Big football weekend in Canada!

[Hepcat]

I'm getting my game face on for a couple big games this weekend. In Hamilton on Saturday at 1:00 PM my University of Western Ontario Mustangs will face the Laval Rouge et Or in the 53rd Vanier Cup Game which is emblematic of Canadian university football supremacy:



Western has the most storied Canadian university football program of them all, has been a perennial powerhouse and championship contender for decades, has the most Vanier Cup appearances with twelve winning six, has a record of 11-0 this year and defeated the Acadia Axemen 81-3 in last Saturday's semi-final. Western has nonetheless not won the Vanier Cup since 1994 and has had only one appearance since 1995, a 44-21 loss to Laval in 2008. Moreover Laval is the defending champion, is 9-1 in ten Vanier Cup appearances since 1999 and is 10-1 this year. Laval it is fair to say is now the 800 pound gorilla of Canadian university football.

Then Sunday evening in Ottawa at 7:00 PM it'll be the Toronto Argonauts versus the Calgary Stampeders in the 105th Grey Cup Game!

[Hepcat]

So my Western Mustangs cruised to a relatively easy victory over Laval on Saturday to finish off a perfect season:

Western 39 Laval 17



About time Western won the Vanier Cup again! I think the Mustangs were stung by prognosticators' observations that regardless of how dominant the Mustangs appeared in the regular season, they'd invariably falter in the playoffs. Well this year the Mustangs didn't ease off at all down the stretch:

Western 66 Guelph Griffons 12
Western 75 Laurier Golden Hawks 32 (Western's 31st Yates Cup victory)
Western 81 Acadia Axemen 3
Western 39 Laval Rouge et Or 17

Then Sunday evening in another real barnburner of a Grey Cup Game that came down to an interception in the end zone with seconds to go, it was:

Toronto Argonauts 27 Calgary Stampeders 24

The Argos looked done with less than five minutes to play. They were down 24-16 with the Stampeders poised to score again with a first down on the Argos' nine yard line. But the Argos pulled it out of the fire with a Grey Cup Game record 109 yard return of a Calgary fumble followed by a two point convert plus a field goal on their next possession! It was a game for the ages.

Still not quite on par with last year's Ottawa 39 Calgary 33 OT thriller, but close!