A look back at the top Thanksgiving Weekend moments

With Thanksgiving Weekend presented by Purolator in front of us, it’s time to celebrate another signature spot on the CFL calendar.

With a few huge matchups on tap starting Friday night, let’s take a look at some of the more memorable recent moments over Thanksgiving weekend!

In no particular order, let’s get started!

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Bede booms it!
October 11, 2021

Boris Bede’s 51-yard bomb with time expiring capped off a crazy fourth quarter on Thanksgiving Monday a couple years ago. But there was far more to Toronto’s 23-21 win over Hamilton than just Bede’s third field goal of the game. In fact, quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson and the Argos had been busy since the early stages of the fourth.

Toronto trailed 20-8 early in the final quarter before Bethel-Thompson threw two quick touchdown passes to Chandler Worthy and DaVaris Daniels to take a temporary lead. The Ticats responded with a Taylor Bertolet field goal to go ahead 21-20 with just over a minute remaining, setting up one final drive. Bethel-Thompson moved the Argonauts 31 yards on seven plays to put Bede in position for his booming game winner.

Vintage Reilly
October 10, 2016

Quarterback Michael Reilly always seemed to show up when the spotlight was brightest during his time in Edmonton, and Thanksgiving 2016 was no exception. As a result, what was a close, one possession game between the Elks and Alouettes at halftime turned into a lopsided 40-20 victory for Reilly’s squad.

Edmonton scored 21 points in the third quarter as Reilly finished the game with 346 passing yards and two touchdowns in the win; he added another rushing touchdown as well. Helping out on offence was John White’s two-touchdown, 145-yard performance on the ground while the two-headed monster of Adarius Bowman and Brandon Zylstra each went over 100 yards receiving.

Andrew’s big day
October 12, 2019

It’s hard to believe knowing how dominant they’ve been since the 2019 playoffs began, but things were rather touch and go for Winnipeg in October of that year. Just three days prior, the Blue Bombers had acquired Zach Collaros from Toronto at the trade deadline in what felt like somewhat of an afterthought at the time. It turned out to be the complete opposite, of course.

With Collaros watching, new teammate Andrew Harris put on a show. The future Hall of Fame running back ran for 166 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries as Winnipeg prevailed 35-24 at home to the Alouettes. It was a career game for Harris and helped the Bombers snap a losing skid at three games. Collaros would make his Winnipeg debut a couple weeks later and, well, the rest is history.

Anthony makes history
October 9, 2011

Anthony Calvillo finished his Hall of Fame career with a CFL record 79,816 passing yards. But entering Thanksgiving weekend 12 years ago, it was still Damon Allen on top of the league’s all-time passing table…until the third quarter of Montreal’s 29-19 win over Toronto.

With Allen in attendance at Molson Stadium, Calvillo completed a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jamel Richardson to move into first place all-time. It was another banner moment for Als fans as they had watched Calvillo lead the team to back-to-back Grey Cup wins the prior two seasons. The then 39-year-old Calvillo finished 2011 with 5,251 passing yards, the fifth highest total of his illustrious career.

Comeback magic!
October 7, 2017

The then defending Grey Cup champion Ottawa REDBLACKS still had some magic left when they visited BC Place for a 2017 Thanksgiving weekend showdown. With quarterback Jonathon Jennings having an absolute day, the Lions took a commanding 25-6 lead midway through the third quarter. Then the REDBLACKS went to work.

In a span of less than seven football minutes, Trevor Harris had thrown 19 and 45-yard touchdown passes to Greg Ellingson to sandwich a 17-yarder to Diontae Spencer. Just like that, Ottawa had a 26-25 lead early in the fourth quarter; they’d add a field goal and a single while blanking BC the rest of the way en route to a 30-25 comeback win.

Green (and gold) Gable
October 9, 2017

Exactly one week after being acquired from Hamilton, tailback C.J. Gable made his Edmonton debut and didn’t disappoint. Gable ended up running for 111 yards and a touchdown while adding another touchdown on a nine-yard reception as the Elks took a 42-24 road win over Montreal.

Gable’s 2017 Thanksgiving performance started a great stretch in green and gold. In four regular season games that year, Gable ran for 367 yards and two touchdowns before signing back with Edmonton in the off-season. Over the next two years with the Elks, Gable would run for 1,063 and 1,110 yards, the only two four digit rushing seasons of his CFL career.