I admit that I joked about a Grey Cup riot occurring in Vancouver following the BC Lions victory over Winnipeg in last Sunday’s CFL championship game. Given the still-fresh scars left on that city from it’s infamous Stanley Cup riot this past June, it was a fairly easy comical jab to make. Insensitive? No, because morons caused a riot under the guise of hockey hooliganism.
I also was steadfast in my belief that the Canucks were going to win the Stanley Cup, due to my Olympic Magic deduction (yes, I said my, as I first noted the trend between Canadian Olympic host cities and their respective hockey teams winning years ago).
While those Stanlympic hopes were smashed like so many storefront windows, the Grey Cup championship by the Lions has caused me to notice another seemingly unrelated trend; in a year that a city hosts and plays in the Grey Cup game, as well as plays for (and ultimately loses) the Stanley Cup, the hometown team wins the Grey Cup.
While this has only happened twice, and in the same city for that matter, it is still a rare occurrence, subject to a multitude of probability.
Vancouver has performed the rare feat of winning the Grey Cup in front of it’s own fans twice (last week, and in 1994). In the spring of this year and 1994, the Canucks hockey club lost the Stanley Cup final series.
The only other two teams to win the Grey Cup as host were the 1972 Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and 1977 Montreal Alouettes. Hamilton does not have an NHL team to combat for the championship, so it does not factor into this trend. The Als happened to win the Grey Cup despite the Canadiens capturing the championship earlier that year.
In the modern era, teams which lost a Grey Cup game at home are the 2008 Alouettes, ’02 Edmonton Eskimos, ’83 Lions, ’82 Toronto Argonauts, ’79 Alouettes, and ’63 Lions. Prior to 1957, the Grey Cup championship was commonly hosted by Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, and was competed for by defunct teams, including the Navy and Air Force. The aforementioned teams did not have an NHL counterpart lose the Stanley Cup the same year (the ’79 Canadiens won).
Though my Olympic Magic prediction did not come to fruition, perhaps this time around my research will hold up. At the very least, it should be some time before the theory is tested. Toronto hosts the Grey Cup next year, and the Maple Leafs haven’t contested for the Stanley Cup since 1967, and it doesn’t look like they will any time soon…
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
