Jason Halstead/CFL.ca
TORONTO — Canada Day weekend approaches and if you’re here, reading these words on this site, you’ll likely be thinking of Canadian football this weekend as you enjoy the holiday.
With the holiday falling on this coming Monday, there isn’t a game scheduled on Canada Day. That doesn’t mean you won’t have a full-sized offering of games before that though, with action set for Thursday-Sunday night, sprinkled across the country. There will no doubt be big performances this weekend — and some close, last-minute finishes, if the first three weeks of the season have taught us anything — but before you get laser focused on the not-too-distant future, let’s look back at some standout CFL moments from Canada Day weekends in the past.
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Of course it’s Brady Oliveira
July 1, 2023
The CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Canadian Player fittingly had his standardly monstrous output on Canada Day last year.
Oliveira took 20 carries for 120 yards and had two catches for 19 yards in the Bombers’ convincing 17-3 win over the Montreal Alouettes. Defensive tackle Cameron Lawson also had a pair of sacks in the win.
Worth noting, the Alouettes looked appropriately festive in their all red uniforms in the loss and had their own National player show out. Kaion Julien-Grant had six catches for 129 yards, leading all receivers on the day.
Canadian QBs abound
June 30 and July 1, 2022
The Canada Day weekend of 2022 gave fans a rare treat, as a pair of National quarterbacks started and led their teams to wins.
A rookie Tre Ford led the Edmonton Elks onto Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, near his old stomping grounds of Niagara Falls, Ont. and the University of Waterloo. He looked like a vet as the Elks topped the Tiger-Cats 29-25, while he went for 159 passing yards and a touchdown, with 61 rushing yards of his own.
A day later, then-BC Lions’ QB Nathan Rourke led the Lions to a 34-31 win over the Ottawa REDBLACKS to move his team to 3-0. Rourke threw for 359 yards in that win, with two touchdowns and rushed for 87 yards and another TD. Still taking the league by storm at that point, Rourke would go on to claim the Most Outstanding Canadian Player in 2022, before earning himself opportunities in the NFL. Rourke fittingly picked up a win on Canada Day in the nation’s capital.
Setting the standard on Canada Day
July 1, 2010
Let’s jump in the time machine and go back to Canada Day, 2010 in Regina (a fantastic place and time to catch a game when the schedule lines up that way). The Roughriders and Alouettes met as a 97th Grey Cup rematch — yep, the infamous 13th Man game — AND in the season-opener. Neither team disappointed.
The Riders pulled out a 54-51 overtime victory in front of a sellout crowd at Old Mosaic Stadium, but the highlight from the day goes to Als receiver S.J. Green.
Green astonished the crowd at Mosaic and then-TSN play-by-play broadcaster Chris Cuthbert with a series of big plays. None was bigger than his diving, one-handed, to-this-day-impossible-looking catch on a two-point convert to tie the game. Cuthbert, calling the game in disbelief exclaimed, “That is the catch of the year, right now!”
Riders fans went home happy as Darian Durant found Weston Dressler for the game-winning touchdown. You could argue that the Als laughed last, however, as they won the 98th Grey Cup at the Riders’ expense. Highlights of this game should also remind you that both Green and Dressler will head into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame this September, as two of the great receivers of their time in the CFL.
A rivalry that knows no provincial borders
June 28, 2013
Their rivalry started in Alberta and had seamlessly moved to Ontario by 2o13. Ricky Ray and Henry Burris were the faces of the Battle of Alberta for a number of years. Ray was traded to the Toronto Argonauts in December, 2011; Burris was dealt to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in January, 2012.
They opened up their 2013 seasons with a massive duel.
Ray’s Argos came out on top, 39-34, but two Hall of Fame QBs went to work in the process.
Henry Burris lost the duel with Ricky Ray and the Argos, but still put in an 361 passing yards and three TDs in their 2013 holiday weekend meeting (The Canadian Press)
Ray celebrated the Argos’ 2012 Grey Cup win with by hanging 368 passing yards on the Ticats’ defence, along with four passing TDs. In response, Burris threw for 361 yards and three TDs. Burris and the Ticats won the war between the two clubs that year, though, topping the Argos in the 2013 Eastern Final.
Cornish gets things started on Canada Day weekend
June 28, 2013
Jon Cornish enjoyed a magical 2013 season. He used his first game of the year — a 44-32 Stampeders win over the Lions — to set the tone for what he would do over the rest of the campaign.
Jon Cornish’s monstrous Canada Day effort was just a glimpse of things to come in his magical 2013 season (The Canadian Press)
Cornish exploded for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 24 carries. True to his hall-of-fame form, he was just getting started in that game. He racked up a career high 1,813 rushing yards and the fourth-highest total in league history. His 12 rushing touchdowns were also a career best. His efforts paved the way to him being named the league’s Most Outstanding Player, Most Outstanding Canadian and he closed out the year by winning the Lou Marsh Award (now the Northern Star Award) as Canada’s top male athlete.
