CALGARY – Cody Fajardo isn’t going to mess with a winning formula, not even during Grey Cup week.
asserted
Fajardo → go → week
The Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Elks held their final walkthroughs Saturday.
asserted
Alouettes → hold → walkthroughs
That left the players and coaches with plenty of down time before Sunday’s championship game.
asserted
That → leave → game
For many, the night before the Grey Cup is an opportunity to catch up with family over dinner.
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night → catch → dinner
Fajardo will go out for a meal, but with teammates Justin Rankin and Austin Mack to maintain their season-long routine.
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Fajardo → go → routine
“We’re going to ditch our families (Saturday),’ Fajardo said.
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Fajardo → go → families
“We’re going to do that because we’ve got to keep the ritual the same.”
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we → go → ritual
Ditto for Fajardo being the first Elk to have his ankles taped Sunday.
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ankles → have → ?
“That’s just something I’ve done my entire career,” he said.
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he → ’ → ?
“After that, it’s ready to roll in the Grey Cup.”
asserted
it → ’ → Cup
Montreal linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku will spend Saturday night with his mother, Nancy.
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Arku → spend → mother
“My mom just got in town so I’m happy about that,” Cantin-Arku said.
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Arku → get → that
“I’ll go to The Keg like we do every week, normally I go with Davis (quarterback Davis Alexander) but now I’ll go with my mom.
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I → go → mom
“I’ll have the same steak and my wings, then go to bed ready to go (Sunday).”
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I → have → bed
Montreal is in the CFL title game for the second straight year after suffering a 25-17 setback to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
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Montreal → suffer → Roughriders
The Alouettes are also chasing a second league crown after winning in 2023.
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Alouettes → chase → 2023
Alexander was Fajardo’s backup in 2023 but led Montreal to last year’s Grey Cup as the starter.
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Alexander → lead → starter
Mother Nature will do her best to ensure quality playing conditions.
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Nature → do → conditions
The forecast is calling for the temperature at kickoff to be around 8 C and drop to roughly 4 C by the time the contest ends, with wind of 15 km/h, gusting to 23 km/h.
And maybe that will result in a good walk-up.
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that → call → up
As of Saturday, 30,832 tickets have been sold or distributed, leaving about 4,768 tickets remaining.
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tickets → sell → tickets
Montreal head coach Jason Maas, a four-time Grey Cup champion, said players differ regarding how they complete their final game preparation.
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they → say → preparation
“We won’t have any meetings (Saturday), we never have a meeting game day, ever,” Maas said.
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Maas → have → day
“Our guys are free, they understand what we’re setting out to do.
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we → understand → what
“There’s a curfew every night but other than that the guys understand what’s at stake, there’s no worry there.
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what → ’ → stake
I prefer guys to relax now, be with their families and obviously be ready to go (Sunday) … but what you’ve done to get here, that stays the same.”
asserted
that → prefer → what
Edmonton head coach Mark Kilam said the Elks will continue their season-long routine of holding a team meeting Saturday night.
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Elks → say → meeting
“But from now until that time, they’ll be with their families and taking it all in or doing what they’ve got to do,” he said.
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he → take → what
“We’ll come back (Saturday night) and just do the meeting that we always do.
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we → come → that
“Then (Sunday), we have meetings and walkthrough in the morning before pre-game meal.
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we → have → meal
Then it’s just a regular game day from that.”
asserted
it → ’ → that
Montreal and Edmonton released their final depth charts Saturday and both will have game-time decisions.
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both → release → decisions
The teams will have up until 30 minutes before kickoff to determine the status of defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson (Alouettes) and offensive tackle Jordan Murray (Elks).
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teams → have → Johnson
Before the opening kickoff, the legendary Canadian Forces Snowbirds will perform their final public flyover in their CT-114 Tutor jets.
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Snowbirds → open → jets
The iconic aerial team will fly in formation just as Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan finishes O Canada.
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McLachlan → fly → Canada
Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor and James Barker Band will provide the pre-game entertainment.
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Cuddy → provide → entertainment
American country singer Riley Green will be the featured halftime act.
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Green → feature → ?
Montreal’s offence is led by quarterback Alexander, the CFL’s outstanding player this season.
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offence → lead → Alexander
And the Alouettes receiving corps features Tyson Philpot (CFL’s top Canadian with 124 catches, 1,809 yards and 13 TDs) and Tyler Snead (95 catches, 1,474 yards, 13 TDs).
asserted
corps → feature → catches
Montreal led the CFL in offensive TDs (65), net offence (420.9), second-down conversion (56.7 per cent), average yards per play (7.53) and fewest sacks (19).
asserted
Montreal → lead → play
Edmonton had the CFL’s top-ranked defence this season.
asserted
Edmonton → have → defence
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
