CFL THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

Ottawa at Montreal

4:30 p.m., TSN

Thursday Night Football, a package put together between CBS and the NFL, was established as destination viewing last season. It worked so well the CFL and TSN are following suit, with Thursday games becoming a regular feature throughout the summer months for men putting off lawn mowing. By the time Ottawa takes the field, it will be 12 days since they faced an opponent (June 13), an interval almost as long as the B.C. Lions, who have a bye in Week One and open the season July 4 at TD Place Stadium. Pick: Alouettes

Bodog: Montreal -8

FRIDAY

Hamilton at Calgary

6 p.m., TSN

Tim Hortons Field becomes the CIBC Pan Am Soccer Stadium for the month of July, forcing the Tiger-Cats to play their first four regular-season games on the road. They don’t return to the Coffee Grounds until Aug. 3, versus the Argos. After playing in the Grey Cup game the past two seasons, the Ticats are the East’s pick to be three times blessed, with 22 of 24 starters back. That said, seasonending injuries already to WR Spencer Watt, DTs Brian Bulcke and Linden Gaydosh and RB Mossis Madu (6-game injured list) could make for a splintery slide down the banister. Pick: Stampeders

Bodog: Calgary -6.5

SATURDAY

Edmonton at Toronto

2 p.m., TSN

With the Pan Am Games displacing the Argos from Rogers Centre, Shell Place in Fort McMurray, Alta., becomes Toronto’s first “home” game of the 2015 season. A Toronto victory in the most northerly regular-season game in CFL history isn’t likely. Pick: Eskimos Bodog: Edmonton -5.5

SATURDAY Winnipeg at Saskatchewan 5 p.m., TSN

While the Roughriders defeated the Blue Bombers the last time they met, quarterback Darian Durant left early with a torn tendon in his right elbow. The Riders’ hopes of defending the Grey Cup went with him. With Durant now 100 per cent, the title of most scrutinized man in the province shifts to Jacques Chapdelaine, who left Simon Fraser to become Saskatchewan’s offensive co-ordinator and quarterbacks coach. Pick: Roughriders Bodog: Saskatchewan -7.5

Bye: B.C. Lions