Week 6 definitely had quite a few twists and turns in the CFL season. The biggest twist was that the three-game week was originally supposed to start that Friday, but there was a huge delay. The air quality in Regina, Saskatchewan was absolutely horrendous, and the cause was a wildfire in the neighboring province of Manitoba. After hours of waiting, the delay reached a point where the game finally had to be postponed for early Saturday.
As a result, Week 6 ended up kicking off with a makeshift Saturday doubleheader, beginning with the Saskatchewan Roughriders hosting the Calgary Stampeders in their Western battle. The Riders looked to remain unbeaten, but the Stamps got off to a good start and took over the entire game. 24-10. That was the final score in Calgary’s favor, and with that, there are no more unbeatens in the CFL this season. After that, the lone Eastern game took place between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and it looked like the Redblacks would take this one. Then the fourth quarter happened. A 10-0 run for the TiCats was enough for them to take this one, 23-20. The East Division continues to be chaotic, more on that later.
Sunday saw another Western game, this time between the BC Lions and the lowly Edmonton Elks. As I was watching Evolution, I also caught this game on CFL+ (none of the three games were on CBS Sports Network here in the US), and as expected, this was a laugher. Didn’t start out that way. 3-0 Lions after one, but BC exploded in the second quarter and never looked back. The Lions won it, 32-14. As I said before, Edmonton, don’t fret–the NHL season is less than three months away.
After six weeks, here’s how things stand, and it’s crazy:
No, you are not seeing things. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are in first place in the East Division. It’s via tiebreaker, but first place is first place, can’t argue with the facts and numbers. Hamilton is leading the tepid East Division, while the Montréal Alouettes stand in second place. The Toronto Argonauts remain at 1-4, but we are ahead of the Ottawa Redblacks, who stand at 1-5. As for the West, the Calgary Stampeders’ win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders moved both teams into a first place tie, but it’s Calgary sitting on top of the West. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers remain in third place at 3-1, but the BC Lions (the only team to play in every week so far) are close behind at 3-3. The Edmonton Elks have a lot of catching up to do in the standings, but there is a lot of time in the season for them to do it. Same with the Argos in the East, because we would still not be in the playoffs if the season ended at this point.
Week 7 will kick off on Thursday, July 17 with Part 2 of the season series between the Toronto Argonauts and the Montréal Alouettes. On Friday, July 18, it’s a Western battle between the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and on Saturday, July 19, it’s another Western battle, this time between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the BC Lions. On Sunday, July 20, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Redblacks will face each other for the second straight week, this time in the Canadian capital.
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