Saturday, July 07, 2012

CFL Game Day: Calgary at Toronto (July 7, 2012)

It's Stampede time in Calgary and that means a road trip for the Stamps, a journey taking them into Toronto for Saturday and a visit with an old familiar face from their Alberta civil wars..

The Stamps take on Ricky Ray and the Toronto Argonauts, looking to improve on last weeks impressive start against Eastern competition.

Drew Tate will be seeking to test the Argonaut DB's, perhaps creating a bit of space for Jon Cornish to  break free for another successful weekend of rambling upon the CFL plains.  Cormish's success last week against Montreal propelled him to the Gibson's Stars of the Week podium as top Canadian.

The Argos now following a new blue print with a new on field leader will be hoping to showcase the new Argonaut direction for the home folks, with Ricky Ray making his regular season home debut in Double Blue.

Ray of course can't do it all by himself, so the test for the Argos is to show that they are on the same page with the plan of action from new head coach Scott Milanovich, what they won't want to show the home crowd is a re occurrence of some of the mental miscues that cost them a chance at a victory in Edmonton last week.

The season opener against the Eskimos looked at times more like Pre season game number three than the start of the regular campaign, if the bugs were worked out on the road, the home debut may provide a bit more of a vision as to what the Argos can deliver heading through the 2012 campaign.

To remind the fans in Toronto of  the impact that the Argos once had on the city, the team is celebrating the 1971 version of the Double Blue which of course became part of CFL legend with their Grey Cup loss to the Stampeders on a wet Vancouver field.

It remains one of the most discussed Grey Cups of CFL history and as part of the move to rebuild the Argos in the imagination of Toronto and Southern Ontario they are bringing back many of the names that in the seventies were the talk of the town and villain for every road appearance.

If the blue print for 2012 should hold true, one day, Ricky Ray and his Argos of today might find some of that spotlight for themselves...

Game Time 3 PM ET (Noon PT) Rogers Centre (TSN)


Calgary 36 at Toronto 39 (20,682)

Pre Game

Globe and Mail-- Argos strive to impress fans with solid home opener
National Post-- Jason Barnes looking to give Argos fresh new look
Toronto Sun-- Rambo can't catch a break
Toronto Star-- Toronto Argonauts vow to cut down on mistakes in home opener...
Calgary Herald-- Tate returns to Coronation Street
Calgary Sun-- Bring on the heat - Cornish
TSN-- Argos look to find home identity vs. Stampeders on TSN
Canada.com-- Horsemen ready to face Argos' defensive mayhem

Team Backgrounders

Toronto Argonauts
Calgary Stampeders

Post Game

CFL.ca -- Game Recap
Globe and Mail-- Prefontaine's last second field goal lifts Argos over Stampeders
National Post-- Larry Taylor's performance overshadowed by Stampeders' loss to Argo
Toronto Sun-- Argos pull out a thriller
Toronto Star-- Toronto Argonauts beat Calgary Stampeders 39-36 in wild home opener
Calgary Herald-- Stamps lose game, two starters and their cool in Toronto
Calgary Sun-- No quit in Stamps despite losses

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