PLAYOFFS
East Semi-Final
BC 34 at Hamilton 27
West Semi-Final
Edmonton 21 at Calgary 24
East Final
BC 18 at Montreal 56
West Final
Calagary 17 at Saskatchewan 27

GREY CUP
Montreal 28 Saskatchewan 27 (at Calgary)
The Montreal Alouettes went into the 2009 Grey Cup as heavy 10 point favorites, but it took a second half comeback and a dramatic last play field goal to pull out the win. Much of the speculation going into the game centered around the experienced Anthony Calvillo versus the relatively inexperienced Darian Durant in his first season as the Rider #1 quarterback.  The Rider defense, however pretty much shut down Calvillo and the Als for the first half and Saskatchewan had a 17-3 lead at half time.  All of the first half points coming on kicking except for a 8 yard TD pass from Durant to Andy Fantuz. Calvillo and the Montreal offense came alive in the third quarter with a 8 yard TD pass to Jamal Richardson, but the Riders got a field goal and still had a ten point lead after three quarters (20-10).  A Duval single made it a 9 point game and then it almost seemed that the Riders put it away on an exciting 16 yard run by Durant o make it 27-11.  Montreal would need two touchdowns and two 2 point converts to just tie the game.  Avon Cobourne, who would be name the game MVP, got one of those touchdowns with 7:42 left and Kerry Carter hauled in the two point convert to get MOntreal within 8 points.  With 1:45 left, Ben Cahoon, the OUtstanding Canadian in the game, caught an 11 yard TD pass to bring Montreal within two.  It seemed the Riders dodged a bullet when the two point covert was missed.  Calvillo and the Als got the ball back with aobut 40 seconds left and got intto Damon Duval field goal range.  Duval missed the 43 yard attempt as time ran out, and the Riders started to celebrate.  There were flags down on the field, however, and incredibly the Riders were guilty of having too many men on the field.  The ball was moved 10 yards closer and given a second chance, Duval kicked a 33 yard field goal for the victory.

Awards
Most Outstanding Player: Anthony Calvillo (Mon)
Most Outstanding Canadian: Rickey Foley (BC)
Most Outstanind Defensive Player: John Chick (Sask)
Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: Scott Flory (Mon)
Most Outstanding Rookie: Martel Mallett (BC)
Oustanding Special Teams: Larry Taylor (Mon)
Tom Pate Memorial:  Marwan Hage (Ham)
Coach of the Year:

All-Stars

Stats

Season Details (weekly results & standings)

Synopsis
The off season going into 2009 saw several head coaching changes.  Long time defensive coach Richie Hall of the Riders took the head job in Edmonton, Mike Kelly went from a back-up with Edmonton to Winnipeg and Bart Andrus took over in Toronto.  Perhaps the biggest change on the player side was the loss of Cameron Wake, the Outstanding Defensive Player in the CFL in 2008 to the NFL.  In a pass intensive league, some called 2009, the year of the running back as seven of the "feature backs" broke the thousand yard plateau.  Among the thousand yard rushers were rookies Arkee Whitlock in Edmonton and Martel Mallett in BC - a changing of the guard as Charles Roberts's long and successful career came to an end as BC elected not to bring him back for 2009 after his mid 2008 trade from Winnipeg..

In the East, it was all Montreal who cruised to first with a 15-3 record on another strong season from veterans such as Anthony Calvillo and Ben Cahoon.  Hamilton showed significant improvement, finishing at 9-9 to return to the playoffs.  With the Tiger-Cats, young and promising QB Quinton Porter lost his starting job to Kevin Glenn who had been dumped unceremoniously by Winnipeg when Mike Kelly took over. Ironically, Winnipeg's main problem was at quarterback.  They started with Stefan Lefors who came over from Edmonton and then flew in Michael Bishop who had been run out of Saskatchewan in 2008. In the end, the Bombers died with Bishop and BC crossed over from the West to take the final playoff spot.  Toronto was a disaster for the second straight year.  They tried Kerry Joseph, then Cody Picket  at QB, and then Joseph again with no luck.  Problems with star receiver Arland Bruce III led to him being dispatched to Hamilton when he helped spark Hamilton into the playoffs.

In the West, it was one of the tightest races in years and going into the final three weeks, any team could finish first or any team could finish last.  On the final weekend, Saskatchewan beat Calgary to claim first place.  The teams had identical 10-7-1 records, but the Riders won two of the three games between theteams.  The Rider first place finishe surprised many as they went with the fairly inexperienced Dariant Durant at QB.  Durant responded with an excellent season, especially in his performance under pressure.  The defending Grey Cup champion stampeders had an up and down season as did QB Henry Burris.  Joffrey Reynolds, the Stampeder running back however had another excellent season and was named the Outstanding Player in the West.  Edmonton finished third under rookie head coach Richie Hall, but showed improvement and displayed some rising stars in running back Arkee Whitlock and receiver Fred Stamps.  BC lost some key players over the off season.  Besides Cameron Wake, running back Stefan Logan went to the NFL and All-Star offensive lineman Rob Murphy went to Toronto.  Added to that was a radh of injuries at quarterback as both Jarious Jacks and Buck Pierce suffered injuries.  Late in the season, the Lions brought back former Outstanding Player, Casey Printers.  Printers got BC into the East Final, but the Lions were no match for the Alouettes in the East Final.