By Mike Hardiman
Special to Stampeders.com

The Calgary Stampeders will begin their 68th season of Canadian professional football as the CFL embarks on the long march to its 101st Grey Cup championship.

The Stampeders are hoping to make it to the Grey Cup game for a second straight season. Calgary finished second in the West in 2012, winning 12 regular-season contests and a home playoff game en route to a 34-29 win over the BC Lions in the West Final. The Stamps lost the 100th Grey Cup 35-22 to the Toronto Argos and the Red and White has a clear mission in 2013 to return to the big game and capture a seventh title.

Calgary will start the season at home for a ninth straight season (and for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons) and will open against a West Division opponent — in this case, the BC Lions — for the first time since 2008.

Calgary is 4-1 in its five most recent home-openers against a Western foe (since 1999) and this is the third time since 1967 Calgary has opened at home against the Leos. The Stamps beat the Lions 20-7 in 1967 and 28-18 in 2008.

The Stamps are 3-2 in their last five Week 1 games, alternating wins and losses since 2008 and winning last year’s game by a 38-10 score over Montreal. Calgary finished the 2012 season with a 7-2 home record (which included five straight wins) and has a .730 winning percentage at home since 2006. The Stamps and Lions met three times in the regular season last year, with BC winning two of the three, and split the two games played at McMahon. BC dominated the Stamps 34-8 in Week 5 but were beaten soundly 41-21 in the return match at McMahon in Week 18.

The Kickoff

When/Where: Friday, June 28 at 8 p.m. MDT at McMahon Stadium in Calgary
Television: TSN
Radio: News Talk 770, Sirius Satellite Channel 157, XM Satellite Channel 160
Internet: www.newstalk770.com, ESPN3 

The Stampeders 

Calgary is led again on the sidelines by John Hufnagel, who is entering his sixth season as the club’s head coach and general manager. Hufnagel has returned a veteran team, making only five changes to the roster that started the 2012 Grey Cup game. Notable departures are RB LaMarcus Coker, WR Romby Bryant, DT Brain Bulcke and WR Arjei Franklin.

DT Shawn Lemon (Edm.), DT Etienne Legare (Edm.), LB Yannick Carter and DB Jonathan Hefney (Wpg.) are new additions to the Red and White with previous CFL experience. Calgary placed six players on the CFL’s all-Canadian squad in 2012 — RB Jon Cornish, SB Nik Lewis, OG Dimitri Tsoumpas, DE Charleston Hughes, P Rob Maver and K Rene Paredes.

Who to watch:

Drew Tate, QB, #4
2012 stats – 570 passing yards, 4 TDs, 3 ints, 73% completion rate, 102.0 QB rating. Missed 15 regular-season games, West Final and Grey Cup due to injury
Last Game – West semifinal vs Ssk. – 363 passing yards, 2 Tds, 0 ints, 61.1% completion rate
2012 vs BC – Week 18 – 68 passing yards, 1 TD 1 int., 72.4% completion rate

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2012 stats – 1,457 yards rushing, 5.6 yard average, 11 rushing TDs. Led the CFL in rushing, won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award
Last Game – Grey Cup vs Toronto – 15 carries for 57 yards, 3.8 yard average, 21-yard LG
2012 vs BC – 31 carries in three games played, 146 total rushing yards, 4.7-yard average

Maurice Price, WR #17
2012 stats – 405 yards on 18 catches, 3 TDs, 74 yard LG. Had four straight 100-yard receiving games including both division playoff games
Last Game – Grey Cup vs Toronto – 2 catches for 17 yards, 1 TD
2012 vs BC – 5 receptions for 109 yards, 1 TD in two games

Charleston Hughes, DE, #39
2012 stats – 53 tackles, 11 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 7 tackles for loss, 1 interception and 3 pass knockdowns
Last Game – Grey Cup vs Toronto – 5 tackles, 1 sack
2012 vs BC – 10 tackles, 1 sack, 3 pass knockdowns in three games

The Lions                                                                                            

At 13-5, the Lions had the CFL’s best regular-season record in 2012 but lost the West Final at home to the Stampeders.

The Lions moved out some key veterans during the off-season including their all-time leading receiver Geroy Simon (now in Saskatchewan), SB Arland Bruce (Montreal) and CB Byron Parker (Montreal).

BC is only a season removed from its 2011 Grey Cup championship and is still loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. SB Nick Moore (#17) and SB Courtney Taylor (#86) will start in replace of Simon and Bruce and SB Emmanuel Arceneaux (#84) is back from a two-year stint in the NFL.

On defence, the Lions will have LB Solomon Elimimian (#56) and LB Adam Bighill (#44) on the field together this season to strengthen their top-ranked defence from of a year ago. Veteran DBs Korey Banks (#24) and Ryan Phillips (#21) continue to patrol the secondary for the Leos. Both were All-Canadians in 2012.

Who to watch:

Travis Lulay, QB, #14
2012 stats – 4,231 yards passing, 27 TDs, 10 Ints, 66.5% completion rate, 100.7 QB rating. Was the 2011 CFL MOP and All-Canadian, was the West all-star QB in 2012
2012 vs Calgary – 583 passing yards on 53 completions, 75.5% completion rate, 5 TDs, 0 ints in two games played 

Andrew Harris, RB, #33
2012 stats – 1,112 yards rushing, 5.9 yard average, 718 receiving yards, 9 total touchdowns. Second to Jon Cornish in CFL rushing, was a CFL all-star
2012 vs Calgary – 30 carries, 12 receptions, 257 yards from scrimmage, 3 TDs in three games played

Keron Williams, DE, #9
2012 stats – 29 tackles, 12 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble return, 3 tackles for loss, 2 pass knockdowns. Led the CFL in sacks and was named to the CFL all-star team
2012 vs Calgary – 1 tackle, two sacks in three games played

Stats

Here are the two teams’ 2012 final totals and rankings for the main offensive and defensive categories:

The CFL this Week

Thursday, June 27, 7 p.m. – Montreal at Winnipeg
Friday, June 28, 5 p.m. – Hamilton at Toronto
Saturday, June 30, 1:30 p.m. – Saskatchewan at Edmonton

All times Mountain