Montreal Alouettes seeking second win at BC Place Stadium in 25 years

Photo courtesy: Steven Chang/B.C. Lions

It’s been over a decade since the Montreal Alouettes won a game at BC Place Stadium.

It was August 20, 2015. Montreal was led by the unlikely quarterback duo of Tanner Marsh and Rakeem Cato. The team was 2-5 to start the season and had lost their last three games by a combined nine points.

The Lions weren’t much better at 3-4, though they had Travis Lulay under centre. The then-31-year-old was four years removed from being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, but was still a formidable quarterback when healthy.

The game kicked off at 7:08 p.m. local time in front of 20,977 fans. It was 22 degrees and the roof was open, allowing the sun to shine down onto the field. The head official was the inimitable Andre Proulx.

The Lions led 13-12 heading into the fourth quarter but Montreal took the lead on a one-yard touchdown plunge from Marsh. The Alouettes forced a punt on B.C.’s ensuing possession, then Cato, Brandon Rutley, and Tyrell Sutton wore down the clock on a 10-play drive that ended with a 32-yard field goal from Boris Bede.

Montreal won the game 23-13. It was a key victory as the East Division was highly competitive that year, and the Alouettes hadn’t missed the playoffs in 19 years.

Then, less than 24 hours later, the team fired head coach Tom Higgins.

No reason was given for the move at the time, though then-team owner Bob Wetenhall was quoted in the press release, making it appear as though it was his decision. Jim Popp, who was then Montreal’s general manager, took over as head coach and went 3-7 over the team’s remaining games to miss the playoffs at 6-12.

This remains the only time Montreal has won at BC Place Stadium in the last 25 years.

The Alouettes won in Vancouver in 2010, though the game wasn’t played at BC Place Stadium due to venue’s roof being replaced. The teams instead met at Empire Field on July 16, where Montreal won 16-12. The Lions had a chance to win the game on their final possession but Casey Printers threw an interception to Jerald Brown.

This means that the last time Montreal won at BC Place Stadium and didn’t immediately fire their head coach was August 31, 2000.

The top movie at the box office at the time was Bring It On. The No. 1 song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 was “Doesn’t Really Matter” by Janet Jackson, whose infamous Super Bowl performance didn’t happen for another four years.

It appears the Alouettes are aware of their recent struggles in Vancouver, as they look to sweep the home-and-home against B.C. on Saturday night.

“It’s tough traveling across the country, absolutely, but it was put on the schedule long ago, so we’ve done our part. We have a long week, we’ve played this opponent, so our familiarity with them is great. It’s really just about taking care of our bodies this week, hydrating, getting physically fit and ready to go, and knowing full well we’re going to go in there and battle,” head coach Jason Maas told the media on Tuesday.

“We just got done playing them, so we know how great of a team they have, and we’re looking forward to that. It just takes the preparation, and the preparation started today, and it’ll continue throughout the week, and we’ll put that work in with the expectation to go in there and beat them.”

If the Alouettes win this weekend, it’ll be their first victory in Vancouver in 11 years.

Assuming they don’t randomly fire Maas the next day, they’ll also have done something they haven’t accomplished in more than a quarter-century.

The Montreal Alouettes (10-2) will visit the B.C. Lions (6-6) at BC Place Stadium on Saturday, September 12 with kickoff scheduled for 10:00 p.m. EDT. The two teams met Percival Molson Memorial Stadium last week, where the Alouettes won 37-30.

The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on730 CKNW (English) or Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 (Punjabi) in Vancouver or TSN 690 (English) or 99.5 Montreal (French) in Montreal.