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By Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – It was a fitting entrance for Canada’s country music queen on Sunday’s snowy Grey Cup.
Shania Twain entered a snow-covered TD Place Stadium on a dog sled for her halftime show at the CFL championship game, to the delight of a bundled up crowd of 36,000 football fans.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers made $7.1 million in net profits from hosting the 103rd Grey Cup game and festival last November.
President and CEO Wade Miller said the earnings were aligned with the football club’s original projected targets.
The Bombers brought in $3.2 million when they hosted the 94th Grey Cup game and festivities in 2006.
After a public plea to football fans to check their 50/50 tickets from the 103rd Grey Cup, one lucky winner has come forward.
Charles Richot was revealed Tuesday as the big winner of $178,748 with the winning number W-551531.
By Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG – Jordan Lynch’s one-yard touchdown run with 3:22 remaining rallied the Edmonton Eskimos to an exciting 26-20 Grey Cup win over the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday night.
Lynch successfully converted the third-and-one situation to cap a five-play, 78-yard drive. Quarterback Mike Reilly’s three-yard pass to Akeem Shavers for the two-point convert erased a 20-18 advantage.
The drive was aided by Edmonton head coach Chris Jones challenging an incompletion that was ultimately changed to pass interference against Ottawa’s Brandon Sermons. That gave the Eskimos the ball at the Redblacks’ 10-yard line.
Jones thought he noticed the pass interference and threw a challenge flag, which was not a tactic that went well for him this season. He had lost every challenge he attempted this year before finally winning one during Edmonton’s victory over Calgary in last week’s West Division final.
WINNIPEG — Footballs fans on Sunday weren’t leaving their comfort to chance when they ventured out to Investors Group Field for the 103rd Grey Cup.
Football revellers brought out the heavy winter wear, including long johns, fleece blankets and hand/foot warmers. For late November, the kickoff temperature of -5°C at around 5:38 p.m. is considered above normal. The slight wind of 15 km/h made it feel more like -10°C.
The coldest Grey Cup on record was in Winnipeg back in 1991 when the game-time temperature was -17°C.
By Dave Baxter (@davebbbaxter)
A huge crowd of people descended into downtown Winnipeg on Saturday night to see colourful floats, the Grey Cup and even Santa Claus himself.
This year the annual Santa Claus parade was combined with a Grey Cup parade to celebrate the start of the holiday season, as well as this Sunday’s CFL championship game.
The Grey Cup Festival Santa Claus Parade saw Winnipeggers young and old fill the streets, but a whole lot of out-of-towners here for Sunday’s big game also came downtown to check it out.
If you had the Ottawa Redblacks pegged to win Sunday’s Grey Cup, we hate to be the bearer of bad news.
Storm the polar bear at Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo has predicted the Edmonton Eskimos to win the big game. And that’s as official as you can get.
A group of bears were released into an area near the Tundra Grill restaurant Saturday morning to choose the winner. The five-year-old bear approached a cutout of an Eskimos player first and made his determination.
The Redblacks’ cardboard figurine suffered a similar fate moments later, so it may be a toss up.
By RoseAnna Schick (@ras_creative)
My football-loving history stretches back to playing the game with my siblings on our farm in Marquette, Manitoba. There were enough of us to make two teams, so we’d play often. We also watched football on TV, and, after moving to Winnipeg, we’d go to Bomber games whenever we could. To us, the Grey Cup was an annual event to look forward to, and a good excuse to have a party.
I remember the frenzied excitement at Portage and Main when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won it in 1984. What a great day that was! Then in 2006, when the Grey Cup was hosted by Winnipeg for the first time, I was fortunate to work from the sidelines as part of the PR team, and gain an entirely different perspective on the action.
Many Canadians attend Grey Cup each year, and will continue the tradition on November 29th in Winnipeg for the 103rd championship. There are lots of activities going on in our city, so here are some tips for making the most of the Grey Up experience — gathered straight from those who have taken in the festivities themselves in previous years.
When two parades are merged into one giant parade, you know it’s time for a party.
This year’s Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade is a little different than previous years, as it also encompasses the Grey Cup Parade. It’s officially called the Grey Cup Festival Santa Claus Parade and will fill Winnipeg’s downtown streets on Saturday.
The celebration is a lead up to the big game on Sunday between the Ottawa Redblacks and Edmonton Eskimos at Investors Group Field.
But before the Grey Cup is held, more than 50,000 people are expected to attend the parade and Grey Cup-related festival events. That doesn’t include the estimated 30,000 households expected to watch the parade live on Shaw TV.
By Dave Baxter (@davebbbaxter)
Winnipeg police want people to go out and have a good time during Grey Cup festivities this week, but they will be out in full force to make sure people stay safe and behave themselves.
“The Winnipeg Police are expecting big crowds at a lot of events and festivals,” said police spokesperson Jason Michalyshen, who spoke to the media at the MacDon Fan Experience & Family Zone at the University of Winnipeg on Thursday.
“And we want members of the public to know that we are present, we’re aware of the different festivities taking place, and we want to provide that reassurance.
“If anyone is ever in need of an officer or a cadet and they come across one of us on-hand, please approach us.”
The amount of police and cadets out on the streets leading up to Sunday’s Grey Cup game will be ramped up from what people would see on a typical week, said Michalyshen.
