2019 group who will be facing the same predicament when the 2019 Grey Cup rolls around.
The CFL officially gave Calgary its blessing to host the event on Wednesday in a joint announcement by the league and the Stampeders.
Kickoff is set for Nov. 24, 2019, at McMahon Stadium, almost exactly 10 years after the 2009 Grey Cup. It will be the fifth time that Calgary has hosted the Grey Cup celebrations.
The last team to capture a Grey Cup as a host team was the Riders. Toronto did it at Rogers Centre in 2012 against Calgary, while the B.C. Lions captured the coveted CFL trophy in 2011 at BC Place when they beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“That would be just something that would be so special and so rare for somebody in our sport, to win a championship like that at home,” Cote said. “You don’t have to travel, you don’t have to go anywhere.
“It’s one of those things that takes a special level of focus to not get ahead of yourself. It’s a long time until we get there, but I’ll be rooting for them.”
That’s one of the greatest insults to a team — when someone else wins a Grey Cup in your locker-room. If it’s not you celebrating in there, you don’t want that.