Forums » News and Announcements

position. Weve now got competiti

  • December 27, 2019 4:01 AM EST

    Its been so far, so good in this playoff season for me as I have gone perfect with my picks through the semis and the finals. Air Force 1 For Sale . Yet now its time for the most important pick of them all; the Grey Cup. The thought of going 5-0 with the correct choice is quite intoxicating, I dont think I have ever gone perfect in my CFL futuristic playoff speculations and would take great pride in guessing - I mean analyzing - correctly. I noticed early in the week that logic rules this matchup. Calgary is the better team with a more explosive offence and running game. On defence, coordinator Rich Stubler has 27 years of CFL experience, so going with the logic he will have a great feel for what Hamilton does on offence and game plan accordingly. On special teams, Sederrick Cunningham is good but cant compare to Brandon Banks after Bankss two touchdown performance in the Eastern Final against Montreal. Hamilton lacks the deep ball ability and the game-changing players that Calgary has, therefore they will need to be more methodical in their approach to this game. A key statistic of success will for the Tiger-Cats will be first downs accumulated. If Hamilton wins that stat, it should result in a time of possession advantage and maybe even one or two less possessions for Bo Levi Mitchell and the Calgary offence. I remember so clearly last years Grey Cup, when Saskatchewan had home field advantage over Hamilton and Kory Sheets had a huge day running the ball. Calgary doesnt have Kory Sheets, but they do have John Cornish, who is possibly a better running back than Sheets. In order to win, Hamilton will have to have a great day tackling Cornish in congested areas and knocking him back from the line of scrimmage. Most importantly, they will have tackle Cornish once he gets in to open space. Tiger-Cats linebackers Taylor Reed, Simoni Lawrence and Erik Harris will be looked upon to limit the damage from Cornish. However, the Stampeders arent the only team that can the run ball. Expect Nic Grigsby and Mosis Madu to do some damage for the Tiger-Cats and challenge Stampeders linebackers Deron Mayo, Juwan Simpson and Keon Raymond. The late season signing of Grigsby turned out to be a brilliant move for Hamilton. I dont know if he was a malcontent in Winnipeg, but I do know that in every game with Hamilton he has assimilated to the play book better and found more on field effectiveness as a result. Seven other teams could have signed Grigsby, but hes in Hamilton now and is making a difference while also bringing stability to their backfield. Both teams were competitive in the two games this year, with Calgary winning by three at home and by a lot more than that at McMaster. But both games could have gone either way. What happened months ago has little meaning come Sunday, but it does show that Hamilton is more equal than inferior to a Stampeder team that won 15 regular season games. A lot was made this year of Montreal (1-7) and Hamilton (1-6) having slow starts this season before reaching the playoffs in the East. But to respond and work through that adversity says a lot about a team. I am sure Winnipeg, BC, Saskatchewan and Ottawa all look on with envy. Hamilton started to win the close games down the stretch and that, in association with the return game, is a Ticat strength. Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes has not had a good year, unlike the Tiger-Cats Justin Medlock. Yet, in the climate controlled, smooth surface of BC place, both kickers should excel. Decision time. Everything says to pick the Stampeders. They are an eight-point favourite and have been the best team in the CFL all year, week after week and game after game. If Mitchell had not been injured, he probably would have been the Wests MOP instead of Cornish. Hamilton has a legitimate shot at being a Grey Cup champion and if I could be influenced by underdog emotion over logic I would take them. But I am not, and I cant. Calgary wins the 102nd Grey Cup. Air Force 1 Off-White Outlet . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Air Force 1 Retro Outlet .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters.CALGARY - New Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving said last week he was in the market for a defenceman with a right-handed shot. He got one Tuesday, along with added insurance in net and some offence up front to replace the departing Mike Cammalleri. Calgary came to terms with tough defenceman Deryk Engelland, who received a significant pay raise in a three-year deal worth US$2.9 million per year. Engellands salary with Pittsburgh last season was $575,000. The Flames also signed local winger Mason Raymond to a three-year, $9.5-million deal and Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller to a two-year, $9-million contract. "The term was very important for us," Treliving said Tuesday. "We wanted to keep things three years and under, which weve done on all these contracts. "Term in a cap system is what strangles you. You see a lot of long-term deals bought out." Calgary has money to spend under the salary cap and closed in on the cap floor of $51 million Tuesday. The maximum is set at $69 million. The Flames have missed the playoffs five straight seasons. The 32-year-old Cammalleri didnt re-sign with the Flames, despite Calgarys efforts to keep him in the flaming C. Treliving said the Flames offered the forward "significant dollars", but the term "was probably not going to work." Cammalleri entered the free agent market Tuesday and quickly emerged with a five-year, $25-million deal with the New Jersey Devils. Cammalleri had a team-high 26 goals as well as 19 assists in 63 games for the Flames in 2013-14. Hell provide much needed scoring punch to the Devils, who had a winning record despite being one of three NHL teams to score less than 200 goals. "The real decision-making was, the hard decision was leaving Calgary the way I had been treated there and their efforts to keep me around," Cammalleri said during a conference call. "Some of my closest friends are in management in Calgary. They made every effort to try and make it work. It was more a decision for me, a decision on where I wanted to be playing and where I wanted to have a chance to compete and win." Raymond posted 19 goals, 26 assists and 22 penalty minutes in 82 games for Toronto. The 28-year-old grew up in nearby Cochrane, Alta. The six-foot, 185-pound left-winger also received a sizable raise from the Flames after making $1 million on a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs. Raymond was drafted in the second round by the Vancouver Canucks in 2005 and has a career 99 goals and 124 assists in 456 games. "When Mike went away, we felt we needed an NHL player in there,&" Treliving said. Air Force 1 Cheap. "I liked the term Mason came in at, I like the versatility. I think he can do a bunch of different jobs and we thought he just fit for us." Hiller posted a 29-13-7 record and five shutouts for Anaheim in 2013-14. The 32-year-olds goals-against average was 2.47 and his save percentage .911. He spent the previous seven seasons with the Ducks and has twice represented Switzerland at the Winter Olympics. Current Flames hockey operations president Brian Burke was Anaheims GM when he signed Hiller in 2007. But Hillers time in Anaheim appeared to be winding down with the emergence of John Gibson and Frederik Andersen this spring. "Obviously Brian has a familiarity. He signed Jonas to Anaheim when he came over from Switzerland," Treliving said. "You look at Anaheims situation last year and at periods of time obviously there were some struggles if you will for Jonas. But there were some periods of brilliance as hes had over his career. "This is a good NHL goaltender. It is the most important position on the team. Without goaltending you have no chance." Hillers salary with the Flames remains the same with a cap hit of $4.5 million annually. The Flames currently have 28-year-old Karri Ramo, with a year remaining on his contract, and prospect Joni Ortio in net. Ramo went 17-15 for Calgary last season. "I dont want to leave Karri Ramo out of the conversation here," Treliving said. "Weve made ourselves deeper at the position. Weve now got competition in the net. "Weve got a goaltender who finished the season strongly here in Karri and weve got a guy who has been a proven goaltender in the league." Engelland, six foot two and 220 pounds, spent the last five seasons with the Penguins. The 32-year-old had six goals and six assists in 56 games this past season. "The price tag on Deryk, obviously its going to get talked about understandably," Treliving said. "We have work to do on the blue-line. We have work to do in terms adding to our reserve list on the blue-line. "As much as we like what Deryks going to bring to us, its also buying time until we can go out and acquire those players, draft those players, procure those players in some manner. "Ours was not the only call to Deryk Engelland. Based on our situation, based on the flexibility we had, we felt its a very fair price and a price worth paying, knowing the type of person were getting." Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version reported that Engellands deal was for two years. ' ' '