1996, Oct 27th: "Gee-Gees Earn Another Shot at Ravens"

Another uOttawa/Carleton double bill best shared as a post.

Oct 28th, 1989: "Gee-Gees Battle Past Stingers"

1990, Oct 13th: uOttawa 21 @ Carleton 34

What follows is another example of a game between Carleton and uOttawa which might have generated much more notoriety and recognition had it been played under the Panda game label.

Carleton broke a 19-game losing streak dating back to October 24th of 1987 with this victory against their chief rival.

That brought Carleton's record to 1-4. They would not win either of their remaining two games and would complete the season with a 1-6 record.

For that matter, they would not win a game again until the third game of the 1991 season when they beat...uOttawa by a score of 9-0.  They would lose their next 12 in a row until knocking off uOttawa once again in the second game of the 1993 season. 

In summary, after defeating Queen's 16-14 on October 10th, 1987, the Ravens would win only three game between that date and September 18th, 1993, and all three were against the University of Ottawa. Got to love rivalries!   

1994, Oct 15th: "Gee-Gees survive great scare from Ravens but just barely"

Not every meeting between the University of Ottawa and Carleton is a Panda game, but many of the non-Panda contests are noteworthy regardless. In reviewing results for either team, I often find that the non-Panda contest is the more entertaining of the two match-ups. 

Such was the case in 1994. Have yourself a read. The first image is of Chris Evraire getting past Scott Hogarth and the second is of Harry Von Hofwegen sacking quarterback Steve Clarke.  

Nov 9th, 1985: Carleton 40, Bishop's 20

The gathering of Rough Riders results and the occasional game-summarizing articles continues with the 1984 and 1985 seasons having recently been added.

There isn't much glory to share from either season but in going over those years again, I took the time to copy some summaries from other teams, mostly the Sooners and the Carleton Ravens, both of which were quite successful during that spell. 

I want to focus on Carleton in particular at this time. They won two playoff games in 1985 before bowing to Calgary in a national championship semi-final. It occurred to me that this had to be the first time they recorded two playoff victories in a season in the school's football history (dating back to 1945) because, to be blunt, they'd have very few successful seasons to that point.

Then a paragraph in the article below added a little focus. Read on and we'll resume on the other side.

...First playoff victory since he was the team's head coach starting in 1959.

I initially misunderstood the context there. Harris, at bottom left, is not saying that Carleton last won a playoff game in 1959. That would be inaccurate, the team was winless that year. 

Rather, Harris is stating that he's not aware of a playoff victory from that starting point. Nor should he be, there weren't any.

So I looked at prior years. I still came up empty. It appears, then, that the Ravens literally did not win a playoff game in the first 50 years of their existence. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, appears to support this.

Everyone in Ottawa and the surrounding areas had Ravens fever as the Carleton team headed to Calgary to face the Dinosaurs in the Western Bowl (Vanier Cup semi-final). In -32C weather, the Ravens season came to an end with a 56-14 win for the Calgary Dinosaurs. However, all was not lost - the Ravens enjoyed the best season in the history of the club. They were the first to win a playoff game as well as a league championship, and the first to enter the Final Four.

I guess that never jumped out at me before, even as I (sporadically, in my defense) recorded their results one season at a time. Sure, they weren't always great. They weren't always putrid, either. They had the occasional burst of competence interspersed in there.

Unless I'm mistaken then, Carleton won their first playoff game in 1985 and their last in 1986. But that last one was against uOttawa so if any Ravens fans get chirped about this fact, it'll likely be by a Gee-Gees supporter and you have this to throw back at them.

November 8th, 1975: Toronto 07 @ uOttawa 14

Last month, the summary of the first playoff game the Gee-Gees won on the way to the 1975 National Championship was added as a post. We do the same now for the OQIFC East Championship game against Toronto.

Nov 1st, 1975: Queen's 27 @ uOttawa 56

While tracking down details of the 1975 Ottawa Rough Riders season, it struck that I'd done very little of the same for that year's University of Ottawa team, considered among the best in the history of the sport at that level.

For now, we'll start with their first playoff victory on the way to the national championship following an undefeated regular season. The other games leading up to that historical victory will get their own posts over time.

Gee-Gees' Jeff Avery receives a Jim Colton pass as Bill McIver moves in. - Mike Pearce, Citizen

Oct 5th, 1974: uOttawa 23, Carleton 22

This was not a Panda Game contest between these two universities but it had some significance nonetheless. While the article below does not make mention of it, it was billed as a hundred-year anniversary tribute to the first football game played, between McGill and Harvard, in late October 1874.

Appropriately enough, its conclusion provided a spotlight on a uniquely Canadian rule. 

Ah, the single point, you long-misunderstood, delightful bastard! May you live forever!

Are you among those who think that awarding a single point for a missed field goal is rewarding failure? If so, you are incorrect. 

The single point rewards field position and getting the ball across the goal line at the conclusion of the play. You don't get a point for doinking the ball off the goal post or for a kick that falls short of it, yet those are still missed field goals. 

This is also why the defending team can avoid giving up the point by running the ball out of the endzone. If successful, at the conclusion of the play, the ball had not crossed the line. Therefore, no point.

The closer the offense is to the goal line, the more difficult the run back. You either drove the ball in position or recovered a turnover to make this possible so it is field position that is rewarded, not missing the field goal attempt.

When you've kicked it through the back of the endzone, obviously you had to cross the goal line to do so, so again, you've earned a point. You wouldn't be able to do this from your own 20-yard line. 

With that in mind, think of a successful field goal as awarding an additional two point for the added precision of getting it between the goal posts.

A lot of people don't care for this rule. That's certainly an opinion that anyone can be entitled to, but I've noticed that many of those who don't care for it also don't actually understand it (and become defensive when you point that out to them). 😋 

You can argue that skill and talent has improved to the point that the accomplishment is no longer reward-worthy, that's one thing. But stating that teams get rewarded for "missing a field goal" is ridiculous.

I wish the CFL (in particular) would direct the time spent considering doing away with the single point towards educating fans as to its actual purpose instead.

1997 Churchill Bowl: uOttawa 44, Waterloo 37

We've just reached 1997 in recording uOttawa's football results and in some ways, it feels like a waste of time to include this season. 

It's not for lack of success. The team was quite good, generating a 6-2 regular season record and reaching (though losing) the Vanier Cup. But at the conclusion of the season, they came under scrutiny for accusations of running a "dirty" program.

A complaint against them had been submitted to rival Carleton, who then passed it on to the CIAU, and it triggered an investigation of the program. They'd recently had players suspended for steroid use so it was believed that the complaint revolved around that sort of activity.

Ultimately, six months later, head coach Larry Ring was cleared but the school was slapped with sanctions for using two academically ineligible players. The players are not identified in the April 26th, 1998, Ottawa Citizen, but it is stated that one participated in three games and the other in less than half the season.  All 1997 victories were forfeited, including the playoff games, and the team became ineligible for top ten rankings for the next two seasons, among other forms of punishment.

Too bad because the 1997 Churchill Bowl was an exciting back and forth affair in the snow that might well have become a classic. 

Head Coach Larry Ring resigned in July 1998 but it was claimed that the sanctions had nothing to do with his decision to leave. He would be replaced by Marcel Bellefeuille who would not only maintain the level of quality of the program but surpass it by leading his team to a national championship in 2000.

A Couple of 1991 Game Recaps

The Ottawa U. Gee-Gees knew how to pick 'em in the 1991 season. They won only two games out of seven, but one was the Panda game against Carleton and in the other, they bounced #2-ranked Queen's four weeks into the season. 

While gathering those 1991 Gee-Gees scores, I happened across a summary of a Sooners playoff victory and so copied that one too and am about to add it to their page. The final score for that one was 18-12.

October 20th, 1989: "Baird Caps Record Year"

In the process of adding the Gee-Gees' 1989 results to their page, I came across the following milestone for one hall-of-famer-to-be.

Gee-Gees QB Cam Baird receives plaque for setting OQIFC season scoring mark from Rider Chris Skinner who had the old standard while at Bishop's.

And Baird did it rather convincingly.

As stated above, the team was 5-2 that year. They would go on to defeat Concordia in the playoffs, their first post-season victory since 1980, I believe. They would lose the following weekend to Queen's, the  team that handed them their two regular season defeats that season and their playoff exit in 1988. 

As for Baird specifically, he was named the conference's most valuable player that year and inducted into the Gee-Gees hall of fame in 2009. 

Just Added: The 1987 & 1988 Panda Games

It was difficult to include while cropping but the headline to this article was "Defence Carries Ravens to Victory in Panda Game".

The "related story" that is referred to at the end is not about the game but the events surrounding it. A railing on the north side of the stands gave way at half time causing a number of people to fall more than 12 feet onto the concrete below. Roughly 30 people were sent to the hospital and there was some thought that the Panda Game should be shelved.

Attendance dipped from 17,000 or so to 1,500 in 1988 for a game held on Thanks giving Monday. It would take a few years for the game to restore its place on the football landscape.

Oct 25th, 1985: Golden Gaels 17 @ Gee-Gees 20

Game summaries posted here tend to be reserved for championship or playoff contests but this one holds a different type of significance.

A couple of weekends ago, I wrote a post about the rapid decline of the University of Ottawa program in 1983 following an undefeated regular season the previous year. They were unable to secure a single victory throughout 1983 and 1984 until finally landing one in the second-to-last game of 1985. This is the game in which that run of futility finally came to an end.

They won the following game as well (against McGill) and actually had a chance at a playoff spot dependent on Carleton winning its last game but that did not come to pass. Still, after a dismal couple of seasons the arrow was pointing up again. 

The Strange, Strange 1983 Ottawa U. Gee-Gees Season

Continuing to add game results, I decided today to spend a bit of time on the Gee-Gees.

Unfortunately, I'd reached a difficult point in the team's history. I knew that their 1983 and 1984 seasons were rather...underwhelming, but didn't fully grasp the speed at which they collapsed. 

They were coming off a 7-0 regular season (but first-round playoff exit) in 1982. That team's coach, Joe Moss, was hired by the Argos in February of 1983 and replaced by Jim Clark early the following month.

Let's cut to a quote from the new head coach from just prior to the start of the season. 

That pass-heavy system was the run and shoot, the so-called "offense of the future" that you no longer read about now that we're in the future. My recollection of it at the time, in the NFL at least, is that teams always struggled with it early. Let's bear that in mind as we embark this downward spiral.

The Gee-Gees travelled to Concordia in week one and were upended by the Stingers. They threw at least three interceptions in a 33-10 loss. 

That would be the rule, not the exception. They lost their home opener to Bishop's the following week by a score of 43-21, a game after which Clark called out his defensive veterans publicly, then threw a staggering seven interceptions at McGill a week after that.

But Carleton would be next, so no doubt the guys would get up for that one. And perhaps a QB change will help. Let's hear from coach Clark again.

Sure, it can't be the system, it must be everyone playing it incorrectly. Another thing about the run and shoot is that those who believed in it rode it to death. Well, maybe Sommerville will have better success with it. 

The Gee-Gees lost to their crosstown rivals 28-23.

The team then set a dubious mark by finding a way to have negative points in the standings. 

Imagine if they didn't win a game the rest of the year and ended with -2 points in the standings? It would be pretty damn hard to ever lose THAT spot in history. Who the hell would ever have -3? How would you even go about achieving that penalty? Would you have to murder someone at midfield?

But the Gee-Gees found an innovative way to avoid having that black spot on their record forevermore. 

First, they hosted Queen's and after four straight losses, managed a tie in that match-up. Things were looking up!

Then the following week, they travelled to play Queen's again and...tied that game too!

And just like that, they were back to zero points in the standings. And it was actually an improvement! 

Naturally, such a miserable season could only end with a loss in the Panda Game. But to make it a touch more painful, let's blow a three-TD lead in doing so. 

Well, at least things could only get better after such a miserable season, right?

No. The Gee-Gees would go 0-7 in 1984 so those two ties in 1983 would seem like high points by comparison.

But 1983 wasn't all bad. Some guys earned individual recognition. 

U. of O. wouldn't crack a .500 record again until 1988 with Jim Daley at the helm. I might just rush my way through this soft spot in their history.

Just Added: 1997 Panda Game

The Centennial Bowl

The University of Ottawa celebrated 100 years of football in 1981 and in doing so, attempted to add a little significance and emphasis to its regular match-ups against (very) long-time rival Queen's.  

The plan was to hand out a trophy to the winner of the game annually, much like what is done with Pedro for the Panda Game or the Old Boys Cup that was in play for the Ashbury / Bishop's meetings for many years. The trophy to be put in use had some interesting history of its own, as did the gentleman after whom it was named. 

Unfortunately, the result of the Ottawa U. / Queen's game was not what the university had hoped for.  

Bummer. Ottawa won a close one the following year though...

...but beyond that the Centennial Bowl aspect of the game is rarely mentioned. Not all recaps are available but the last mention I have found of it after a quick search was in 1987. That's too bad, being that the trophy itself dates back to the 1800s.

I became curious as to its origins. The first article above mentions that it was donated by the city in honour of five straight ORFU championships. That could be true but if so, I have yet to locate the actual report of such an offering, if such a report even exists. 

I did find out that there was a dispute following what was Ottawa's fifth Ontario Rugby Football Union championship, earned by defeating Queen's in 1889. If my understanding is sound, Ottawa was asked to travel to neutral sites to defend its title and refused to do so for a number of reasons.

The Ottawa Journal copied commentary from other papers a few days later to illustrate and reinforce that Ottawa was in the right to refuse any other challenges, or at least that their position was a reasonable one. 

Good point. A team could send its scrubs to get hammered following your first challenge, then challenge a second time and force that game to a neutral site by the rule at the time. You could conceivably remove home field advantage from a team and send your top performers to play them on "neutral" ground. To use Toronto as an example, playing in Kingston might not be home game for them, but it's a hell of a lot closer to being one than playing in Ottawa. Clever!

It would seem then that Ottawa meant business and turned the trophy over. Then this appeared in the November 25th Journal.

Well that was nice of them! 

Is this what almost a century later became the Robert Lancaster trophy? Perhaps. It's difficult to know for sure. What we do know is that Ottawa College did follow through with its intentions of leaving the ORFU and an era of success came to an end over a rule that was too easy to abuse.