Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes face off in CFL Semi-Final

It is the absolute best time of year to be a CFL fan.

This weekend, the CFL Divisional Semi-Finals begin with two great matchups fans have been waiting for all year. 

Out east, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats welcome the Montreal Alouettes to Tim Hortons field Sunday afternoon, while here in Saskatchewan, the Roughriders will be hosting the Calgary Stampeders Sunday evening.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats come into this weekend’s game as the second ranked team in the east, trailing only the Toronto Argonauts, while Montreal finished third.

On Friday’s edition of the Rod Pedersen Show, CHCH TV sports anchor Bubba O’Neil stopped by to chat about the Tiger-Cats and the CFL playoffs. Heading into this weekend, he said fans are ready to see their team get a win.

“It’s been an incredible buzz and you have to thank Patrick Levels for starting it so early in with his trash talking,” said O’Neil. “Calling out every single player on the Tiger-Cats roster including their head coach Orlondo Steinauer. That really got things fired up.”

Earlier this week, Levels guaranteed a win over the Tiger-Cats. Will that be the case? Only time will tell for the underdog Alouettes.

“On the field, this is as business-like as I have seen the Tiger-Cats in sometime,” said O’Neil. “I think those words by Levels, they weren’t affected by it.”

With the Grey Cup being played in Hamilton in just a few weeks, the pressure is on for the Tiger-Cats to play for a championship in their own stadium.

“It’s been overtop of them like a dark cloud all season long,” said O’Neil. “You can ask the players and coaches that, but all day long they are going to say, ‘we’re not thinking about it’, but that is bologna. Of course they are thinking about it.”

While fans are certainly excited for the big game coming to Hamilton, this year’s events will be much smaller than previous years due to COVID-19.

“It’s not going to be the big show,” said O’Neil “You just can’t have the extra seats, and it will be a scaled down Grey Cup. I think if you are the CFL and for many CFL fans, you are just happy this game is actually being played.”

On top of the pressure of making the Grey Cup, Hamilton will also have a handful to deal with on the field.

Montreal has had the best running back in the league this season in William Stanback, who was named the East Division’s nominee for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

The team isn’t afraid to use him either, as he finished with a league high 1,176 rushing yards in 12 games.

For the Tiger-Cats, if they can contain Stanback, it could be a long day for the Alouettes.

We here at the RP Show can’t wait for a weekend of football, and no matter what happens, we’ll be watching…