CFL Week 1 Recap: Back to Normal

It's that time again! The Canadian Football League is back in season, and for the first time in three years, it's a full season! The 2020 season ended up being entirely canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic being at its earliest and worst stage, and the 2021 season was a condensed year--with 14 games played in 16 weeks. In any event, the last two seasons ended in the same way: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hoisting the Grey Cup, with both victories coming against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Bombers look to win their third straight Grey Cup, and become the first team to win three in a row since the then-named Edmonton Eskimos won five straight (66th-70th) from 1979-1983.

I've been watching the CFL now for nine years, but for those of you who are new to this amazing league, here's how it goes. The league has nine teams--five in the West Division and four in the East Division. A standard season starts in the 2nd week of June, with each team playing 18 games in 21 weeks. The CFL's main holidays are Labour Day and Canadian Thanksgiving (the latter taking place in the second Monday of October), with games taking place on those holidays. The 21-week regular season is followed by a three-week, three round Grey Cup Playoffs in November.

Six of the nine teams qualify for the playoffs, with the two division winners getting a bye straight to the Division Finals, while the other two teams in each division face each other in the Division Semifinals. The two division champions face each other in the Grey Cup, with this year being the 109th annual game, which will take place on November 20, 2022 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Before we could get to that game, we have to start with the four games that kicked off the 2022 season. The season opened with a game on the west side of Canada, with the Calgary Stampeders hosting the Montréal Alouettes--a battle between two of last year's playoff teams. Both teams were looking to improved from the condensed 2021 season, and this game was much closer than I expected. I had the Stamps blowing out the Als because the latter, well, hasn't had a lot of really good seasons. Though Calgary did end up winning, it was a close one--30-27, mainly due to a Hail Mary attempt from the Als being thwarted. On the following evening, the aforementioned Blue Bombers celebrated their second straight championship, and later played a nailbiter of their own against the Ottawa Redblacks (one of the three teams who missed the playoffs in 2021). It looked like we could see an upset in Opening Week, and what an upset it would have been, but Winnipeg held on and escaped with a 19-17 win.

The Saturday doubleheader featured the Saskatchewan Roughriders in action, as they hosted the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the back-to-back runners up. The Riders are beginning their quest to play the Grey Cup in their home stadium, a feat they accomplished back in 2013, which saw them victorious over the aforementioned Tiger-Cats. Their quest got off to a winning start, 30-13 over Hamilton--a close affair that got away from the TiCats late. Speaking of getting away, that's exactly what I did halfway into Week 1's finale: a West Division battle between the other two non-playoff teams from 2021, the BC Lions and the Edmonton Elks. By halftime, BC was up 42-6 over Edmonton, and I just went, "Well, this game's done." BC ended up winning, 59-15, and honestly, I think the Lions are revved up. They're steamed over narrowly missing the playoffs last season, and it looks like they mean business. Granted, this was against the Elks, but a blowout is a blowout.

So the one team who didn't play in Week 1 was the Toronto Argonauts, who are coming off a home loss in the East Division Final last season. In a wild twist, the Argonauts are in first place (at 0-0) because all of the other East teams lost. Meanwhile, the only West team who lost in Week 1 was the Elks, who stand at 0-1 while the rest are all 1-0. A fun Opening Week, but there's much more where that came from!

Week 2 begins on Thursday, June 16 with the aforementioned Toronto Argonauts opening their season at home against the Montréal Alouettes. On Friday, June 17, the Ottawa Redblacks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers will face off again, this time in the Canadian capital, and the doubleheader on Saturday, June 18 will kick off with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the Calgary Stampeders, and it will be followed by a West Division battle between the Edmonton Elks and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The BC Lions will be idle, giving them another week to bask in their 59-point performance.

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Check out my story detailing how I became a CFL fan: