News
March 6, 2013
Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
For fans of the Edmonton Eskimos, the 2013 Canadian Football League schedule was worth the wait.
The Eskimos will play all 10 of their home games this year on Fridays and Saturdays, starting with a pair of games – a pre-season tilt on June 14 and the June 29 regular-season opener – against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Eskimos play four Friday games and six Saturday games this season.
“This schedule is ideal for Eskimo fans, who have told us time and again they prefer Friday and Saturday home games at Commonwealth,” Eskimo president and CEO Len Rhodes said in a news release.
Counting their pre-season meeting, the Eskimos and Riders will meet five times this year. The Riders come back to Edmonton on Aug. 24 and the Eskimos travel to Regina on Oct. 12 and Nov. 2.
“I’m fine with (the schedule). Obviously, the emphasis is on the first week, preparing for the first game,” Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed said.
The Eskimos will log their longest trips on the schedule within their first eight weeks of play. On July 7, they’ll be the first team in the league to visit Alumni Stadium in Guelph, where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will play their home games while their new stadium is being built.
After a July 20 trip to Vancouver to play the BC Lions, the Eskimos have a short turnaround to Montreal for a game against the Alouettes on July 25. When Edmonton comes back from its bye week, the team is off to Toronto to see Ricky Ray and the Grey Cup champion Argonauts on Aug. 18.
The Eskimos will likely visit the University of Guelph when they’re in Toronto for the CFL draft combine (March 22 to 24) to get a feel for the venue and see what they can expect when they make the trip there in Week 2.
“We’re going to have nine (regular-season) road games and, for us, a lot of them come early so we’ve got to make certain that we’re looking at one game at a time and taking care of the business that we have … and not looking far ahead,” Reed said.
“You can look at it from all different angles. For us, it’s (two) of five in the first half of the season are out east, so at least you know you have eastern road trips out of the way. Those are pretty taxing trips and to get them done early would be a good thing.”
In putting the schedule together this year the league has cross-division play taken care of early in the season. The final four weeks of the regular season will consist solely of divisional games, which should have a significant bearing on playoff standing.
Another big date for the Eskimos will be the Oct. 3-5 Hall of Fame weekend. While the Canadian Football Hall of Fame welcomes its new inductees, the Alouettes will face the Eskimos on Oct. 5.
Eskimo quarterback Mike Reilly will face his former team, the BC Lions, in Edmonton’s second pre-season game on June 21 and gets them in a back-to-back set on July 13 and 20.
Other highlights on the schedule include three games against Calgary (Labour Day in Calgary and Sept. 6 in Edmonton; Calgary in Edmonton on Oct. 18), and Toronto coming into Edmonton on Sept. 28.
As expected, the league also announced a return of the Touchdown Atlantic game. The Tiger-Cats will face the Alouettes on Sept. 21 in Moncton, N.B. The Grey Cup rematch game will take place Aug. 23, when the Calgary Stampeders travel to Toronto to face the Argos. Former BC Lion Geroy Simon will have to wait until Week 15 to travel back to Vancouver. He and his new team, the Riders, will face the Lions at BC Place on Oct. 4.
The season will wrap up with the 101st Grey Cup in Regina on Nov. 24.
coleary@edmontonjournal.com
Twitter.com/olearychris
Facebook.com/edmontonjournalsports
Welcome to Modal Window plugin Testing!!