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October 6, 2016

New T.O. destination

The Stamps' first win in Toronto came by a 50-0 score in 1963.

The Stamps’ Toronto travels have led to different addresses over the years.

The first was 299 Bloor St. West, site of Varsity Stadium, where the Stampeders won their very first Grey Cup championship back in 1948.

Let the record show that the Stamps beat the Ottawa Rough Riders in that game to complete the only unbeaten season in modern Canadian professional football history.

The Stamps celebrated their first Grey Cup victory in the locker room at Toronto's Varsity Stadium.

The Stamps celebrated their first Grey Cup victory in the locker room at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.

In addition to making a mark at Varsity Stadium, which in its modern form continues to serve as home field for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the Stamps created a lasting legacy at 100 Front St. West.

As the story goes, a boisterous Stamps fan rode a horse into the lobby of the prestigious Royal York Hotel. While there’s disagreement about whether that actually ever happened, there’s no question that horse-riding cowboys did roam the streets of downtown Toronto and the festive atmosphere Calgarians brought with them to Toronto is credited with helping transform the Grey Cup from a championship game into a week-long party.

A year later, the Stamps returned to Toronto for another Grey Cup appearance — some accounts suggest this was the year the horse actually made its debut at the Royal York — but regardless of the historical truth of the story about the four-legged visitor, the legend grew and became a part of Stampeders and CFL folklore.

When the Stamps played in the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto in 2012, Royal York management yielded to tradition and, after a couple of efforts, the horse made its grand entry.

 

So the Stamps had plenty of history in the Big Smoke even before their very first official game against the city’s CFL team, the Argonauts.

That first meeting took place in 1961 when interdivisional regular-season play was introduced into the CFL.

So on Sept. 29 of that year, the Stamps made their way to the corner of Lake Shore Boulevard and Ontario Drive, the site of Exhibition (a.k.a. CNE) Stadium, the Argos’ home since moving there from Varsity Stadium in 1959.

The result was a 22-19 Argos win. The Stamps didn’t play in Toronto the following year so it wasn’t until 1963 that the Red and White collected its first win over the Double Blue in T.O.

And what a victory it was — the 50-0 result is the biggest shutout win in Stamps history and ties a 1995 win over Ottawa (57-7) as the largest margin of victory in team history.

The Stamps played a pair of Grey Cups at Exhibition Stadium, with unhappy results. They lost to Ottawa 24-21 in 1968 and to Montreal 23-10 in 1970.

In 1971, the Stamps defeated the Argos to win their first Grey Cup in 23 years, but that game was played at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium.

That 1971 game also represented the Stamps’ last Grey Cup appearance until back-to-back trips in 1991 and 1992. The latter of the two was in Toronto and by then CFL games were being played at the base of the CN Tower in a venue then known as SkyDome.

The opposition for the 1992 championship game was Winnipeg and the Stamps’ 24-10 victory snapped a 21-year title drought.

In general, however, SkyDome — later known as Rogers Centre — was a haunted house for the Stamps, particularly between 1995-2012 when the Calgarians won just four of 19 games there including a loss to the Argos in the 2012 Grey Cup.

The Stamps did win on their final two visits to the stadium, however.

Brandon Smith tackles an Argo during the Stamps' 2014 visit to Toronto (Photo by Canadian Press/Fred Thornhill)

Brandon Smith tackles an Argo during the Stamps’ final visit to Rogers Centre in 2014 (Photo by Canadian Press/Fred Thornhill)

The 2015 campaign was supposed to mark the Stamps’ final visit to Rogers Centre but with the stadium’s primary tenants, the Blue Jays, involved in the Major League Baseball playoffs, the Boatmen were evicted from their home.

So the Argos set up shop in nearby Hamilton instead and the Stamps picked up a 27-15 victory.

And that brings us to 170 Princes’ Blvd., which is the Argos’ new home. The Stamps will make their first visit to BMO Field — located right next to the site of the now-demolished Exhibition Stadium — on Thanksgiving Monday.

And they hope it won’t be their only appearance this year. That’s because the 2016 Grey Cup will be played at BMO on Nov. 27 and the first-place Stamps naturally want to be there.

And if that happens, Royal York Hotel employees better stock up on carrots for another visit by the horse.

Stamps on the road vs Argos

Location Years W L T
Exhibition Stadium 1961-1988 7 10 1
SkyDome/Rogers Centre 1989-2014 10 16 0
Tim Hortons Field (Ham.) 2015 1 0 0
BMO Field 2016-

 

CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon greets a four-legged visitor to the Royal York Hotel at the 2012 Grey Cup.

CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon greets a four-legged visitor to the Royal York Hotel at the 2012 Grey Cup.