CFC reviews the year in Canadian football. These are not all the great stories (or bad) in football across Canada so be sure to add your own stories in the comment section. We compiled all the scores up from across the country and for the 136th year in a row we finished .500. Lets hope we can do better next year.
THE GOOD
CIS
The Laval Rouge et or win their 6th vanier cup in the last 12 years. They are undefeated in all 6 vanier appearances giving up an average of 8.2 points per game. It seems Laval has more pressure getting to the big game then winning it. CFC thanks Laval for raising the bar in the CIS.
In 2010 5 of the 12 Canadians in the NFL came from CIS schools and in the CFL 148 of the 237 non-imports came from CIS schools. The caliber of play in the CIS is the #1 reason less Canadians are going south to play Division 2, 3, and NAIA football.
LINK TO SCORES
LINK TO PAST CHAMPIONS
CFL
Audiences on TSN were up 35% compared to last seasonās average audience. Highlighting the schedule were 14 games that recorded audiences of more than one million viewers. The CFL ON TSN also saw significant growth in several key demographics with audience in the 18-34 demographic up 53% compared to last season. CFC will be starting more intensive coverage of the CFL starting in the new year.
Tony Proudfoot, who just died from ALS, writing his final newspaper article on December 16th. A truly inspirational story. Press Link
LINK TO SCORES
LINK TO PAST CHAMPIONS
Senior/Junior
The CJFL championship was won by the Saskatoon Hilltops (3 teams east of Winnipeg have won since 1980), the 14th in that storied junior program. Myers Jr. Riders won the Quebec league, and UNB SJ Seawolves won the Atlantic league. Steven Shott set a new CJFL record with a 57 yard field goal.
Sault Ste Marie won their second Canadian senior championship in a row, defeating Alberta league champion Lloydminister Vandals. X-men de Beauce won the Quebec senior loop. The Saint John Storm won the Maritime Women’s championship.
LINK TO SENIOR SCORES
LINK TO JUNIOR SCORES
LINK TO PAST CJFL CHAMPIONS
Best High School individual performance
Taylor Loffler of the Kelowna Owls was awesome this year, despite missing a game due to injury and playing with that injury afterwards.
The 6-foot-4 200 pound QB and safety led British Columbia in passing with 1,597 yards and 20 touchdowns. He rushed for 814 yards and scored 16 majors along the ground, added five more touchdowns on punt and kickoff returns, and scored a TD on a fumble return.
In all, Loffler had a direct hand in 42 of his teamās 59 touchdowns this season. The team finished with a 9 and 2 record.
Best High School Team
CFC awarded the #1 position in the CFC’ top 25′ Canadian high school ranking to the Raymond Comets. They dominated the province of Alberta and defeated every team they played in exhibition including Regina’s Leboldus and multiple American teams. Not bad for a school with only 300 students. Link to scores (note the tie is an ‘unreported’ score)
LINK TO CFC ‘TOP 25’ HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS
LINK TO 2010 HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONS
LINK TO CANADIAN HIGH SCHOOL SCORES
MINOR
Nick Burns (former CIS player with McMaster) is passionate about the game, coaching with Henry Carr (high school) and Etobicoke Eagles (minor), and runs his own football camp. Nick coaches a team of 10 and 11 year olds in the summer (Eagles) and many of those players do not have a privileged socio-economic lifestyle that most of us have. Nick made sure to pick a specific player up before games and practices (and usually had to feed him breakfast since he usually did not have anything to eat) making a big difference in this kid and the others life. CFC commends you Nick and all the other coaches out there in the minor football world making a difference… a few less OC penalties next year ok Nick. š
LINK TO CANADIAN MINOR FOOTBALL SCORES
NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL
Team Canada’s senior women’s team won the silver medal at the inaugural Women’s world tackle championship. The Canadian women’s flag team won the gold medal in Ottawa this summer. Team Saskatchewan won the Football Canada cup (U18).
THE BAD
Coaching
Two comments here.
It is disheartening to see coaches who just yell and scream at their young players for no reason other than out of their own frustration for not knowing why things are going ‘wrong’. It is especially frustrating when these players are 12 years old and just learning the game.
We need to find more ways to pay coaches and develop coaching in Canada. There are some great coaches in Canada but lets develop more. A league is not ‘elite’ until you pay your coaches. Football Canada has just developed a complimentary coaching development tool to its NCCP program. Click here for more info
Leagues
Two comments here.
Ottawa high school football does not allow teams to ‘film’ games. What a great opportunity to teach players about the game of football that has been taken away. CFC hopes that this rule is overturned.
Holding on to the past. Leagues and teams are run by adults. Much of their point of reference is from how things ‘use to’ be run or how ‘others’ do things. Tradition is a great thing but can also be a limiting factor. We need more player input (not necessarily decision making input) so that us adults can have a valuable point of reference. Remember, the players just want to play and do not care about the ‘board room’ stuff. Looking back it will be the game memories and relationships that will be remembered. So lets foster those, not personal agendas.
THE UGLY
Waterloo
Disbanding their program in June after 9 players caught using banned substances. What these players did was wrong. There are existing rules in place by the CIS for sanctioning individual players for not adhering to the CIS drug policy. The CIS no longer penalizes teams (by reversing winning results) if players test positive, a direct acknowledgment that a team should not suffer for an individuals act.
There is more to this story. Bottom line is the self-imposed ‘death-penalty’ by Waterloo hurt everyone (players, coaches, alumni, fans, etc) who was innocent more than the ones who were guilty. Waterloo administration you screwed up.
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
CFC Youth Game Spotlight: Quebec DB looking to separate from the herd
