Tiger-Cats set to host Alouettes in long-anticipated Eastern Final

It’s the way everyone—at least everyone not cheering for the Blue Bombers—wanted it. And it’s the way it should be too.

The top two teams in the CFL East, the two teams who have stayed within touching distance of each other since the early summer, will square off in the late fall for the right to advance to the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg, Nov. 16.

“I’m excited to go against them,” Tiger-Cats East all-CFL defensive tackle Casey Sayles was saying over the weekend after the Alouettes’ entertaining 42-33 victory over the cross-over Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East semi-final Saturday afternoon in Montréal, brings the Als to Hamilton Stadium Saturday afternoon for the division final. 

“The top two teams in the East matching up and fighting each other. You always want the East Final game to have two East teams. We were preparing for Winnipeg as well, but it’s nice to have East teams in the East Final.

“They’re rolling right now and they’re a damned good team so we have to bring our ‘A’ game.”

The Alouettes, who finished two points back of the 11-7 Ticats with Hamilton clinching first on the final Friday of the regular season, have beaten the Ticats in each of the last two head-to-head playoff games, with East semi-final wins in Montréal in both 2022 and ’23. They went on to win the 2023 Grey Cup, as part of their 13-game undefeated run, and also swept the Ticats in two games during last year’s regular season when Hamilton missed the playoffs.

But overall, since the “modern” CFL started in 1950 the Ticats hold an 8-3 advantage when the two sides have met in the Eastern Final. And all three of those Als’ wins came when the conference final was a two-game total-point series, with one game played in each city. Since the East went to single-game division finals in 1973 the Ticats have never lost to the Als in the Grey Cup qualifying game. They’ve won all five times they’ve faced the Als in the East Final—although the most recent was 1999—and they also beat Montréal in the 1985 Final when the team was called the Concordes.

All of this is listed in the head-to-head playoff history chart at the bottom of this column and astute readers will notice something else. Including semi-finals and finals at Ivor Wynne, Guelph, and Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton has a 12-0 home playoff record against Montréal teams, including the Concordes.

This will be the Als’ fourth straight trip to the Eastern Final, while the Ticats are in their first since 2019, when they beat Edmonton and advanced to the Grey Cup game.

But the Ticats won both games this season—35-17 at home in late June and 26-9 on Sept. 6 in Montréal—although Als’ quarterback Davis Alexander was injured and didn’t play either game. The Als consider themselves as a different team since he went back under centre in late September after missing two months with injury. The Als have won six of their seven games since then and the only loss was in the regular-season finale against Winnipeg when Alexander and several other regulars were on the injured list because the game had no bearing on the final standings.

Alexander, who can run and throw, changes the offence and has won all 12 of his CFL starts—including two last year against the Cats. Previous No. 1 starter Cody Fajardo was at the helm when the Als were edged by the Argos in last year’s East Final, but was traded in the off-season and Alexander was anointed as starter.

Against Winnipeg on Saturday he went 24-for-34 with one interception plus a TD pass to Tyson Philpot, and carried the ball three times for 32 yards and another touchdown. Montréal, with Stevie Scott III carrying 18 times for 133 yards and two TDs, ate up the over-matched Winnipeg defence for 556 yards of net offence and converted a stunning 70 per cent of their second-down opportunities.

In his two wins over Hamilton eight days apart in August last year—the second and third starts, and wins, of his pro career—Alexander combined for 509 pass yards, 36 of 51 attempts and flung three TDs and an interception. He also had five runs for 43 yards.

He can be a handful, especially now that he’s got help in the rushing game from Scott.

“You’ve gotta give credit to Davis Alexander, their leader,” says Ticats’ field-side defensive halfback Reggie Stubblefield, who was with Montréal in their 2023 Cup win at Hamilton Stadium and is the only Ticat who will dress on Saturday who has played with the Als. Practice roster players receiver Shedler Fervius and kicker Michael Domagala also spent time in Montréal.

“Davis is undefeated in all his CFL games. Very impressive, something very hard to do in football.

“When I look at Montreal I look to the top of the organization and (general manager) Danny Maciocia and (head coach) Jason Maas, two guys who’ve implemented a great culture of competition. All those guys have that mindset to compete for all four quarters. The majority of them have had experience in the Eastern Final and in the 2023 Grey Cup.

“I see a team who is fighting, who understands what they’re fighting for, and a team who understands what it’s going to take. Just a well-balanced team. Well-coached. Defence is amazing, special teams are amazing. So you have to give them credit for what they have and why they deserve to be in the East Final.”

In the two games this season between the teams which controlled the East, Bo Levi Mitchell passed for 438 yards and two touchdowns, completing 74.6 per cent of his passes. Greg Bell played only one of the games but rushed for a career-high 156 yards and Devin Veresuk, the No. 2 overall draft choice, got his first career start and had a dozen tackles and an interception. Montréal’s Najee Murray was outstanding with 12 defensive tackles and linebacker Darnell Sankey had 11 for the hard-hitting Als’ defence which is perceptively choreographed by veteran defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe.

In their history, Montréal has been in the East Final 37 times and Hamilton 40 times. The two teams last met in the conference final in 2014, the first year of the new stadium here, with Hamilton winning 40-24. The past three years the Als have played the Argos in the division final losing last year and in 2022 and winning in 2023. All three times the East winner beat Winnipeg in the Grey Cup.

But, the Cats are aware that their two wins this year, the two straight playoff losses in Montréal, the Als’ hot streak, Alexander replacing McLeod Bethel-Thompson, two losses to start the season, a rare six-game winning streak, even the Ticats’ finishing first, has only so much relevance.

“Experience plays a factor at times but we know this is 2025,” Stubblefield says. “They understand they’ve been through some things this year; we understand we’ve been through a lot of things. At the end of the day it’s about showing up in a playoff game because you don’t get these opportunities back….it’s all or nothing.

“What we have in this room, we can’t forget what Ted (Goveia, the team’s late GM) built. He built a team with a lot of guys with a lot of experience. We have a lot of guys from Winnipeg who had that championship mindset and culture, we got me coming over from Montréal. We’ve got Bo and guys like Tim (White) who’ve been here and understand what it takes. It’s going to be a fun game, a great matchup.”

Sayles adds, “It’s about being on your Ps and Qs and having your stuff ready. As individual players it’s all you can do. Everyone’s got to be on their ‘A’ game because if you’re not peak-performing at this point it’ll get you and one bad day will cost you the season.”

In the last 52 years the team hosting a single-game Eastern Final has a .673 winning percentage.

“I believe the home crowd can make a difference for us,” Stubblefield says. “I thought home crowd played a factor for Montreal early on in their game against Winnipeg. I’m expecting our fans to do the same.

“Please tell the fans that I’m saying be loud be rowdy, get there early. Just have fun and let’s do it for the city.”

Post-season history Ticats vs. Montréal since Ticats formed in 1950

Year/Occasion/Score/Site

1953 East Final Hamilton 59 Montréal 23 /Both cities(#)

1954 East Final Montréal 38 Hamilton 28 /Both cities(#)

1956 East Final Montréal 78 Hamilton 62 / Both cities(#)

1957 East Final Hamilton 56 Montréal 11 / Both cities (#)

1962 East Final Hamilton 58 Montréal 38 / Both cities (#)

1966 East Semi-Final Hamilton 24 Montréal 14 / Hamilton

1970 East Final Montréal 43 Hamilton 26 / Both cities(#)

1975 East Semi-Final Montréal 35 Hamilton 12 / Montréal

1976 East Semi-Final Hamilton 23 Montréal 0 /Hamilton

1978 East Semi-Final Montréal 35 Hamilton 20 /Montréal

1980 East Final Hamilton 24 Montréal 13 /Hamilton

1984 East Semi-Final Hamilton 17 Montréal (^) 11 /Hamilton

1985 East Final Hamilton 50 Montréal (^) 26 /Hamilton

1996 East Semi-Final Montréal 22 Hamilton 11 / Montréal

1999 East Final Hamilton 27 Montréal 26 / Montréal

2001 East Semi-Final Hamilton 24 Montréal 12 /Hamilton

2011 East Semi-Final Hamilton 52 Montréal 44 (OT) / Montréal

2013 East Semi-Final Hamilton 19 Montréal 16 (OT) /Guelph

2014 East Final Hamilton 40 Montréal 24 /Hamilton

2021 East Semi-Final Hamilton 23 Montréal 12 /Hamilton

2022 East Semi-Final Montréal 28 Hamilton 17 / Montréal

2023 East Semi-Final Montréal 27 Hamilton 12 / Montréal

(#) two-game total point series, one game played in each city

(^) Montréal Concordes, not Montréal Alouettes

NOTES:

• 11 previous meetings in the Eastern Final, Hamilton eight wins, Montréal three
• Most recent head-to-head in Final, 2014: Hamilton 40 Montréal 3
• The Alouettes are 12-26 (.316) as the visiting team in the Grey Cup Playoffs.
• The Tiger-Cats are 30-17 (.638) at home in the Grey Cup Playoffs.