Scruffy’s This N That

1 – GREY CUP 113:  Montreal vs Edmonton for the Grey Cup.  Who had that on their bingo card when training camp started? I think a lot of us had Montreal, but how many had Edmonton? Can the guys from Alberta’s capital finish off what has arguably been the best story in the league this year? Many think they can. 

As the clock ticks down to the three-minute mark in the 4^th quarter on Sunday night, I don’t know if we will know who is going to win this game.  The Alouettes certainly don’t want to walk off the field in back-to-back years watching the other team celebrate and the Elks want to bring Edmonton its first CFL championship since 2015 and put a stamp on the CFL being a thing again in the Alberta capital.  I think we are in for a great contest. I’ll take Montreal to win it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens because of a Jose Maltos-Diaz field goal at the gun.  What have you got?

2 – GREY CUP NOTES:  Here are some game notes leading you into Sunday. 

• The Grey Cup features the CFL’s top two teams in turnover differential. Edmonton (+23) and Montreal (+21) ranked 1st and 2nd in 2026, combining for 97 takeaways.
• Cody Fajardo will make his 2nd career Grey Cup start on Sunday. With a victory, he would become the first QB since Damon Allen in 2000 to win each of his first two Grey Cup starts.
• Mark Kilam is the 24^th man since 1996 to make his Grey Cup head coaching debut. The first 23 are 12-11 with the last four who have made their debut winning including Corey Mace last season.
• Montreal and Edmonton will meet in the Grey Cup for the 12th time, making it the most frequent matchup in Grey Cup history. Edmonton holds an 8-3 record in their previous meetings, dating back to 1954, with the most recent coming in 2005.
• Montreal allowed just 19 sacks in the regular season. 

3 – STEWIE SAYS:  CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston gave his state of the league address and to no one’s surprise, a lot of talk was centred on Quebec City being the 10^th franchise. As far as Regina is concerned, he saved the best for last as one of his final questions revolved around the decision by the City of Regina to once again have stitched turf inside Mosaic Stadium instead of one that can be painted.  It is a decision that is being widely criticized by many and for good reason.  

Johnston saying “All our other clubs are looking to paint. Painting is not that difficult, and I think painting future-proofs your field. I would urge the city, with the support of the Roughriders, to consider moving back to a painted field.” I don’t know if that will carry any weight at City Hall, but it should. The City says having a painted field will present challenges including cost. Don’t get me started. Have the Riders said anything on this? If they have, I’ve missed it, so I don’t know what stance is being taken. I am guessing and hoping the Riders see it is for the good of all if the turf is painted and not stitched and that they will tell the City to think again on this decision.

4 – NATHAN ROURKE: Nathan Rourke is taking a lot of heat for not getting his B.C Lions to the Grey Cup. Rourke is 0-3 in division finals, but he split the 2023 loss in Winnipeg with Vernon Adams Junior who started that game.  The criticism is valid, much like it is with Josh Allen in the NFL and Connor McDavid in the NHL for not getting that championship yet, but Rourke’s career is really still in its infancy.  Will Davis Alexander face the “he can’t win the big one” talk if Edmonton wins on Sunday? It wasn’t Alexander’s fault that Shea Patterson fumbled at the goal-line in what was the big play of last year’s Grey Cup and it wasn’t Rourke’s fault that the Lions defence couldn’t stop Trevor Harris with 1:03 left and the ball at the Saskatchewan 34 in last year’s Western Final.  Rourke did throw for 328 yards with a touchdown run in the West Final which obviously wasn’t good enough, but he wouldn’t say he had a bad game and let the moment get to him as many have said.  When you are the quarterback, you are going to take the blame if your team doesn’t win most times and that is what’s happening here.  Rourke will win his Grey Cup. It may come as early as next year at Mosaic. 

5 – TREVOR HARRIS: Speaking of Trevor Harris, I will be honest. I thought we would have heard a decision from him on his playing career before the divisional finals started. Don’t be surprised if we hear something early this week. I think Harris wants to come back for one more year and I think the Riders want him back in a year where they are hosting the Grey Cup. The question now is how much money do you give the 41, who will be 42 during the season, year-old? I posed that question on Twitter this week saying would you go over or under $700,00 and as expected there were people on both sides of the equation.  The dollars for a starter has been reset with the Chad Kelly contract. Under no circumstances will Harris get what Kelly is getting because of his age, (sorry Trevor), but I think 700-grand is reasonable or less base with the ability to get to that number or slightly above with incentives. I don’t think this will be troublesome for the Riders if Harris does want to come back. If he doesn’t, there are some problems. 

6 – WEEK 10 NFL: It’s the one Sunday of the year where the attention of many football fans in Canada stays in Canada once Labour Day is over. There are some good matchups, including yet another European game, in Week 10 of the NFL season. Here are some tidbits of information. 

• Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers has 180 career wins, including the postseason, and can tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees (181) for the fourth-most wins by a starting quarterback, including the postseason, in NFL history. Only Tom Brady (286 wins) and Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (200) and Brett Favre (199) have more.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars are the fourth team since 2000 to win 4 games by 23-or-more points within their first eight games of a season, joining the 2007 and 2019 New England Patriots as well as the 2006 Chicago Bears. The Jags are in Tennessee to battle the Titans on Sunday.
• The Indianapolis Colts go into a game against Miami having scored 23 or fewer points in five straight games. A sixth straight game would tie their second-longest single-season streak in the past 30 seasons (11 straight in 2017, six consecutive in 2011).
• Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who is 24 years old, leads the NFL with 60 scrimmage touchdowns (48 rushing, 12 receiving) and ranks second with 6,161 scrimmage yards since entering the NFL in 2023. With a touchdown against New England in Munich, Gibbs can tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis (61 touchdowns) for the most touchdowns by a player in his first four seasons in NFL history.

7 – COWARDLY CONNOR: Years ago, Wayne Gretzky called the New Jersey Devils “a Mickey Mouse organization”. One might argue after this week that they still are! Is there anyone out there believing the reasons why Connor Hellebuyck did not play against the Winnipeg Jets in his much-discussed return?  At least, they didn’t announce it at the morning skate on Tuesday.  It’s obvious that after seeing the Brady Tkachuk return to Ottawa that Hellebuyck wanted no part of that in Winnipeg where everyone knows it would have been worse.  Take your medicine, Connor! Someone said that they would not put it past Hellebuyck if he never ever took the crease in Winnipeg for the rest of his career so to avoid the backlash—-one that won’t diminish until he does the right thing and pays the piper.  

Hellebuyck said he wants to play. Does anyone believe that? He knows what is going to happen, and he wants no part of it. It’s as simple as that and everyone knows it.  If you could demand a trade out of Winnipeg two years into a seven-year contract, you can demand to have the net in your return to Winnipeg. Hellebuyck’s legacy in Winnipeg was tarnished the day he said he wanted out. 

He once again told reporters that multiple things led to his trade request including incidents involving his family after he won Olympic gold that crossed the line and that they involved more than online death threats.  I’m not going to call Hellebuyck a liar and I am sure there were a lot of negative things that were said because of that gold medal win, but if threats were made why didn’t they get brought to the public’s attention. Winnipeg Police have never said anything about this and either did the Jets. One would think you would want that information to be released and those accused to face some heat.  That didn’t happen so I can’t buy this completely. He is asking for privacy and that no other questions should be asked.  Sorry! Tell us what was said, tell us who allegedly said it and let Winnipeg Police explain if this was or wasn’t investigated and if it wasn’t, why? 

At the end of the day, Hellebuyck wants a Stanley Cup to end what is a very solid resume, one that may end up seeing him end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He felt he didn’t have the team around him to win that Cup in Winnipeg, so he decided to move on. The thing is if he had actually played up to his capabilities in the playoffs, especially the year where he won the Hart and Vezina Trophy, he might have had that.

If only Nathan McKinnon had hit the empty net!

8 – THE MINNESOTA WILD: When the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, I like to tell people who are so desperate to see a Canadian team (one that has Americans, Russians and European players on them) win Hockey’s Holy Grail to cheer for whatever team has the most Canadians.  That team is NOT the Minnesota Wild.  I had to go check it out when I heard some of the talking heads on NHL Radio bring it up, but the Wild played two games last week without one Canadian player on their game-day roster. A further check of their roster shows they only have two Canadians (Jared Spurgeon, Calvin Pickard) on their roster. In the games in question, Spurgeon was hurt and Pickard was not dressed.

Looking back to the start of the season, Canada had 306 players on opening-night rosters which is the most of any country, but only 42 percent. For what it’s worth, there were 192 Americans.  I don’t know if the gap between Canada and the U-S will shrink any when it comes to opening night rosters moving forward and obviously, we are seeing more Europeans and Russians than ever before, but I find it “wild” that an NHL team can hit the ice with not one Canadian-born player on it.  You’ll understand when I say I hope Minnesota isn’t the team I want to see skating around the ice with the Cup in tow in June. 

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: 

• It won’t be much longer until Edmonton D-C J.C. Sherritt is a head coach and a good one. Rider fans don’t know of a good head coach who was a player and former defensive co-ordinator in the league do they?
• I’m biased, but I have no problem with Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue representing Canada at the World Juniors this year!
• Friday’s Overdrive where Jeff O’Neill tried catching a punt was one of the funniest things I have seen on Canadian TV in quite a while. O’Dog says he wants to do it again next year in Regina. Why not!
• Very happy to hear Brit Dort is going to host the panel for DAZN CFL games. As I said on Twitter this week, she is a rising star in the Canadian sports journalism industry and deserves every opportunity she is given because she puts the work into it. She will be outstanding! Congrats, Brit! 

That’s all I got.  Have a great week! Enjoy Grey Cup 113!