1986 Playoffs: Carleton Ravens 31, U of O Gee-Gees 15

Earlier this afternoon, I posted the results of the 1986 Panda Game between (if you're new here...) Carleton University and the University of Ottawa.

In reviewing a few more newspaper articles from that year, I noticed that the two teams played three times that season. For them to play twice a year wasn't unusual but three times was. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize that the third contest was a conference playoff game. Being that was played in November, that should have been clear from the beginning.

It occurred to me that playoff contests must have been rather rare between these team as Carleton,well, did not make the playoffs too often during their first go-round. I looked it up quickly and that third game in 1986 was the first such meeting of only two (so guess what the next post will be about?).

That seems noteworthy, and so I share it here with you.

Bishop's eliminated Carleton the following weekend, unfortunately. 

Just added: 1986 Panda Game Recap

2000 Gee-Gees Vanier Cup Win

With the announcement of Marcel Bellefeuille's return to Ottawa U., let's revisit his last game at the helm of the Gee-Gees. It was a good one. :-)

"Marcel Bellefeuille returns to the University of Ottawa as head coach of Gee-Gees football program"

University of Ottawa Varsity Athletics is proud to welcome Marcel Bellefeuille as the head coach and program manager of the Gee-Gees football team.

A 25-year professional and collegiate coaching veteran, Bellefeuille returns to his alma mater 20 years after leading the program to its second Vanier Cup victory in 2000.

"It is tremendously exciting for the University of Ottawa to welcome Marcel Bellefeuille back as our head coach and program manager of the Gee-Gees football program," said Sue Hylland, Director of Varsity Athletics at uOttawa. "He brings a wealth of knowledge to our program and was the right fit that we needed at this time as a life-long coach at the university and professional level."

"He is already a part of our Gee-Gees family. He brings what we wanted – strong leadership, great communications skills, and the ability to rally and unite the many stakeholders that form a large program like football. We are excited for the future," said Hylland.

The Ottawa native served as head coach of the program from 1998 to 2000, amassing an overall record of 26-5 and leading the Gee-Gees football team to their first national title in 25 years. In 2018, Bellefeuille was inducted into the Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame.

"It is an honour and privilege to have the opportunity to return home and coach the Gee- Gees football team," said Bellefeuille. "This program has a rich and storied history. As an alumnus and former employee, the University of Ottawa has always had a special place in my heart. I would like to thank the University and the Alouettes for making this opportunity a reality."

Bellefeuille's history with the Gee-Gees began over 35 years ago, while still attending Ridgemont High School. Having watched Gee-Gees games at Lansdowne Park, Bellefeuille later arrived at the university as a player in 1985.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1991, Bellefeuille went on to win a championship coaching high school football in the city, eventually joining the Gee-Gees coaching staff in 1995 as an offensive assistant. Primarily working as the team's running backs coach, Bellefeuille rose rapidly and was named head coach in 1998.

In 1998, the Gee-Gees posted a 6-2 regular season record under their new head coach. In 1999, the team's 9-0 undefeated campaign came to an end in the Dunsmore Cup. That season, Bellefeuille was named the OQIFC Coach of the Year. In 2000, the team finished the regular season 7-1, going on to win the Dunsmore Cup and the Churchill Bowl, before defeating Regina in the Vanier Cup. At 34 years old, Bellefeuille was the youngest Vanier Cup winning head coach in history.

In 2001, Bellefeuille made the leap to professional football, becoming Saskatchewan's offensive line coach, he then served as the Roughriders' offensive coordinator from 2003 to 2005. In 2006 and 2007, he served as offensive coordinator in Montreal with the Alouettes and coached in the 2006 Grey Cup prior to moving on to his first head coaching job in the CFL.

From 2008 to 2011, Bellefeuille was the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, revamping a struggling franchise to lead the team to three consecutive playoff berths, including a trip to the Eastern Division finals in 2011. He was a finalist for CFL Coach of the Year in 2009.

In 2012, he entered U.S. professional football in the United Football League (UFL) to serve as offensive coordinator of the Omaha Nighthawks. In 2013, he returned to the CFL where he was named the offensive coordinator in Winnipeg until 2015. In 2016, Bellefeuille became the wide receivers coach with the BC Lions, where he stayed until 2018. Over the course of his career, Bellefeuille has coached every offensive position at the professional level.

Bellefeuille returned to U SPORTS coaching in 2018, serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Queen's Gaels. Under his direction, the Gaels finished second in the OUA in passing yards per game with 334 and averaged 30.5 points per game.

In 2019, he coached professionally in the Texas Spring League, which also provided a series of showcase games after the season for the upcoming XFL season. Following the league's completion, he returned to the Canada to serve as a scout for the Edmonton Eskimos. In December, Bellefeuille was brought on to be the Montreal Alouettes offensive line coach prior to his appointment as the head coach for the Gee-Gees.

2000: Jr Riders 29, North Shore Broncos 22, QMJFL Championship Game

Aside from the CFL draft, there hasn't been a lot of football activity these days, as we're all painfully aware.

If I can find a silver lining, it is that I've put in plenty of time adding historical info for the various levels of play throughout the site. That includes...

• Adding game results (scores) for the Gee-Gees, Ravens and Sooners, mostly throughout the 60s and 70s.
• Adding Ottawa Citizen or Ottawa Journal game recaps to a few Panda Games.
• Adding Ottawa Citizen or Ottawa Journal game recaps for high school champions right up to about 2010. That page is almost done.

More specific to today, I've spent a bit of time adding to the Jr. Riders page, but also removing something I'd put on there a few weeks ago.

First the newness: I've landed on, and copied, the Citizen's recap of the QMJFL 2000 championship win. Here it is below.

What's been removed from that page is any mention of the Gloucester Redskins, the junior club that preceded the Jr. Riders by a couple of years. What little information I'd been able to dig up on Gloucester was moved to the "defunct clubs" page. 

Some accounts of Jr. Riders history that I've come across state that the Redskins "became" the Jr. Riders but that doesn't really appear to be the case. An article in the May 28th, 1990, Ottawa Citizen specified that the Redskins folded.

Everything was different about the new club, from name, uniforms, coaches, owners, and so on and so forth. I'm sure many players just went from one team to the other but that's hardly evidence of the rebranding of an existing club. The more information I locate, the harder it is to think of the Jr. Riders as an extension of the Redskins so they (Redskins) won't be included on a page specific to the Riders.

2020 Draft Results

This post will be updated frequently during the evening as I locate articles, news and opinion on the RedBlacks 2020 college draft selections.


01-06) LB/DB Adam Auclair, Laval

Adam Auclair photography by Mathieu Bélanger

Duane Ford: Adam, like his brother (Antony), comes with questions about where he’ll play at the next level but, as it applies to him, being considered a "positionless" player is an asset. He is a hybrid, part linebacker and part defensive back, and can line up all over the field covering, blitzing, or playing the run. This diverse skill set makes him an intriguing possibility in today’s multiple-look CFL defences, and perhaps the most versatile player in this draft class.

RedBlacks press release: He was named the 2017 Presidents’ Trophy winner as U SPORTS Outstanding Defensive Player. He was also awarded the Bruce Coulter Award, as the defensive player of the game after the 2018 Vanier Cup final.

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “First off, he’s a very athletic and physical football player. He’s got pretty good movement skills. He’s got some position flexibility possibly. He’s also obviously a player with his size, athleticism and speed, he can be an impact player for us on special teams.” ...But there are some things he still needs to work on — his footwork being one of them. We really like him as a pick. Those guys from Laval are very well prepared based on the coaching and environment they’ve been in. We feel Adam is a guy who can be an instant kind of player for us, potentially in multiple different roles.”

HC Paul LaPolice: "...we felt he was, by far, the best special teams player in the draft. So he immediately comes onto our roster and injects speed. He makes us faster, right away. He was very productive in college. The nice thing about him is you can project him as a WILL or a free safety, we think he’s closer to a linebacker, but you don’t get, often, athletes that you talk about playing two different spots so it just talks about his versatility.”


02-10) DL Michael Hoecht, Brown

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “We didn’t feel like we could pass up the opportunity to acquire the rights to such a big, tall, talented, athletic, cerebral, full-of-energy, disruptive defensive lineman. Those guys don’t come along very often. The thing that jumped out at me the most was when you watch his film, you would think he was on a team that was one of the best teams in that conference — they really weren’t, they really struggled. He was a guy, regardless of the circumstances, he just kept flying around anyway, making plays, being disruptive and being a leader. This guy is like (former Redblacks defensive lineman Jake) Ceresna, but more athletic, more quick twitch.”

From this CFL.ca article: "Hoecht was born in Oakville, Ont before moving to Dayton, Ohio in 2001. The talented pass-rusher made an instant impact after joining the program at Brown University, making 18 tackles and four tackles for a loss while adding another four sacks in his freshman year.

He finished his collegiate career with 174 tackles, 29.5 tackles for loss 16.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 37 games with the Bears. He was named a captain in both his junior and senior seasons under two separate head coaches, making him one of just four two-time captains in the program’s history.

Along with his tape, Hoecht also ran a virtual pro day in which he was able to show off his athletic prowess. Standing at six-foot-four and 290 pounds, he ran an impressive 4.65-second 40-yard dash while also putting up 23 reps on the bench press and posting a 33.5-inch vertical."

From Marshall Ferguson for cfl.ca: "Everything he does from snap to whistle has a purpose and there is little wasted energy on irrelevant movement. Expect Hoecht to land somewhere in the teens  in the CFL Draft, unless a club finds out he has little or no chance to stick with the Rams."

02-19T) LB Dan Basambombo, Laval

Photo by Simon Clark

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “I like his size, I like his physicality. With those elements, he’s a guy who can come in and play special teams right away. He’s got pretty good quickness, but doesn’t run the best. The biggest thing is he’ll hit you and you’ll know when he hits you. He has the athletic makeup that in my opinion is better than some of the special teams types linebackers that are presently playing in the league and are having pretty good success.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “(He’s) just an athletic linebacker. Out of the territorial guys, we felt he was the best player and somebody who we can, again, start to develop, send him back (to school), and then eventually he comes to us. We thought he was a big-bodied linebacker who could run.”

04-29) OL Jakub Szott, McMaster

From marauders.ca: "Hailing from Toronto, Ont., Szott was a 2019 OUA second-team all-star as an offensive linesman after protecting the Marauders second-ranked passing performance in the conference that went for 303.9 yards per game, as well as the team's nearly 130 yards on the ground."

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: "He’s got some size, he’s got some strength, but the thing we really like about him is he’s very physical. He can create movement off the line of scrimmage. He’s got decent feet, but that’s the type of thing he needs to work on. He’s just a nasty, physical offensive lineman who has surprising movement skills for a guy his size.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “What we enjoyed a lot about Jacob is, we felt that he might have been the most physical, or the nastiest guy in the draft. He will play hard, he will play physical, he will drive people downfield, he will pancake people. We really liked his tape and felt to get him in the fourth round was a very good get for us. Someone who we felt could come in and compete as an offensive lineman but also bring some physicality to our unit.”

05-38) DB Treshaun Abrahams-Webster, Calgary

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “He’s a DB who we liked not only as a DB — you don’t find a lot of DBs who can play special teams and do it well, but he’s one we felt could do that. He’s got good feet, he reacts well, he triggers well. He understands coverage and he has pretty good burst when he’s closing. He’s not small. I think he’s a guy we think can come in and contribute on (special) teams right away and get you out of a game if you need at a corner spot and maybe eventually become a starter for you.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “He, when you’re watching the tape, can play multiple positions. He can play boundary corner, he played free safety at times, he played field corner. We just thought he was very productive out of the defensive backs that we saw on tape. We felt that he would be somebody that could come in and give us some roster flexibilty and maybe develop into somebody who, I know (Bob) Dyce liked him on (special) teams, so he could be a teams player but also maybe eventually be a free safety or a field corner.”

06-47) LB Brad Cowan, Wilfrid Laurier

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “He’s a big, physical player. I guess he’s deceptively agile, he moves around relatively well. He’s a guy who’s going to hit you, his motor’s always going. He’s physical engaging blocks. He just needs to work on his speed, his agility, his footwork — those types of things.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “Another big body. You try to do matchups with special teams. Another big bodied linebacker allows us to have better matchups. We felt he was a pretty productive kid for a big linebacker out of Laurier. We think he’ll be good to compete in special teams right away.”

07-56) DE Reshaan Davis, Ottawa

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: "We obviously like his size and his athleticism. He just needs to be more consistent, which a lot of these guys do — he’s not the only one. He’ll make some plays that make him stand out. Then there are times there are plays he should be making that he’s not even close to making. He needs to be more consistent, he needs to be more physical. He sees things relatively well, he just doesn’t finish consistently.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “Reshaan, we saw some flashes of him on tape that showed the ability to rush the passer. And being a local product we were able to talk to coach Jamie Barresi, who is a friend of mine and his college coach. Jamie raved about him. Now, this is a guy that hasn’t played football for too many years. He came into Jamie’s office and was just in school and he tried out for the team. I think he’s just kind of figuring out that, ‘oh, I can maybe do this for a long term profession.’ (He is) a guy that we felt that has the tools to hang around on the practice squad and develop into a player.”

08-65) OL Kétel Asse, Laval

GM Marcel Desjardins to Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun: “...we didn’t draft him earlier because we had taken Szott already. At that point, when it got to the eighth round, we couldn’t pass it up. He’s massive. He’s got size and bulk. He’s got decent feet and quickness. He just plays with a high pad level at times, he needs to get better where that’s concerned. We had pretty good exposure to him, having visiting the school and watching a lot of film. He was at the NFLPA game in California in January. He has tools to develop, but he’s raw.”

HC Paul LaPolice: “We just felt that in the eight round, he was a big-bodied kid with some athletic ability to give us some more depth on the offensive line to compete. So we felt it was a good pick for us in the last round.”

Bootlegger Bookends

A few days ago, I posted (on my football-related Twitter account) the first article I was able to find about the Ottawa Bootleggers. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to post it here too, but here it is for those of you who are wise enough to not have Twitter accounts. Blow it up with a click.

It is from the April 26th, 1988, Ottawa Citizen. It's certainly possible that another local paper had a story about them prior to that one but I have not come across any.

In attempting to flesh out the Bootleggers page some more last night, I realized that I had the information about their final two seasons all wrong. It was so wrong that I wonder now where I got it in the first place.

The Bootleggers had a rather terrible 1-9 record in 1991 under new ownership and new head coach Larry Cates. But they were a much better team in 1992, posting a 7-3 regular season record and, I believe, winning two playoff games (I may need to edit this part of the post later).

For a good part of the season, the 1992 Bootleggers were quarterbacked by Chris Flynn who is now in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and had been an Ottawa Rough Riders draft pick the previous year. It amazes me, looking back, that the team was not able to recapture the proverbial "lightning in a bottle" that it had from  from 1988 to 1990.

Regardless, this post began with what I believe to be the first major article about the Bootleggers so now we'll look at the back end. What follows is a brief recap of their last playoff win...

...and final game. Rather modest coverage for a team that was quite competitive.

There was a bit more coverage after that...

Since the Bootleggers are today's subject, I will take the opportunity to draw a little attention to a comment left by Warner Miles, who I suppose would be one of few people to have been on the team for at least part of all five seasons, on an earlier post.

To all my Bootlegger friends, if you haven’t read my book and are looking for a little diversion in these trying times, I’ve put a PDF version on my Google drive. You can download it (here).

Sure, now that I've paid for it. ;-)

It came as a surprise to me that some of the photography in the book comes off better in the pdf format. Go figure. Even if you're not crazy about reading an electronic version of a book, run your way through it just to check those out.

National Defence Football League

There will be a new page going up soon for the National Defence Football League. This was a small league made up largely of police and military personnel that began play in 1968.

As the article below from a November 1968 issue of the Ottawa Journal explains, the RCMP Huskies were quite dominant initially and that may have made for some lackluster contests in that initial season.

If not particularly competitive, the league seemed to strike a chord with folks. Its teams became better organized and professional in appearance and for the next couple of years, their games were often said to draw in the range 1,500 to 2,500 spectators.

In 1970, a fifth team joined the league, the Trenton Broncos but at the start of the 1972 season, the Uplands team was no longer included.

Coverage of the league is minimal in 1973 and non-existent beyond that year from what I can gather so perhaps the novelty wore off. But the league did capture the imagination for a few years in the late 60s and early 70s and for that, I plan on keeping a record of its results.

1947: Carleton 24, St. Patrick's 00

Carleton first began playing football in 1945 but they did so in exhibition games for their first two seasons.

As of 1947, they joined the Intermediate Intercollegiate Football League (or Intercollegiate Intermediate Football League depending on which game recap you happen to be reading) and competed against Ottawa U., Queen's, and the opponent they vanquished in their first outing as a member, on October 10th, in St. Patrick's College.

Carleton's next game would be its first of a great many against Ottawa U. The results of that one are displayed here.

"Gee-Gees Head Football Coach Jamie Barresi leaving uOttawa"

University of Ottawa Press Release

As of Friday, March 20, Gee-Gees Head Football Coach Jamie Barresi will be leaving the University of Ottawa. At the helm of the Gee-Gees football program since 2013, he led the team to an overall record of 36 wins and 27 losses, including two OUA semi-final playoff appearances.

"I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to all of the players that have been involved with the program for their superlative effort and dedication," offered Barresi, reflecting on this chapter of an extensive career. "I hope they will continue to challenge themselves and do the things they are most afraid of doing. They have given more to me than I can repay."

"I would also like to thank the coaches and support staff including trainers, doctors, managers, videographers, strength coaches and administration for their work as well - the same best wishes. Special thanks to Steven Drover, Danika Smith and Jennifer Elliott. As a lifetime coach, I look forward to the next coaching challenge," concluded Coach Barresi.

Barresi was appointed as the Gee-Gees head coach and program manager in January of 2013. The Hamilton, Ont. native began his coaching career with the Gee-Gees as part of the 1981-83 coaching staff, the same Gee-Gees he was a quarterback with from 1976 to 1979. He then spent twenty seasons coaching in the NCAA at such notable football programs as Penn State, including a national championship appearance in 1985, the University of Florida, and Wake Forest, and Central Florida. Upon returning to Canada, he joined the coaching staff of some of the most storied franchises in the CFL, appearing in three Grey Cups over nine years, including a win in 2006 with BC.

Over the past seven seasons, Barresi paved the way for many uOttawa student-athletes to graduate onto the professional football ranks. Just as importantly, Coach Barresi, applying the uOttawa varsity based model to his football program, implemented study halls, expanded the academic support teams and focused on fundraising for scholarships and academic support, guiding more student-athletes towards sustained academic success and opening career doors for them to lead professional lives in various fields.

"On behalf of the Gee-Gees football program and the uOttawa Varsity Athletics family, I want to thank Coach Barresi for his dedication to this team," said Sue Hylland, Director of Varsity Athletics at uOttawa. "We thank Jamie for his tireless work ethic, passion for the game and support of our student-athletes."

The search for the new Head Coach and Manager of the Gee-Gees Football Program will begin immediately as the team readies for the 2020-2021 season. The Gee-Gees first game is scheduled for Sunday, August 30th in Windsor.