Based purely on history the Tiger Cats chances of defeating
the Alouettes at the Big Owe this coming Sunday are slim at best.
The Alouettes, who joined the league in 1946, have a stellar
record in recent years having captured the last two Grey Cups and eight of
their last twelve playoff games. It should
be noted though that two of those losses were in semi-finals.
The Tiger Cats came into the league when the ORFU Tigers
merged with the Hamilton Wildcats of the Interprovincial Rugby Union. Simultaneous
with the merger the wearing of helmets was made mandatory in 1950.
The Hamilton squad
have lost three straight semis and have recorded four straight road losses in these
November battles with their last road victory in this match (which typically,
but not always, pits the second and third best Eastern conference teams) coming
over the Ottawa Roughriders in 1985. Remember 1985? Brian “You had an Option Sir” Mulroney was barely
into his second year as our Prime Minister and future CFL star Doug Flutie (not
tall enough for the NFL) was toiling in
the US Football League for the New Jersey Generals.
Looking at head to
head in records in semi-finals the Montrealers were home victors in '75 (35- 12), '78 (35
-20), and '96 (22 -11) – that last one coming when Als QB Anthony Calvillo was clad in Black and
Gold. As the Concordes they prevailed 17
-11 in a 1984 match in the Ambitious City.
Perhaps Hamilton fans came take some solace from a 1966 two
game total point semi-final win played at McGill and Ivor Wynne - but that was
45 years ago.
A Remembrance Day home victory in 2001 stands as the Tiger Cats’
last playoff success and provides some sort of shaky rationale for my call of a
Hamilton win this Sunday.
My logic: How can any team go more than ten years not winning
a playoff game in a league where six of eight teams make the playoffs?
It will be 38 - 34.
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