WINNIPEG \u2014 It\u2019s going to be a long off-season for Logan Ferland.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 on Sunday night to earn just their fifth Grey Cup title and first since winning it all in Regina in 2013. And the six-foot-four, 300-pound Ferland, the Riders\u2019 starting centre from Melfort, Sask., figures there will be plenty of celebrating in his home province for the next little while.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be six months,\u201d Ferland said with a chuckle. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a long off-season of celebrations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning a CFL championship is special for any player. But a Saskatchewan native doing so as a Roughrider and being able to bring the Grey Cup back for the province\u2019s rabid fans to celebrate is next level in terms of accomplishment and a feeling of pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the dream,\u201d said Ferland. \u201cThis has been the dream since I started playing football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to fathom, I\u2019m still pinching myself. It\u2019s going to take a while to soak in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201925 season was already a memorable one for Ferland. Not only was he a CFL all-star, but last week he received the Jake Gaudaur Veterans\u2019 Award. It\u2019s presented annually to the Canadian CFL player who best demonstrates the attributes of Canada\u2019s veterans \u2014 strength, perseverance, courage, comradeship and community contribution.<\/p>\n
Ferland joined the Roughriders in 2019 as a territorial junior player, spending the season on the practice roster while still playing for the Regina Thunder, a Canadian Junior Football League squad. He cracked Saskatchewan\u2019s starting lineup in 2021 and has been a versatile performer, seeing action at left guard before moving to centre.<\/p>\n
The Roughriders are slated to return home Monday, with a victory parade planned for Tuesday in Regina.<\/p>\n
Riders quarterback Trevor Harris earned his first Grey Cup win as a starting quarterback. Harris, 39, completed his 13th CFL season by completing 23-of-27 passes for 302 yards and securing game MVP honours.<\/p>\n
The Grey Cup crown was Harris\u2019s third overall, having been part of championship teams with Toronto (2012) and Ottawa (2016) as a backup.<\/p>\n
Harris started the 2018 Grey Cup game for Ottawa but threw three interceptions in a 27-16 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n
But Harris\u2019s biggest sense of accomplishment this time around was helping the Riders\u2019 Saskatchewan-born players win a CFL championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m especially happy for the guys that grew up in Saskatchewan,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Grey Cup title was also a long time coming for Jeremy O\u2019Day, the Riders\u2019 vice-president of football operations\/GM. The 51-year-old was the Riders\u2019 assistant GM when they won the \u201913 Grey Cup, but the franchise posted consecutive 6-12 records before hiring Corey Mace as head coach after the 2023 campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means everything to the province of Saskatchewan,\u201d said O\u2019Day, who has been with the Riders\u2019 organization in various roles since 2011. \u201cThis organization has been a championship organization for a long time; we just needed to do our part on the field and bring more Grey Cups home. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re bringing it home. It\u2019s very gratifying, but I\u2019m just super happy for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the biggest questions facing the Riders now is Harris\u2019s future. It\u2019s unclear if he\u2019ll opt to retire on top or return for a 14th CFL campaign.<\/p>\n
Harris is slated to become a CFL free agent in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question,\u201d O\u2019Day said. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk about that a little later, but I\u2019d love to have Trevor back.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m just so happy for Trevor because I\u2019ve never been around a guy that\u2019s worked as hard as he has. He\u2019s a consummate professional, just works, works, works, and just never stops.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same can be said about Mace. After finishing 9-8-1 in Mace\u2019s first year at the helm, the Riders finished atop the West Division for the first time since 2019 with a CFL-best 12-6 record.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorey has been just unbelievable since the day we got him,\u201d O\u2019Day said. \u201cHe has never wavered, he\u2019s the same guy we hired \u2026 every day he comes to work. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say very much more other than he\u2019s just a fantastic coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Ferland is anticipating a six-month Grey Cup celebration in Saskatchewan, O\u2019Day is giving himself a short time to relish the championship before returning to the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys (players and coaches) can take a little bit longer, but I\u2019ll get back to work (after a day or two),\u201d O\u2019Day said. \u201cBut the victory parade is going to be crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2025.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 It\u2019s going to be a long off-season for Logan Ferland. The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Montreal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,4852,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-295638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-human-interest","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}