CFL Regular Season: Week 1

The timeline is rather close for Canadian sports fans, the Stanley Cup was just awarded to Chicago on Monday night and now, here we are with the kick off to the CFL for another year but hours away.

Normally, CFL fans (and dual sport bloggers, hello how ya doin' folks!) have a few days of turnaround time to refocus their gaze on a new season of Canadian Football, but this year the two seasons cross over with almost but hours to spare.

With barely time to restock the fridge and clean out the chip bowls, a new year beckons for the CFL!

The path to Regina and the 101st Grey Cup set to begin in Winnipeg tonight, the regular season debut of a fancy state of the art stadium to greet the Bombers and Als as they kick off the season. A full house guaranteed as the Sold Out sign went up earlier this week in anticipation of the season opener.

Opening night in River City is the first of four games to launch the CFL in 2013, as the Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts seek to win back to back cups.

Towards that task, the Argos open up their 2013 campaign with a home date against long time rivals the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the Tabbies who will call Guelph home for the year while they await their own new stadium, look to spoil the celebration of last year's championship win on Friday evening.

Friday night will also find the CFL in Calgary, a home opener for the Stampeders as they take on the BC Lions, a season opener that comes but a week after the devastating floods of the Bow and Elbow rivers in Calgary and other locales across Southern Alberta.  While Calgary seeks to recover from the flooding and with an eye to the Stampede but weeks away, Friday nights game may provide some idea as to the challenges of big events moving ahead, while at the same time provide for a refuge from the hard work of the week past and that of the weeks to come.

Week number one wraps up in Northern Alberta on Saturday afternoon as the Edmonton Eskimos host the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a match up that always makes for entertaining football. This season opener for both teams offers the Riders the chance to get things off on the right foot as they head towards hosting the Grey Cup in November.

A game which the Rider Nation is no doubt hoping the home side is not only organizing, but is destined to be a participant on the field as well.

The 2013 season marks the last one of the recent era of CFL football featuring but eight teams, the league moves into Ottawa once again in 2014, the plans already in place to field the RedBlacks once again at Lansdowne Park, another stadium that will be brand new to the league and provides another signal as to the strength of the CFL after some lean years of the past.

While the CFL moves up to 9 teams again in 2014, there is already more talk of the long desired tenth franchise for the league, still more of the long range plan than anything else, expect the discussion to grow more vocal as this season moves on and Ottawa rejoins the league next year.

But, that's all talk for later.

Right Now, it's kick off to 2013,  the launch of week number one can be found below:

Thursday, June 27-- Montreal 38 at Winnipeg 33 ( 33,500)
Friday, June 28-- Hamilton 34 at Toronto 39  (29,852 )
Friday, June 28-- British Columbia 32 at Calgary 44 (26,625)
Saturday, June 29-- Saskatchewan 39 at Edmonton 18  (35,869)

All games on TSN, MTL/WPG on RDS as well

CIS 2013

Our page for items of note on Canadian University Football for 2013

CIS Homepage
CIS Schedule for 2013

CIS Headlines for 2013

CFL Scoreboard 2013

The Road to the 101st Grey Cup is underway, the training camps, pre season cut downs and the kick off to the Regular season all blazing a path to Regina for late November.

To look ahead the full CFL schedule for 2013 can be found here.

All Games are broadcast on TSN.

You can track the results of each game on the week to week basis below.

Regular Season

September 3-- Montreal at Toronto (7:30 PM ET, 4:30 PT)
September 2-- Edmonton at Calgary (3PM MT, 2 PT, 5 ET)
September 1-- Winnipeg at Saskatchewan (2 PM ST, 3 PM CT, 4 ET, 1 PT)
August 30-- Hamilton at BC ( 7 PM PT, 10 ET)

August 24-- Saskatchewan 30 at Edmonton 27 (41,868)
August 24-- Winnipeg 14 at Hamilton 37 (13,138)
August 23-- Calgary 35 at Toronto 14 (21,157)
August 22-- British Columbia 38 at Montreal 39  (22,465)

(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Nine)

August 18-- Edmonton 33 at Toronto 36 (19,656)
August 17-- Calgary 22 at British Columbia 26 (29,201)
August 17-- Montreal 21at Saskatchewan 24 (40,637)
August 16-- Hamilton 37 at Winnipeg 18 (32,409)

(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Eight)

August 9-- Saskatchewan 27 at Calgary 42 (35,637)
August 8-- Toronto 38 at Montreal 13 (22,068)

(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Seven)

August 5-- Winnipeg 20 at British Columbia 27 ( 26,856)
August 2-- Hamilton 30 at Edmonton 29 (31,006)

(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Six)

July 30-- British Columbia 12 at Toronto 38 (20,064)
July 27-- Saskatchewan 32 at Hamilton 20 (13,002)
July 26-- Calgary 37 at Winnipeg 24 (31,567)
July 25-- Edmonton 27 at Montreal 32  (23,021)

(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Five)

July 21-- Hamilton 0 at Saskatchewan 37 (37,372)
July 20-- Edmonton 21 at British Columbia 31 (26,623)
July 20-- Montreal 27 at Calgary 38 (27,378)
July 19-- Toronto 35 at Winnipeg 19 (31,257)

(Twelve Men Review of Week Number Four)
(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Four)

July 13-- British Columbia 17 at Edmonton 3 (31,310)
July 13-- Winnipeg 20 at Hamilton 25 (Guelph)  (13,085)
July 12-- Calgary 22 at Montreal 14 (23,184)
July 11-- Saskatchewan 39 at Toronto 28 (18,211)

(Twelve Men Review of Week Number Three)
(Twelve men Preview of Week Number Three)

July 7-- Edmonton 30 at Hamilton 20 (Guelph) (12,612)
July 5-- Calgary 21 at Saskatchewan 36 (35,296)
July 4-- Toronto 16 at BC 24 (25,255)
July 4-- Winnipeg 19 at Montreal 11  (22,134)

(Twelve Men Review of Week Number Two)
(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number Two)

June 29-- Saskatchewan 39 at Edmonton 18  (35,869)
June 28-- British Columbia 32 at Calgary 44  ( 26,625 )
June 28-- Hamilton 34 at Toronto 39 ( 29,852 )
June 27-- Montreal 38 at Winnipeg 33  ( 33,500 )

(Twelve Men Review of Week Number One)
(Twelve Men Preview of Week Number One)

Pre Season

June 21-- Edmonton 27 at British Columbia 22 (26,733)
June 20-- Calgary 24 at Saskatchewan 23 (32,003)
June 20-- Winnipeg 0 at Hamilton 52 (12,732)
June 20-- Montreal 20 at Toronto 24 (6,204)
June 14-- British Columbia 33 at Calgary 27  (26,328)
June 14-- Saskatchewan 31 at Edmonton 24 (26,623)
June 13-- Hamilton 33 at Montreal 26 (20,514)
June 12-- Toronto 24 at Winnipeg 6 (28,642)

Thanks for the invite, hope we pass the auction

With winter finally banished from the Canadian mind set and the CFL prepares for a new season, Canadians from coast to coast are once again ready to glance towards their sports pages and tune into the all sports stations looking to talk a little football and review the changes to their favourite teams.

The summer time diversion which morphs into the fall obsession and the march towards the 101st Grey Cup, is almost ready for kick off,  the Canada Day weekend the traditional launch to the four months of ownership over a game that is truly ours and ours alone.

While some of the players hail from below the 49th, the nature of the game, the history of its past and its importance into the future continues to give cause to a little bit of national chest thumping, the weekly results of the summer and fall marking that path to the Finale, this year  a path that takes us to Regina for Grey Cup 101.

Before that though, there's lots of football to be enjoyed, TSN in a mark of scheduling brilliance, found that Friday Night Football in the middle of the Stanley Cup Finals can work, especially when the NHL takes extended leaves of absence between games 1 and 2.

The Pre season kicked off this week, TSN along for the ride with the first of their Friday Night Festivals showcasing the Riders and the Eskimos.

It was a welcome reminder that even if the NHL hasn't quite awarded that shiny trophy of theirs yet, Football season is but weeks away.

On the way to the season kick off, there is the wrap up to training camps, the CFL's eight teams have welcomed returning vets, acquired what they hope are the key ingredients for a Grey Cup run and invited hopeful rookies all hoping to make their mark and secure their space when cut down day arrives.

While we refresh and update our efforts on the blog for the 2013 season, we'll start with a quick update on the Pre Season work of the CFL's eight teams.

The Pre Season Season Schedule can be found below, updated as the results arrive.

The CFL also features a full range of information through their website and twitter feed, invaluable resources for CFL fans looking for the latest details from the camps of their favourite team.

As we re-energize the Twelve Men Blog, you can also find our thoughts and updates on CFL developments through our twitter feed, where from time to time we'll even outline items not found on the blog.

We're hoping to make it a two punch approach for our CFL coverage this year, so besides bookmarking the blog, maybe give us a follow on twitter!

It's time for the shift of seasons, Football is back!


Pre Season Week Two

Friday June 21-- Edmonton 17 at British Columbia 22  (Recap) (Stats) (26,733)
Thursday June 20-- Calgary 24 at Saskatchewan 23 (Recap) (Stats)  (32,003) 
Thursday, June 20-- Winnipeg  0 at Hamilton 52 (Recap) (Stats) (12,732)
Thursday June 20-- Montreal 20 at Toronto 24 (Recap) (Stats) (6,204)


Pre Season Week One

Friday June 14-- British Columbia 32 at Calgary 27 (Recap) (Stats) (26,328 )
Friday June 14-- Saskatchewan 31 at Edmonton 24 (Recap) (Stats)  (26,623)
Thursday June 13-- Hamilton 33 at Montreal 26 (Recap) (Stats)  (20,514)
Wednesday June 12 -- Toronto 24 at Winnipeg 6  (Recap) (Stats)  (28,642)