There’s plenty of blame to go around with regards to the Lions’ pathetic performance on offence in the Western Final, but the simplest explanation is this: The B.C. Lions weren’t the B.C. Lions.
The top rushing team in the CFL during the regular season handed the ball to Joe Smith a mere eight times on Sunday. The league’s leader in turnover margin during the season coughed the rock up five times to the Roughriders, yet forced zero turnovers to offset those mistakes. The Lions’ offensive line, which surrendered the second fewest sacks during the regular season, allowed a whopping seven on the day.
And while Wally Buono can be credited with removing Jarious Jackson when it was clear he didn’t have his best stuff, the same can’t be said with regards to Dave Dickenson.
Dickenson should have been replaced with a more mobile option when it became clear he wasn’t handling the ’Riders’ defensive pressure very well.
To sum it up, the Lions played like the teams they spent all year beating instead of like the one that won more regular season games than any other in franchise history.
• Not that anyone saw this type of streak coming, but when you look at how the Canucks are winning hockey games these days, their 5-0-1 record in the past two weeks is a little less surprising. Don’t be fooled by the 10 goals Vancouver has scored in the past two victories; this run is about keeping pucks out not putting them in. Roberto Luongo has allowed just nine goals in those six games and as long as he continues to play at that level, the wins will come in bunches.
• While some may think it was excessive, I have absolutely no problem with the four-game suspension Mattias Ohlund received for his two-handed chop to the back of Mikko Koivu’s calves. Yes, Koivu elbowed Ohlund in the face mere moments before the aforementioned transgression, but there’s really no defence for using your stick as a weapon. I was pleasantly surprised to see the league hand down a penalty that fits the crime as the NHL has often been too tolerant of such shoddy stickwork.
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