HAMILTON, Ont. — No matter the situation the Montreal Alouettes found themselves in, the belief within the group never wavered.
Needing their offence to convert on third-and-five with the game and season on the line, quarterback Cody Fajardo connected with Cole Spieker for a 31-yard completion to move the chains.
At that moment, Fajardo knew his team was going to come away victorious and on the next play, he made good on that belief.
It was the subsequent 19-yard touchdown reception by Canadian Tyson Philpot that cemented a Cinderella season for Montreal, whose 28-24 victory on Sunday at Tim Hortons Field ended a 13-year Grey Cup drought and sent the Winnipeg Blue Bombers home empty-handed once again.
Philpot secures TD pass to give Alouettes Grey Cup lead with seconds remaining
“They were bringing zero and I said that if they were bringing zero I got a chance to throw a game-winning touchdown,” Fajardo said after throwing for 290 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. “They ended up bringing it in and Tyson made a hell of a catch. Honestly, I didn’t get to see it. I just threw it, got hit and I heard the roar of the crowd.”
Fajardo details how he was able to lead Alouettes on game-winning TD drive in Grey Cup
There were several moments in this game where Montreal could have seen their chances of winning slip through their fingers, including a failed attempt to get over the goal line on third-and-short just before the first half ended.
However, the team didn’t let that moment deflate their confidence and went into halftime believing they could regroup.
“We talked about it at halftime that the play probably gave them a lot of momentum, but it didn’t kill us,” said Alouettes head coach Jason Maas. “We knew we just had to go out and play another 30 minutes as hard as we can. It was important to regain our focus, then go out and compete.
“That gives us the best chance and I’m very proud of the group for sticking together, playing it to the end and believing in one another. That’s what this team has done all year.”
‘Thankful and grateful’: Jason Maas on Alouettes’ Grey Cup win over Blue Bombers
Getting to the end of the road was not easy for this Alouettes team.
Without knowing who would be the owner of the team in February, general manager Danny Maciocia had to find a way to build a roster that could compete, which was easier said than done, but he found the right mix to win in the end.
“It was a great group of guys that bought into a project that many didn’t want to buy into,” Macciocia explained. “There was no shortage of resiliency throughout the course of the year. We had our highs, we had our lows, but we stuck together and today we’re Grey Cup champions.”
What ended up being Macciocia’s best decision of all was bringing in Maas, someone he won two championships with during his time as assistant coach in Edmonton.
Facing a tough point in his coaching career after getting fired by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Maas wasn’t sure if he would ever get a chance to lead a team again.
“I feel appreciated by this organization. Very grateful more than anything that I was given a second opportunity from somebody that I truly trust, love, and admire in Danny, I would do anything for him,” said Maas. “I’m thankful and grateful he took a chance on me, and that’s all I ever wanted and I was gonna do everything I possibly could to make him proud and to make our team successful.”
Alouettes hoist Grey Cup trophy after upsetting Blue Bombers
Maciocia and Maas made their biggest gamble in free agency when they signed Fajardo.
The 31-year-old was left wondering if his football career was over with little interest until Montreal came calling.
What sold Fajardo was getting a two-year deal and continuing to work with Maas, who was his offensive co-ordinator in Saskatchewan. Having the faith in those who brought him in was important but so was regaining his confidence in himself.
“When we signed Cody in February, I told him, ‘Look, it’s one thing for me to believe in you. I was with you for three years. I know what went on last year and I want you here. But more importantly, Danny Maciocia watched every single game of yours and he put the stamp on you,’” Maciocia said. “Anthony Calvillo watched all his film and said the same thing. So we had three guys on his side when he signed. But he also took the mindset to work and get better, and come into camp to win a job rather than just have anything being given to him.
“That’s what Cody is all about and that’s why I love that he gets everything he has every single day. He works for it and you love to see guys like him succeed.”
While it was the offence that came through in the end, it was the defence that set the stage.
Winnipeg had their opportunities to put the game out of reach especially late in the fourth quarter with a chance to run out the clock. However on second down, Bishop Sankey would sack Bombers pivot Zach Collaros to force Winnipeg to punt before the game-winning touchdown.
The Alouettes defence held the Blue Bombers to just seven points in the second half and registered four sacks on the night, while Winnipeg’s dominant defensive line only registered two sacks of their own.
Alouettes’ Mack scores TD to surpass 100 receiving yards in Grey Cup
For Winnipeg, getting back to the Grey Cup for the fourth year in a row gave them an opportunity for redemption after coming up short against the Toronto Argonauts.
“Sad. You play to win the game, play to win the last one and we came up short,” Collaros told reporters after throwing for 236 yards, one interception and no touchdowns in the game. “Montreal was a few plays better than us. Just really sad, because there’s a lot of good guys in the locker room.”
Another deciding factor in this game were the injuries to Dalton Schoen and Adam Bighill, big contributors on both sides of the ball. Neither one participated in practice during the week and Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea waited until the last possible minute to announce that they would be active.
Schoen finished with three catches for 36 yards after leading the Blue Bombers with 1,233 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns during the season. Bighill registered one tackle and was beat on a touchdown by Spieker in the third quarter.
Winnipeg will once again be faced with some tough decisions with their roster in the off-season like most teams go through. An emotional Brady Oliveira couldn’t help but feel like it was a missed opportunity for his team.
“It’s not going to be the same going to work next year because I know it’s not going to be the same guys in this locker room,” he said. “I really wanted to win it for the guys that haven’t got a chance to experience it, my running backs coach in particular. I feel like I let him down.”
Montreal will now look to build off their season and believe this team will only get better, especially with the lack of experience they had as a group. Look no further than Philpot who in his second season has a Grey Cup title and a Most Valuable Canadian award.
‘We had plenty of faith’: Mack on Alouettes’ Grey Cup-winning two minute drill
“We’re all young guys this room of receivers,” said Mack, who finished the game with six catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. “Tyson came a long way (after) missing half the season with a hamstring injury. It took him a while to get going but he’s of the best Canadian players in this league. He showed it tonight on the biggest stage in Canadian football.”
Winning a championship in the CFL is not easy; the Alouettes went 13 years without an appearance in the Grey Cup. But in the end, they believed they could get the job done and ended the season with eight-straight victories to bring the Grey Cup back to Quebec.
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
