The Montreal Alouettes’ defence could not lay a finger on Trevor Harris, who is now untouchable in a larger context.
Nobody can question his status as a legend — a future Canadian Football Hall of Famer — after he quarterbacked the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup Game.
In the biggest game of his 13-year CFL career, he completed 23 of 27 passes for 302 yards and established a Grey Cup single-game record for completion percentage (85.2).
“I don’t think I took a single hit,” Harris said after the Nov. 16 contest at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium. “I could have not worn shoulder pads.”
What did take a hit? The narrative that Harris had not won a Grey Cup as a starter.
Conveniently overlooked or downplayed before Sunday was the fact that Harris had earned East Division All-CFL honours for the Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2016.
Although Henry Burris was the starting quarterback when the 2016 REDBLACKS won the Grey Cup, Ottawa would not have reached the big game without integral contributions from Harris.
Also overlooked, but no less relevant: Harris threw six touchdown passes — an enduring CFL single-game playoff record — for Ottawa in 2018.
Using that statistical marker, it was an unrivalled pressure-packed performance.
Yet, in the assessment of some observers, the one unchecked box was the sole criteria by which an already-outstanding career should be appraised.
It rankled me leading up to the 2025 Grey Cup Game. It still irks me still. Too much rankle and irk is never a good thing.
The maddened mind rewinds to 1989, when Tom Burgess led the Roughriders in touchdown passes (22). He also came off the bench, in place of an injured Kent Austin, in the second quarter and helped Saskatchewan upset Edmonton 32-21 in the ’89 Western Final.
Austin returned for the Grey Cup and enjoyed a performance for the ages, throwing for 474 yards and three TDs in a 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
If not for Burgess, however, the Roughriders’ season would have concluded one week earlier.
There were reminders of a comparable scenario during Grey Cup Week in 2025. Jason Maas, now the Alouettes’ Head Coach, was Ricky Ray’s backup with Edmonton 20 years earlier.
Ray earned Grey Cup MVP distinction in 2005 after leading Edmonton to a 38-35 double-overtime victory over Montreal.
A masterful and memorable performance, undeniably, but Edmonton would not have advanced to the Grey Cup without Maas. He came off the bench in relief of a struggling Ray and helped Edmonton earn back-to-back comeback victories in both West Division playoff games.
Harris, Burgess and Maas all seized the moment at pivotal junctures in Grey Cup-winning seasons.
In the case of Burgess, he eventually won a championship as a starter — adding Grey Cup MVP laurels to his resume when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers routed Edmonton 50-11.
When Burgess had previously faced an Edmonton defence in a must-win game, his back-to-back third-quarter touchdown passes (to Ray Elgaard and Jeff Fairholm) tipped the balance in Saskatchewan’s favour on Nov. 19, 1989.
Burgess spotted a flaw in Hamilton’s defence a week later and suggested a play — a bomb to Fairholm — in the second quarter of the 79th Grey Cup Game.
Good idea. Austin hit Fairholm for a 75-yard TD.
That is how it is done in the ultimate team sport. Everybody plays a part. Even on the sideline, invaluable contributions can be made.
It is an oversimplification to attach wins and losses to a player’s name when there are 24 moving pieces every time the ball is snapped.
Oldsters like me remember a classic example — Tom Clements with the 1979 Roughriders.
Before and after spending time in Saskatchewan, Clements performed like the Hall of Famer he turned out to be.
Playing behind a porous offensive line in the early weeks of a rebuilding process, Clements was a pinata in a mercifully abbreviated, eight-game stay in Saskatchewan.
The interceptions (11) greatly outnumbered the touchdown passes (2) for Clements as a Roughrider. With a superior supporting cast at three other CFL stops, he was one of the league’s elite.
That description has fit Harris for a decade, ever since he threw 33 touchdown passes for the Toronto Argonauts in 2015.
Long a premier passer, Harris is now second All-Time in accuracy (71.1 per cent), ninth in completions (3,097), 13th in aerial yards (37,697) and 15th in touchdown passes (204).
Directly above him on the TD passes table: Dieter Brock (210).
Brock never quarterbacked a team to a Grey Cup win. But no fair person, or anyone who saw him play, can in good conscience contend that he is not one of the greats.
The previous sentence also applied to Harris leading up to the 2025 Grey Cup Game. The credentials were already impressive. Then he led the Riders to the fifth championship in franchise history, incinerating a tired yet persistent narrative in the process.
“Now, if anyone says anything about Trevor, the first thing they should say is that he has done everything, including win the Grey Cup as a starting quarterback,” Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller said the other day.
“He’s one of the best players this league has ever seen.”
REMEMBERING COLLEEN JONES
I had the honour of running into CBC’s Devin Heroux in Winnipeg after the Roughriders’ 2025 Grey Cup win. A staunch supporter of the Green and White — and Canadian sports in general — Heroux was elated when we last crossed paths.
At the time, he was one of the few who knew that curling legend Colleen Jones had been battling cancer for three years.
Sadly, she passed away on Nov. 25. Heroux soon paid her a remarkable and fitting tribute, writing a personal and, moreover, perfect remembrance that appeared on CBC’s website.
Jones and Heroux were close colleagues and dear friends. He had the privilege of getting to know someone I had interviewed only twice. But even over those brief encounters, I emerged with an appreciation for someone who won two world women’s curling championships and six Canadian titles.
Her first national championship celebration took place on March 6, 1982 at Regina’s Agridome (now the Brandt Centre). Only 22, the Nova Scotia skip was the talk of an event that was known in 1982 for the first time as the Scott (now Scotties) Tournament of Hearts.
Seven years later, I had the opportunity to meet Jones when she represented Nova Scotia at the nationals in Kelowna, B.C.
“Regina was one of the highlights of my life,” she told yours truly, then of the Regina Leader-Post. “It was so much fun that year, in that Nova Scotia has always been an underdog. It’s always nice when the little team wins.”
Her success in 1982 was a springboard to another successful career — in broadcasting.
“It was a fluke, really,” she said. “After we got back (from the world championship) in ’82, our team was in a big parade, which was followed by a softball game. The news director of a local radio station came up to me and said I should do an audition. He didn’t think I’d take him seriously, but I did one anyway.
“I must have done at least 100 takes. I took the best one and slid it under the program director’s door. He didn’t realize I’d done all those other takes.”
Jones had what it took, enjoying a career in front of the camera that included nearly 40 years at CBC.
In curling, there isn’t a second take. It is a make-or-miss scenario when a skip attempts a shot with an end or a match on the line.
She made those shots with uncanny frequency, as the legends do. The impression she made on people is also part of a remarkable legacy.
I had only had two takes, if you will, when it came to interviewing her
It was like talking football with Ron Lancaster. One could emerge from even a brief interaction with more quotes and anecdotes than a regulation-length story could accommodate.
Inevitably, I would plead with the L-P’s copy desk for more space … please?
Jones deserved far more time but, while introducing that thought, I am reminded of how amazing she truly was.
In 65 years, she accomplished enough for several lifetimes, excelling as an athlete, a broadcaster, a wife, a mother, a coach, a friend and, with enduing gratitude from this reporter, an interviewee.
CFL LOSES A LEGEND
I never had the pleasure of seeing Ken Nielsen when he was a star receiver with the Blue Bombers.
Even as a Roughriders rooter, I felt like I missed something.
Before a neck injury cut short his playing career at age 28, he caught 280 passes for 4,340 yards and 31 touchdowns. Also of note was a 109-yard TD pass he caught against the Calgary Stampeders in the 1965 playoffs.
In 1968, Nielsen was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian after exceeding 1,000 receiving yards for the second straight season.
Twice an All-CFL selection, he went on to enjoy another brilliant career — as a dentist.
Dr. Ken Nielsen was 83 when he passed away in Kamloops on Nov. 17.
Anyone who loves Canadian football should appreciate what home-grown stars such as Nielsen have done for our great game.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Mary-Lou Gibson, Vincent Martin-Stachoski, Ashley Martin, Judd Stachoski, Charbel Dabire, Marc Mueller, Connor Bedard, Channing Masuhara, Daniel Wiebe, Seth Hundeby, Bruce Johnstone, Brion Brandt, Wayne Sakires, Brian Schatz, Nik Patterson, Devin Heroux, Scott Saunders, Luke Saunders, Zach Saunders, Markus Schwabe, Karen Schwabe and Dr. Nkosana Nkomo.