Loggersports Alumni Perform at Grey Cup Game

Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2018

Algonquin College’s Loggersports team was back on the national stage this past weekend as its team of lumberjacks traveled to the Grey Cup game in Edmonton to cheer on the Ottawa REDBLACKS in the Canadian Football League championship game. While their chainsaws were quieter than they would have liked as the REDBLACKS fell to the Calgary Stampeders 27-16, it was still a thrill for the team members to have the opportunity to participate in a great Canadian tradition. The Grey Cup game brings both passionate and casual football fans together each year to celebrate Canada’s unique brand of football and is the most watched sporting event of the year in Canada.

The team of coach, Chris Ryan, and Forestry Technician alumni, William Lance (2009), Taylor Popkie (2010) and Matthew Manion (2018) drew plenty of attention from the crowd of more than 55,000 people who packed Commonwealth Stadium, when they revved up their chainsaws at the start of the game and then cut a celebratory wooden cookie when the REDBLACKS scored their only touchdown of the contest. The media also took notice when they met, Quick-6, the Calgary Stampeders horse who runs down the sideline when the Stampeders score a touchdown.

The partnership between the College’s Loggersports team and the REDBLACKS started when the team began play in the 2014 season. The REDBLACKS were looking for a unique touchdown celebration that would tie in the Ottawa Valley’s rich forestry history. It has been a relationship that has benefited both organizations, especially given the success of the football team.

Ottawa has appeared in three Grey Cup games in its first five years, winning one of them in 2016 when they knocked off the Stampeders in overtime. The Loggersports team travelled with the team to Winnipeg three years ago when the club lost the championship game to Edmonton but was prevented from performing because the Eskimos protested that it would create an “unfair advantage” in what was supposed to be a neutral site game.

This year, the CFL allowed both the Stampeders to bring their horse and the REDBLACKS to bring their lumberjacks, creating a better fan experience and a public relations win for the league that had been criticized in the past for not allowing teams to incorporate their touchdown celebrations at the Grey Cup.

Now back at home, the Loggersports team is already looking forward to another football season and hopefully a return to another national championship game. Next year the Grey Cup will be played in Calgary, so you know that Quick-6 will be there. Hopefully, there will be a reunion with the plaid-wearing lumberjacks who have become a symbol of excellence for the football team that has captured the attention of the nation’s capital for its continued winning ways.

Posted by: Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs

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