Lionbackers.com

1997
Thie Lions made the playoffs for the 20th time in the 43 year club history. The game was the first time in CFL history that a Western Conference team is participating in the Eastern Semi-Final. The Lions finished in fourth place in the West with an 8-10 record. BC concluded their season losing their last four games and final six road games. It was 3-5 against Eastern opponents, beating Hamilton twice and Winnipeg. The Alouettes finished with the second best record in the CFL and second in the East with a 13-5 record. They were 8-1 at home (Loss against Edmonton) and 5-3 against Western opponents including two victories over the Lions.

West Division Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Edmonton Eskimos 18 12 6 0 479 400 24
Calgary Stampeders 18 10 8 0 522 442 20
Saskatchewan Roughriders 18 8 10 0 413 479 16
British Columbia Lions 18 8 10 0 429 536 16

East Division Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Toronto Argonauts 18 15 3 0 660 327 30
Montreal Alouettes 18 13 5 0 509 532 26
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18 4 14 0 443 548 8
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 18 2 16 0 362 549 4

Semi-Finals - Saskatchewan 33 - Calgary 30
Semi-Finals - Montreal 45 - B.C. 35

Finals - Saskatchewan 31 - Edmonton 30
Finals - Toronto 37 - Montreal 30

Grey Cup - Toronto 47 - Saskatchewan 23

Who remembers this brawl? It was very out of character for Lui Passaglia to get involved as the older man. Reminds me of Don Zimmer and his brawl with Pedro Martinez - although Lui wasn't 72 years old at the time. For better or worse, certainly a cheap shot by Adam Rita.

That was the Lions starting QB so Lui did lose it but man that was a bad hit.

The Adam Rita blow up was that they worked together before and Reinbold was rumoured to bonus players for taking guys out of games.

Better yet, who remembers Jeff Rheinbold?

EDSF: BC 35 at Montreal 45

The 1997 Grey Cup in its entirely:


This was Doug Flutie's last game in the CFL. And this was when Chrysler Canada sponsored the Grey Cup MVP award and gave the winner a brand new Dodge Dakota truck while Canadian Airlines sponsored the MVC award was in the form of a free roundtrip airfare for two in North America.

And some people said that because of Doug Flutie's actions at 4:57:00 Chrysler Canada quickly rescinded their sponsorship shortly afterwards.

If any sponsor should have been offended by what Flutie did is should have been Canadian Airlines. Flutie basically said the prize for top Canadian was not good enough. He was trying to make a statement about how valuable Canadian players were in the CFL. Chrysler got few more seconds of promotion out that and instead of getting butt hurt should have realised they had a promotional opportunity gifted to them from the greatest player in CFL history.

1997 EDSF: BC 35 at Montreal 45

The first time the Lions played on a crossover.

1997 WDF in which Saskatchewan managed to upset Edmonton 31-30:


But after the game, it shows highlights of the 1997 EDF and at 2:44:29 it's another living proof that the East Division championship trophy is indeed much more useful and practical.

BC 7 at Edmonton 41

Calgary 23 at BC 37