Canadian Football League season
Sports season
800km 497miles
Alouettes
Argonauts
Tiger-Cats
Blue Bombers
Roughriders
Eskimos
Stampeders
Lions
Canadian Football League team locations:
West,
East
The1997 CFL season is considered to be the 44th season in modern-dayCanadian football , although it is officially the 40thCanadian Football League season.
TheCFL entered the 1997 season with eight teams, instead of nine. TheOttawa Rough Riders ceased operations and folded after the1996 season . In February, a dispersal draft was held for the players who were under contract with theOttawa franchise.
TheMontreal Alouettes began the 1997 season under new ownership, which was headed byRobert C. Wetenhall . Wetenhall and his ownership group retained the Alouette name and logo.
With the Rough Riders departure, the CFL returned theWinnipeg Blue Bombers to theEast Division .
The CFL also changed the playoff format, adding a 'cross-over' rule. Previously, the 3rd place team in each division played the 2nd place team in the division semifinals. Under the new rule, should the 4th place team in one division have a better record than that of the 3rd place team in the other division, the 4th place team crosses over to the other division's semifinal, taking that 3rd place team's place. There is no tie-breaker; the cross-over hopeful must have a strictly better record to advance. BC attained a cross-over playoff berth in the first year under this rule. The rule remains in effect.
Regular season standings [ edit ] Final regular season standings [ edit ] Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
Bold text means that they clinched playoff spots. Edmonton and Toronto both had first round byes. Due to the cross-over rule – the BC Lions played the Montreal Alouettes in the East Semi-Final Game. TheToronto Argonauts won their second-straightGrey Cup championship in 1997, defeating theSaskatchewan Roughriders 47–23, atEdmonton 'sCommonwealth Stadium . The Argonauts'Doug Flutie (QB) was named theGrey Cup's Most Valuable Player andPaul Masotti (WR) was theGrey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian .
QB –Doug Flutie , Toronto Argonauts FB –Robert Drummond , Toronto Argonauts RB –Mike Pringle , Montreal Alouettes SB –Derrell Mitchell , Toronto Argonauts SB –Darren Flutie , Edmonton Eskimos WR –Alfred Jackson , BC Lions WR –Milt Stegall , Winnipeg Blue Bombers C –Mike Kiselak , Toronto Argonauts OG –Fred Childress , Calgary Stampeders OG –Pierre Vercheval , Montreal Alouettes OT –Uzooma Okeke , Montreal Alouettes OT –Neal Fort , Montreal Alouettes DT –Rob Waldrop , Toronto Argonauts DT –Doug Petersen , Montreal Alouettes DE –Elfrid Payton , Montreal Alouettes DE –Bobby Jurasin , Saskatchewan Roughriders LB –Maurice Kelly , BC Lions LB –Willie Pless , Edmonton Eskimos LB –Shonte Peoples , Winnipeg Blue Bombers CB –Kavis Reed , Edmonton Eskimos CB –Marvin Coleman , Calgary Stampeders DB –Glenn Rogers Jr. , Edmonton Eskimos DB –Johnnie Harris , Toronto Argonauts DS –Lester Smith , Toronto Argonauts
1997 Eastern All-Stars [ edit ] QB –Doug Flutie , Toronto Argonauts FB –Robert Drummond , Toronto Argonauts RB –Mike Pringle , Montreal Alouettes SB –Derrell Mitchell , Toronto Argonauts SB –Jock Climie , Montreal Alouettes WR –Paul Masotti , Toronto Argonauts WR –Milt Stegall , Winnipeg Blue Bombers C –Mike Kiselak , Toronto Argonauts OG –Bruce Beaton , Montreal Alouettes OG –Pierre Vercheval , Montreal Alouettes OT –Uzooma Okeke , Montreal Alouettes OT –Neal Fort , Montreal Alouettes DT –Rob Waldrop , Toronto Argonauts DT –Doug Petersen , Montreal Alouettes DE –Elfrid Payton , Montreal Alouettes DE –Willie Whitehead , Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB –Ken Benson , Toronto Argonauts LB –Mike O'Shea , Toronto Argonauts LB –Shonte Peoples , Winnipeg Blue Bombers CB –Adrion Smith , Toronto Argonauts CB –Orlando Steinauer , Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB –Harold Nash , Montreal Alouettes DB –Johnnie Harris , Toronto Argonauts DS –Lester Smith , Toronto Argonauts
1997 Western All-Stars [ edit ] QB –Jeff Garcia , Calgary Stampeders FB –Kelvin Anderson , Calgary Stampeders RB –Sean Millington , BC Lions SB –Vince Danielsen , Calgary Stampeders SB –Darren Flutie , Edmonton Eskimos WR –Alfred Jackson , BC Lions WR –Terry Vaughn , Calgary Stampeders C –Mike Withycombe , BC Lions OG –Fred Childress , Calgary Stampeders OG –Leo Groenewegen , Edmonton Eskimos OT –Thomas Rayam , Edmonton Eskimos OT –John Terry , Saskatchewan Roughriders DT –Joe Fleming , BC Lions DT –Bennie Goods , Edmonton Eskimos DE –Malvin Hunter , Edmonton Eskimos DE –Bobby Jurasin , Saskatchewan Roughriders LB –Maurice Kelly , BC Lions LB –Willie Pless , Edmonton Eskimos LB –Alondra Johnson , Calgary Stampeders CB –Kavis Reed , Edmonton Eskimos CB –Marvin Coleman , Calgary Stampeders DB –Glenn Rogers Jr. , Edmonton Eskimos DB –Dale Joseph , Saskatchewan Roughriders DS –Trent Brown , Edmonton Eskimos
1997 Intergold CFLPA All-Stars [ edit ] QB –Doug Flutie , Toronto Argonauts OT –John Terry , Saskatchewan Roughriders OT –Rocco Romano , Calgary Stampeders OG –Fred Childress , Calgary Stampeders OG –Bruce Beaton , Montreal Alouettes C –Mike Kiselak , Toronto Argonauts RB –Robert Drummond , Toronto Argonauts FB –Sean Millington , BC Lions SB –Milt Stegall , Winnipeg Blue Bombers SB –Darren Flutie , Edmonton Eskimos WR –Alfred Jackson , BC Lions WR –Terry Vaughn , Calgary Stampeders DE –Elfrid Payton , Montreal Alouettes DE –Leroy Blugh , Edmonton Eskimos DT –John Kropke , Saskatchewan Roughriders DT –Rob Waldrop , Toronto Argonauts OLB –Darryl Hall , Calgary Stampeders OLB –Shonte Peoples , Winnipeg Blue Bombers ILB –Calvin Tiggle , Hamilton Tiger-Cats CB –Donald Smith , Toronto Argonauts CB –Marvin Coleman , Calgary Stampeders HB –Glenn Rogers Jr. , Edmonton Eskimos HB –Johnnie Harris , Toronto Argonauts S –Trent Brown , Edmonton Eskimos
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