The CFL's 2011 season wrap provided for no shortage of potential excitement, the final week offering up a variety of key games that would have the final say on where teams placed and where their playoff path would take them.
In the end, a few of those games lived up to billing, another, well it wasn't even close, the final week's review is as follows.
Montreal at British Columbia
A marquee match up that never, ever came close to the anticipation, that sums up Saturday night's showdown between the Als and the Lions.
With both teams in the hunt for a first place finish in their respective divisions, it should have been one of the epic battles of recent CFL history, instead it was a washout in favour of the Lions who completely dominated the Als in every single football category.
The Lions roared out of the opening kick off and never looked back, Travis Lulay leading his team to touchdown after touchdown in the first half, seemingly securing first place for the Leos by the time the first quarter had come to an end.
The end result on the night a 43-1 Lions victory, was one of the most impressive exclamation points to a performance we've seen in a number of years.
It was as complete a game that the Lions have put on the field all year, the early days of their horrible start long forgotten, the final months of the 2011 season a march of remarkable effort.
It must have been a most rewarding feeling for Wally Buono, who by the end of July was the subject of much speculation as to his football acumen, regaining his status as one of the legends of CFL football.
Not that he seems to keep much of an inventory on the archives of the pros and cons of his football smarts, for the most part he's been a pretty level barometer of football in BC, not letting the low pressure fronts affect him any more than he over celebrates the high pressure days.
With the victory, as convincing as it was, the Lions must surely be the favourite to hoist a Grey Cup at centre field at BC Place at the end of this month.
Over in Montreal, Marc Trestman most likely left the game film back in BC, there really is nothing of value from a review of that particular effort, each and every Alouette must know what part of the debacle they played.
The Als, with a chance to claim the Eastern title instead offered up as poor an effort as they have in the last few years, the once dominant team in the CFL looking very very ordinary, something that must be providing the Tiger Cats with more than a bit of hope heading into this weekends semi final with the Als in Montreal.
British Columbia, with the victory, capped a remarkable second half of the season, reversing a horrendous start with a finish for the ages, a well deserved one week break is ahead for them and then the chance to win the CFL West at home in one week's time.
One more win and they host the Grey Cup in their own house, somehow we don't think that Wally Buono is going to need a very stirring pre game speech, the Lions have worked hard in the last two months to get to where they are today, we have a feeling their focus remains strong with the prize now in sight.
Vancouver Province-- Decisive Lions win gives two weeks for rest, repair
Vancouver Sun-- Buono's stick-to-it-iveness just part of explanation
Globe and Mail-- Can the Lions roar all the way to the Grey Cup?
National Post-- Buono proves he's still got it
Canada.com-- Montreal Alouettes were 'out-coached,' Diamond Ferri says
Winnipeg at Calgary
For the first half of Saturday's opening act to the season finales, the Bombers appeared to be content to play the role of butt to a good old fashioned butt whuppin, the Stampeders seemingly still of the belief that the stars were set to align for a remarkable finish to their season, rolled over Winnipeg in the majority of the first thirty minutes.
Calgary played with purpose, something you would have thought Winnipeg would have brought to the game, what with the chance to claim first place in the East theirs for the taking.
But in those first thirty minutes, it looked very much like the Stampeders should be the Grey Cup favourites not the Bombers, Winnipeg surrendered a 24 point deficit before launching a comeback, the early points coming in the late stages of that first half, the majority of points reversal coming in the final 30.
In the end, the Stampeders held on, weathering the frantic Bomber charge in the second half, securing a 30-24 win over the Blue, keeping alive their hopes for a playoff home date until the nightcap match between Montreal and BC.
While Paul LaPolice was watching that game, he most likely was also reviewing the events of the afternoon in his head, a string of miscues by his team that left them in the role of BC Lions cheer leaders for a night.
Indicative of the string of losing efforts that made up the back end of the Bombers season, the opposite trend of that of the Bombers season start, a trend that LaPolice will seek to change leading up to the Bombers playoff match in two weeks.
For Calgary's fans who arrived at McMahon, what turned out to be the final game of the year at the Northeast stadium offered up some hope that the Stamps have regained a bit of their balance heading into the playoffs.
The rising star of Drew Tate was a key part of the Stampeder victory, though Henry Burris did see some playing time, mostly as seems the case these days with back ups, in the short yardage game.
The downside of course for John Hufnagel on the day (besides the final result out of Vancouver later in the day) was the way his defence allowed the Bombers back into the game.
The Stamps as has been the case a few times this year were unable it seems to finish off a team early and cruise to a victory.
The way the CFL standings would shake out by the midnight hour of Saturday would see the Stamps destined for a potential road trek to the Grey Cup, the first stage has them going north to Edmonton for the Western Semi Final on Sunday.
The Bombers in the end lost the game, but won their division regardless, thanks to Montreal's crash and burn in Vancouver, backing into a playoff spot is never a good thing, but in this case the Bombers will take it, with a one week break before the Eastern final, the Bombers can rest up and recuperate, with the injured Buck Pierce key to that concept.
Calgary Sun-- Stamps hang on to beat Bombers
Calgary Herald-- Stamps roll into playoffs with third straight win
Winnipeg Free Press-- Bombers crash in Cowtown, finish first
Winnipeg Sun-- Bombers lose, back into 1st
Globe and Mail-- Stampeders hang on to beat Bombers
Saskatchewan at Edmonton
It's always a big event when the Riders cross the border to play the Eskimos at Commonwealth, the convoy of melon head clad Rider fans a boost to gas stations, restaurants and bars that is for the most part welcome.
Normally the game is one of key importance to the CFL West, and while that was the case on Friday night, only one team really had much to win or lose from the end result of the game.
Friday night's game provided Edmonton with the chance to temporarily claim first place in the West and the prospect of a home date for the Western Final. Something that perhaps seemed a little improbable heading into the 2011 season.
Eighteen games later and on the strength of a hard earned 23-20 victory on their final game of the regular season, the Eskimos would lay claim to first (short lived as events would play out over the weekend) an impressive result for a team that was supposed to be in a rebuilding year.
The Riders (and their fans) who have had a miserable year, gave one of their better performances in a year of miscues, trying their best to send off Ken Miller with a win over their long time rivals, Miller who took over the team in August, had success is reversing the losing skid that the early season brought, but time was not on his side for a playoff berth and truth be told, this Riders team wouldn't have deserved a post season anyways.
After a plodding first quarter that suggested a long night for CFL fans, the Riders put a scare into the Eskimos post season dreams with three quarters of entertaining and hard hitting football.
Ryan Dinwiddie had the Rider start at QB, in what may have been his final audition for a spot with the 2012 version of the Riders, putting together some impressive drives to move the Riders down field, including a fourth quarter drive that resulted in a field goal that had the Riders pulling even with the Esks at 20-20 with minutes to go.
The Eskimos however kept focused on their goal of a first place finish and returned the favour, Ricky Ray showcasing his poise and skills to march Edmonton into field goal position for the winning kick with 47 seconds to go in the game.
With a victory secured the Esks would become television viewers for the remainder of the weekend, watching the results out of Calgary and more importantly British Columbia to learn of their playoff plans.
Edmonton Journal-- Esks eke out victory over Riders, secure home playoff game
Edmonton Sun-- Eskimos beat Roughriders
Regina Leader Post-- Riders ordeal is finally over
Globe and Mail-- Eskimos clinch home playoff game
National Post-- Getzlaf shines in Roughriders' tough year
Hamilton at Toronto
It was fan appreciation day in Toronto, the Argonauts saluting their fans (small volume as they may have been this year) for stopping by to see them run out the schedule.
As any good guest at a party, the Tiger Cats brought a present, they didn't show up their hosts with anything resembling an effort to win, rather, like a practice defence they played the role of shadow to the Argo attack, giving up enough points to guarantee an Argo victory, but not enough to totally embarrass themselves.
Now, one can't really blame the Cats, the game meant nothing to them, they knew they were going to be on the road for however long their playoff run will be starting on Sunday, so why risk injury to a key player that will be required for the semi finals.
As far as tune up games go though, the Cats didn't show much in the way of effort and probably left their coach with more things to worry about for the weekend to come.
So the weekend opener wasn't much of a contest, some of the Cats who might not normally find regular playing time got more playing time, valuable we guess should they be forced into service in the semi final.
Toronto collected another win to pad the stats, 33-16 for those that keep track of such things of no consequence in a disappointing year, not enough to claim a playoff spot obviously, but at least offering hope that next year might bring a more focused group for the CFL's 100th season and Toronto's Grey Cup year.
Hamilton, safely through the sixty minutes without major malady can now turn it's attention to next week and the CFL playoffs, ever hopeful that they can push their third place finish into a three game road trip ending in Vancouver and the Grey Cup.
Toronto? Well, the planning for next year begins now!
Toronto Sun-- Argos finish on a high
Toronto Star-- Stiff challenges ahead for Argos, says Bob Nicholson
Globe and Mail-- Argos sign off with a win
Hamilton Spectator-- Ticats put in lousy effort, lose finale to hapless Argos
National Post-- The Argos reflect on their disappointing season
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