A.J. Ouellette appreciates the importance of the rushing game and the hushing game.

“It’s always good when you can quiet a crowd, no matter where you’re going,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ featured running back said heading into Saturday’s CFL game against the host Montreal Alouettes.

“If you can go into hostile history and listen to the crickets chirp and watch the seats clear out early, it’s nice.

“But the positive side of being a Rider is you get to see green everywhere you go, no matter if you’re east, west … anywhere.”
Montreal’s Percival Molson Memorial Stadium is one of the noisier CFL venues — even without Alouettes fans blasting airhorns, which were outlawed at the venue earlier this year.

Hence the need for a ground attack.

“The run game is always important,” said Ouellette, who is third in the league in rushing yards (490). “You want to shut up the crowd and quiet it down.

“It’s easier to run the ball just on simple cadences. When you’re in the pass game, you might want to go on ‘2’ to slow down the pass rush. If you can establish the run game early, it can quiet the crowd down and open up the cadence.”

Ouellette doesn’t necessarily plan to be quiet around Alouettes quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, a former teammate in Toronto. They won a Grey Cup together with the Argonauts in 2022.

“Yeah, there’s a bond, and I feel a little at ease when I talk trash to him,” Ouellette said with a smile.

“If I wasn’t a teammate with him, he might just think I’m a loser. Now I can talk trash and walk away with a smile.”

SENIOR STADIUM

The Roughriders are preparing to visit a stadium that opened in 1915 — only five years after the Regina Rugby Club’s inception.

With that in mind, Saskatchewan quarterback (and ex-Alouette) Trevor Harris was asked if he can hear the ghosts when he enters Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.

“Whenever I go to a stadium, it’s just 110 yards with 20 yards of end zone,” he replied.

“With Montreal, there’s a cut-off end zone. You’ve just got to play with the real estate you’re given and do the best you can each play and see where it comes up at the end of 60 minutes.”

The end zones in Montreal are rounded off because a running track encircles the field of play.

Do the different dimensions warrant some extra strategizing?

“Of course,” said Harris, a former Alouette. “When I was there in ’22, we threw a pass to Geno (Lewis) and he was out of bounds by a mere couple of inches (because of the end zone’s dimensions).

“Actually, we started practising at Percival Molson on Day 3, during red-zone day, because of that. At the practice field at the Big O, we were full end zones. You’ve got that extra space and it ended up costing us one time.

“You’ve just got to make sure that on Day 3 you understand that the cut-off end zones are going to be there.”

MONTREAL MEMORIES

The Roughriders’ statistical standards for games in Montreal are as follows …

Touchdowns: 3 — Tom Campana (three receptions), Sept. 16, 1973.

Field goals: 5 — Paul McCallum (5-5), Oct. 3, 1997.

Longest field goal: 53 — Paul Watson, Aug. 2, 1981.

Passing yards: 445 — Darian Durant, Aug. 6, 2010.

Completions: 35 — Darian Durant (35-62), Aug. 6, 2010.

Longest pass: 85 — Ron Lancaster to Rhett Dawson, July 29, 1975 (TD).

Touchdown passes: 5 — Joe Barnes, Aug. 2, 1981.

Receptions: 13 — Craig Ellis (99 yards), Oct. 6, 1984; Weston Dressler (169), Aug. 6, 2010.

Receiving yards: 179 — Weston Dressler (8), Aug. 21, 2009.

Rushing yards: 141 — George Reed (20 carries), Sept. 12, 1965.

Longest run: 60 — Bill Gray, Sept. 8, 1961.

Interceptions by: 2 — Neil Habig, Oct. 24, 1963; James Marshall, July 29, 1975; Marshall Hamilton, July 7, 1983; Trent Bryant, Oct. 17, 1986.

Longest interception return: 72 — Ted Dushinski, Oct. 4, 1967 (TD).

Fumble returns: 2 — Don Bahnuik, Sept. 16, 1973; Steve Conley, Oct. 11, 1999.

Longest fumble return: 55 — Earl Okine, Aug. 9, 2019 (TD).

Defensive tackles: 12 — Eddie Lowe, Oct. 6, 1984; Billy Jackson, Oct. 17, 1986.

Sacks: 2 — Vince Goldsmith, July 7, 1983; Reggie Hunt, Nov. 13, 2005 (playoffs); Marcus Adams, June 29, 2007; Luc Mullinder, June 29, 2007; Stevie Baggs, Aug. 21, 2009; Pete Robertson, Oct. 30, 2021; Jonathan Woodard, Oct. 30, 2021; Pete Robertson, June 23, 2022; Bryan Cox Jr., July 25, 2024.

Longest punt return: 68 — Terryl Ulmer, Oct. 3, 1997 (TD).

Longest kickoff return: 53 — Hugh Charles, July 24, 2011.