A big deal is being made about Saturday’s showdown for first place in the West Division, and it’s no wonder. The battle between the Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina marks just the fourth time in franchise history that Calgary has gone head-to-head in a battle for first place in the final game of the season.

Two of the big games took place before the Canadian Football League as we know it today came into being in 1958, and the consequences of the first two first-place showdowns were relatively minimal. When Calgary and Winnipeg squared off for first place in the Stampeders’ regular-season finales of consecutive Western Interprovincial Football Union seasons — in 1946 and again in 1947 — both clubs were already assured of berths in the two-game, total-point, home-and-home West final.

For the record, the Stamps beat Winnipeg in the 1946 showdown game 6-0 and lost the 1947 ultimate contest 15-5.

Calgary would have to wait 43 more years to play another head-to-head, winner-takes-all affair in the regular-season finale. On Nov. 4, 1990, Calgary knocked off their arch-rival Edmonton Eskimos 34-32 at McMahon Stadium to lock up first place. Prior to that game, the Stamps hadn’t beaten the Eskimos in three years and it was the only second time in 21 tries Calgary had defeated its provincial rival. The victory gave the Red and White its first division crown since 1971.

If you believe in omens, the Stamps went into that 1990 game with a 10-6-1 mark, which is the exact same record Calgary takes into Saturday’s affair with the Green Riders.

For you trivia buffs, four different players had the Stampeders’ touchdowns in the 1990 showdown win over Edmonton — Andy McVey, Tony Cherry, Derrick Crawford and Allen Pitts.

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