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Way Back Wednesday: 2005

By Ryan Watters (@ryan2tswatters), 12/09/20, 8:30AM PST

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Upon first thought, 2005 doesn’t seem like that long ago.  But, with closer inspection, it feels like some kind of pop culture prehistoric era.

First off, the year began on a Saturday and on the field in the CJFL there were three Conferences that we know today featuring 18 teams.   The BC Conference was compiled of seven teams including the Vancouver Trojans and Abbotsford Airforce that no longer play here in 2020.   The Prairie Conference had six teams and Ontario saw five teams including the St. Leonard Cougars, Burlington Braves and Ottawa Jr. Riders.

The Cougars were the only undefeated team of the regular season finishing 8-0 and blew through the playoffs outscoring Burlington and Ottawa 85-13.  They would win the right to host the Canadian Bowl.

The Prairie Conference was again very balanced and saw the Winnipeg Rifles finish first with a 7-1 record, but they fell in the Conference final to the Edmonton Huskies 35-17.  It’s the last time the Rifles have finished in first.

Over in the BC Conference three teams jockeyed for top spot as the Okanagan Sun and VI Raiders finished with an 8-2 record and the South Fraser Rams right behind at 7-3.   It was the Rams that got hot in the playoffs and beat both the Raiders and Sun to win the Cullen Cup and the right to host the Huskies in the national semi-final game.

The defending CJFL champion Huskies, who also beat the top two seeds in the Prairie Conference made quick work of the Rams beating them 57-3 to advance to face the Cougars in the Canadian Bowl.

The national championship game that season was played on November 12 in Montreal in front of 900 fans who watched the Huskies beat up their hometown Cougars 34-15 to win their second straight Canadian Bowl title.

The night before the big game at the Banquet of Champions, Nicholas Romain of the Fratmen was named the Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year and Jason Bobst of the Huskies was named Defensive Player of the Year.  Mike Watson of the Rifles was named the Gordon Currie Coach of the Year.

Remember how it feels like 2005 was some kind of pop culture prehistoric era?    Most likely because up until April, YouTube didn’t even exist.  It was on April 23, 2005 that the first You Tube video was posted entitled “Me At The Zoo.”  Could you imagine a world without YouTube?

The year 2005 was also the Year of the Rooster, Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch to profess his love for Katie Holmes and rumors of a relationship between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were flying while he was married to Jennifer Aniston.

Hurricane Katrina was the biggest news story of 2005 as it devastated the southern United States killing over a thousand people and dealing an estimated $108 billion in damage.  Meanwhile here in Canada Justin Trudeau scored a stunning victory to become Prime Minister.

At the box office Star Wars Episode III, the Revenge of the Sith was the top grossing movie gathering over $380M  and the top song on the Billboard Charts was courtesy of Mariah Carey, We Belong Together.

Back on the gridiron the 93rd Grey Cup followed in the CJFL footsteps when Edmonton faced Montreal and they beat the Alouettes 38-35 in overtime making the game an instant classic.  Meanwhile down south the New England Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl 24-21 with Paul McCartney performing at halftime.

That was the year of 2005.