First place in both East and West has been locked up after week Seventeen, leaving the battles for semi final hosting duties still to come as we work through the final two weeks of the CFL season.
On the strength of their victories, both Montreal and British Columbia can rest up their players until November 18th rolls around, watching with interest as the dust settles on positioning for the rest of the members of the Lodge.
The Lions dismissed the Eskimos with little trouble on Friday night, while Montreal held off a late game charge by the Riders to rule victorious in the East, thanks in part to the stumbles of the Argonauts over the last few weeks.
The week in review was as thus.
Winnipeg at Toronto
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers may still have aspirations of a playoff entry, as unlikely as that may seem to most CFL observers, however they gave some pulse to their faint hopes with a smack down on the struggling Toronto Argonauts.
Toronto even with the emotional lift of the return of Ricky Ray surrendered far too many points to the Bombers 44 in total, as Winnipeg took out a season of frustration on the Argos. Building on the return of Buck Pierce to grab a 24-12 lead by halftime.
Toronto had whittled down that lead to 27-21 by three quarter time, however they would never make up the gap in the end down 12 points by games end on the losing end of the 44-32 score.
The third loss in a row for the Double Blue is reducing their chances by the week at being involved in a playoff game, let alone hosting one as the free fall reaches worrisome proportions. The Argos are now but four points ahead of both Winnipeg and Hamilton, so clearly a win in the next two weeks is essential to hold off not only the Cats and the Bombers but avoid possible elimination by a crossover opponent from the West.
Toronto faces the Riders this week in Saskatchewan and then are host to Hamilton in the season ender, a game which may be one of major importance for post season aspirations.
The Bombers in the meantime can end the Ticats playoff ambitions with a win this weekend in Hamilton, then wait to see how their fate shapes up when the await the Als to wrap up the regular season on the 3rd of November.
More background on the Argos/Bombers can be found here.
Edmonton at British Columbia
With the chance to secure home field advantage in front of the home folk, the Lions did not disappoint as they provided a reminder to the CFL West that any Grey Cup planning must first be travelled through BC Place.
The Eskimos were the message bearers for the West as the Lions had little difficulty putting points on the board and more than successful in shutting down the Edmonton attack.
The ease of the Lions success was made even more interesting by the fact that at the helm of the Leos offence was back up QB Mike Reilly, who followed a successful game plan to the letter, giving Wally Buono's rival General Managers to keep a watchful eye on the free agency date, when Reilly will become available.
TSN already had the guy pencilled in to the reborn franchise in Ottawa for 2014, however it would seem he may have already found alternate employment by then.
Such was the pace of the Lions game and the strength of their understudies that the focus was on such long off prospects, the cold reality being that the Eskimos could not mount up much of a challenge against the Lions B squad.
The loss perhaps provides the Eskimos travel agent a bit of lead time to work out flights and hotel rooms as it seems now that Edmonton will be grabbing the crossover spot heading to Toronto, Hamilton or miracle of all miracles even possibly Winnipeg by season's end.
The Lions will rest up the A team for the next two weeks with games in Calgary on the weekend and home field regular season wrap up party against Sasktachewan next week.
Edmonton wraps up the season with a road game in Montreal on Sunday and a visit from their provincial rivals in Calgary on November 2nd.
The look at the weekend work of the Lions and Esks can be found here.
Montreal at Saskatchewan
The Alouettes continued their march to the Eastern title in Saskatchewan on Saturday, taking advantage of the Argos loss the night before, Montreal which already had secured their home date for the Eastern Final with the Argo loss, still came out with much in the way of finish with a hard fought 34-28 victory over the Sasktachewan Roughriders.
The game at times had an ugly side, with Shea Emry penalized for rough play and disqualified from the game late in the first half. It was not the first time that Emry has been penalized for improper behaviour on the field and it seemed to provide the tone of the game through the second half.
Montreal had propelled themselves to a 34-14 lead early in the fourth quarter when the Riders finally got focused on the task of the day, that of battling back to close the gap.
In the end, the game went down to the final play of the day, running out of options with the clock running out and Darian Durant buried by the Als John Bowman.
The loss provided costly to the Riders in their quest to secure a second place finish in the West, with the Stamps winning at home on the weekend the Riders lost out on a shot at second, now they will turn their attention to holding off the Eskimos quest to move up standings.
The Riders have a home date against Toronto on Saturday and then wrap up their season with a trip to Vancouver on November 3rd.
A look back to the Riders and Argos can be found here
Hamilton at Calgary
It was one of those iconic CFL vistas of old in Calgary on Saturday, snow and ice fog set the visual for an old fashioned knock em down brawl em out CFL contest between the Stamps and visiting Ticats.
With Calgary holding on at the end to secure the 34 - 32 victory, a win that goes a long way towards holding home field advantage for Calgary in the Western semi final of November and could prove to have been yet another costly missed opportunity for the Tiger Cats in their season of woe that has been 2012.
Played in conditions at the other extreme of the pleasure domes of Toronto and Vancouver, the Stamps and Cats played some old style football at McMahon on Saturday, a game that had all the elements (pardon the pun) of the CFL including the wild finish, which saw the Cats let victory slip away after a snap went astray in the usually sure hands of Andy Fantuz, resulting in the field goal attempt that never was, and something that sealed the Cats fate in the game and perhaps on the season.
While the missed three points proved the fatal blow, it wasn't the only problem the Cats had on the day, beyond the volume of penalties that they accumulated through the game, they joined a large group of teams that could not control the running game of Jon Cornish.
Cornish who is chasing down the record of Normie Kwong, had two touchdowns in the rough sledding of the McMahon stadium, the field conditions perhaps providing the best cushion for Normie's hold on the record all season.
The Cats can take home some solace that they made a run at the Stamps in the final quarter, but much like the way this season has gone through the year, it was a little too late to make a difference.
With Winnipeg suddenly showing some life again, the Cats find themselves waging a three way fight for potentially one playoff spot, with Edmonton actually in the drivers seat for the crossover bid, which would knock both Hamilton and Winnipeg out.
For the Cats, should they find themselves eliminated by the end of the season, they will look back at the missed opportunities of the season past as key to their fate. None more so that the windy and snow filled landscape of McMahon provided for on Saturday.
The review of the Stamps and Cats can be found here.
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