JIM LANG ON SPORTS

TORONTO — And then there were two.

There has always been one thing that nobody can honestly deny. Even the CFL’s harshest critics reluctantly agree with this fact; the 1989 Grey Cup was one of the greatest football games ever played.

Well coming up on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium the CFL hopes history repeats itself as the Riders will meet the TiCats in the 101st Grey Cup. (I’m sure Riders fans hope history repeats itself as well!)

After watching Kory Sheets shred the Stampeders defence for 177 yards the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have their work cut for them. When TiCats defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinauer runs off his check list of keys to victory it should read like this:

1 – Stop Kory Sheets. That means strong gap discipline and no arm tackling.

2 – Contain Darian Durant in the pocket and don’t allow him the room to beat us with his legs to the outside.

3 – Tackle the receivers. Don’t allow the Riders receivers to beat us with yards after the catch.

The TiCats have nothing to lose in this game. The Riders will be the favourites and they get the extra added benefit of playing the game in their home stadium. The TiCats won their final two games of the regular season before running the table in the East to punch their ticket to Regina.

Make no mistake, beating the Argos the way they did in the East Final is a big accomplishment. But now they have to deal with the bitter cold and the wild crowd noise and all the hoopla that comes with a Grey Cup. All of which means CFL fans should be in for an amazing day of football. That also means the TiCats can’t afford to fall behind early and give the crowd a reason to be even louder.

Adding to the intrigue of this game is the presence of former Riders on the Tiger-Cats. Coach Kent Austin, quarterback Henry Burris and receiver Andy Fantuz all have strong ties to Riders and you can be sure the hometown fans will let them what they think of them. The fact Austin quarterbacked the Riders in the 1989 Grey Cup and is now trying to beat them as the Coach of the TiCats is something only a Hollywood script writer could come up with.

I went on Expedia and discovered that there is not a single hotel room available in Regina. As a matter of fact there are no rooms in Moose Jaw either. If you are planning to fly out to Regina this weekend to watch the game the only rooms I could find were in Swift Current or Weyburn.

If you are able to get a room be prepared to pay a king’s ransom for a ticket. On Stubhub the cheapest ticket I could find was going for $229 dollars. The top price you ask? Try $4,999 dollars to sit on the lower sideline.

What this all means is further proof that the Grey Cup still means something in this country. Lord knows the CFL has gone through its share of ups and downs in my lifetime. But in 2013 the league is as stable as I have seen it in a long time. The television ratings are spectacular and you know this weekend in Regina is going to a complete gong show. And I do mean that in a good way.

Environment Canada is calling for a high of minus one on Sunday. Heck that is a heat wave compared the weather fans had to sit through for the Western Semi-Final.

Like millions of other Canadians I will be watching the game at home. That means I will have a big pot of chili cooking all day.

Enjoy the game; let’s hope it comes close to the drama and excitement of 1989.

NHL

Do you want to take a wild guess which goalie has the best stats in the NHL right now? Do you give up?

The answer is Ben Scrivens of the LA Kings.

Going into Wednesday’s schedule of games Scrivens leads the NHL in goals against average, save percentage and in shut-out. In his nine games he’s played Scrivens already has three shut-outs, a goals against of 1.35 and a save percentage of .949%. The Spruce Grove, Alberta native played his college hockey at Cornell and, no offence, has higher level of education than the average hockey player. As a result Kings fans have taken to calling him “The Professor”.

Scrivens is good people and anyone who dealt with him while he was playing for the Leafs wish him nothing but the best.

There are some interesting trends going on right now in the NHL. The Phoenix Coyotes continue to fly under the radar in the Western Conference and play solid hockey. The Coyotes are 8-1 and 1 in their past 10 games and they are among the top teams in the West. Too bad the fine people of Glendale, Arizona haven’t caught Coyotes’ fever yet. According to ESPN the Coyotes are ranked dead last in the NHL in attendance, averaging just over 12,000 fans a game.

Over in the Eastern Conference the Detroit Red Wings are riding a very curious seven game losing streak. I say that because two of those losses were in over-time and three of them were in the shoot-out. So thanks to the NHL’s confusing points system, the Red Wings picked up five points during their seven losses.

NFL

The Carolina Panthers beat the New England Patriots 24-20 in what was the best Monday Night game we have seen this season. Of course the game ended on a controversial non-call of pass interference. Usually I don’t condone players verbally assaulting officials but Tom Brady had a right to be livid after the game. All he wanted and anyone else wanted was a reasonable explanation why that wasn’t pass interference in the end zone at the end of the game.

Every week we see defensive backs barely touch a receiver and get flagged for pass inference. Now some will say that is the football gods getting back at the Patriots for all of the calls and breaks that have gone their way over the years. (Does the Tuck Rule ring a bell?) But what’s done is done and now the Patriots have to get ready to host the Broncos Sunday night in Foxborough.

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)