We are pleased to once again have the pleasure of having our friend Chris Lawton of ninety-nine yards provide his expert insight into the CFL Championship games of the past. Please make sure to check their website out for more than just CFL information, as they cover the NFL , NCAA and more!
The 2nd of December – a date for one sided Grey Cup games
Guest Writer – Chris Lawton CFL editor for ninety-nine yards.
The Grey Cup has a long and storied tradition having been first awarded in 1909. With some gaps along the way there have been 107 times the game has been contested. Some of those contests fell on the 2nd of December. But what were those games like? Let's take a look.
1922 Grey Cup – Beginning of a Dynasty
The 1922 Grey Cup saw Queens’ University take home the trophy for what would prove to be the first of three successive years. They beat the Edmonton Elks 13-1 to take the title in 1922.
The Elks had been to the Grey Cup in 1921 as the Edmonton Eskimos but lost 23-0 to the Toronto Argonauts.
To get to this game Queens had defeated the past two Grey Cup winners, the Argonauts and the University of Toronto so they went in as favourites.
Things looked pretty ominous as the Elks players had arrived by train at midnight going into game day. Yet somehow in front of a crowd of 4,700 at Richardson Stadium the Elks had a 1-0 lead at the half thanks to a rouge from Jack Fraser.
It all changed in the third quarter as Pep Leadley hit two singles for the favourites and converted a Mundell try for an 8-1 lead going into the final period. They added another try in the fourth to run out 13-1 winners.
Some things never change. It seems officiating was at the heart of controversy for the Elks players and officials. They argued that western teams would have to be twice as good as their Eastern opponent if they ever hoped to offset the unfavourable decisions of the Eastern officials.
Side note this Edmonton team was the Edmonton Rugby Football Club. Not the Edmonton Football team currently in the midst of a name change.
1961 Grey Cup – Familiar Foes go into overtime
The 49th Grey Cup was played out at CNE Stadium in Toronto in front of 32,651 people.
It was a clash of familiar foes as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats squared off in the Grey Cup game for the fourth time in five years.
As we can see here, between 1953 and 1965 these two would meet seven times in the Grey Cup. Winnipeg edged this mini-series 4-3.
For the third time the Blue Bombers would come out on top. This was a close game, and the first Grey Cup to go into overtime. (The others were in 2005 and 2016). The Blue Bombers would win 21-14 after the game was tied 14-14 at Full Time.
Hamilton could take some solace from their defeat of the Buffalo Bills in an exhibition game being the first time a CFL team had beaten an American team since the 1940’s.
1967 Grey Cup – Joe Zuger leads the way
The not such an ‘average Joe’, Joe Zuger was named MVP as the TiCats won at a canter defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 24-1 in the 55th Grey Cup as 31,358 people watched on in Frank Clair Stadium, Ottawa.
Zuger had been a Swiss army knife player for the TiCats over his career with the team. He was an excellent punter and three times in his career, Zuger averaged over 48 yards a punt. He spent some time as a Defensive Back and notched 4 interceptions in his rookie season, and added 5 more in 1963. After sharing QB duties with Canadian Frank Cosentino, 1967 saw him taking over as the lone starting QB. He led the TiCats to a 12-4 record and a berth in the 1967 title match.
In the Grey Cup game itself Zuger opened the scoring on a 3 yard TD scamper. He would add three punt rouges and throw a 72 yard TD pass to Ted Watkins.
The only point scoring he wasn’t involved for Hamilton came in the final period. This was when the D returned a fumble 43 yards for a TD.
Small solace came for the Roughriders in setting a record with an 87 yard punt that went for their lone point.
