1996 Montreal Alouettes season

The 1996 Montreal Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division with a 12–6 record in the franchise's first full season in the Canadian Football League since 1986. Unlike the lean years from 1981 to 1986, the revived Alouettes were going to be competitive, especially since most of them had won the Grey Cup in the previous season as the Baltimore Stallions. They had some nice talented offensive players from that team, such as Tracy Ham, Mike Pringle, kick returner Chris Wright, slotback Chris Armstrong, and two great defensive players in Irvin Smith, and Elfrid Payton. After a slow start they rebounded to finish strong and after defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they traveled to Toronto, where they were defeated in the East Final by the eventual Grey Cup champions, the Toronto Argonauts.

1996 Montreal Alouettes season
OwnerJim Speros
General managerJim Popp
Head coachBob Price
Home fieldOlympic Stadium
Results
Record12–6
Division place2nd, East
Playoff finishLost East Final
Uniform

Offseason

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Start of a new franchise

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Starting in the 1993 CFL season, the league began expanding into the United States with hopes of boosting revenues and saw five US-based teams in 1995, including the dominant Baltimore Stallions. Prior to the 1996 NFL season, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell, announced his intentions to move the Browns to Baltimore (to be reborn as the Ravens, meaning there would be two professional football teams in the city. Stallions owner Jim Speros realized that the Stallions could not realistically compete with an NFL team and decided to move the team elsewhere. He looked into moving the team to Houston, Texas (which would lose their NFL team, the Oilers by the end of that same year), but after a deal could not be resolved, he decided to move the team to Montreal as the third (and current) incarnation of the Alouettes.

Stallions General Manager Jim Popp came with Speros to Montreal, but he had to build the team from scratch since the CFL did not allow the team to retain its Baltimore legacy. It was, however, allowed to reclaim the history and records of the old 1946–86 Alouettes (and the Concordes from 1982 to 1985). According to official CFL records, Speros is reckoned as having canceled the Stallions' franchise and reactivated the dormant Alouettes franchise. The Alouettes are now reckoned as having suspended operations from 1987 to 1995.

While all Baltimore players were released from their contracts, Popp was able to resign future Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback Tracy Ham and future Hall of Fame running back Mike Pringle, who would go on to become the CFL's all-time leading rusher. Both Ham and Pringle, along with other former Baltimore players re-signed by Popp, would play large roles in the success of the reborn team. The new Alouettes played their first regular season game on June 27, 1996; almost ten years since their last game in the city of Montreal.

CFL draft

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Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
1 9 Denis Montana WR Concordia University
2 18 Bryan Chiu DT Washington State
3 27 Adam Cassidy OL Alberta
4 36 Tom Hipsz DE Toronto
6 53 Adrian Rainbow QB British Columbia
7 62 Marc Charles DT Morgan State

[1]

Preseason

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Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record
A June 13 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders W 38–7 1–0 Olympic Stadium 11,215
B June 20 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 43–39 2–0 Ivor Wynne Stadium 16,346

Regular season

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Season Standings

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East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Toronto Argonauts 18 15 3 0 556 359 30
Montreal Alouettes 18 12 6 0 536 467 24
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 18 8 10 0 426 576 16
Ottawa Rough Riders 18 3 15 0 352 524 6

[2]

Season Schedule

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Week Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record
1 1 June 27 vs. Toronto Argonauts L 24–27 0–1 Olympic Stadium 24,653
2 2 July 5 at Edmonton Eskimos L 13–16 0–2 Commonwealth Stadium 26,211
3 3 July 10 vs. Calgary Stampeders L 22–62 0–3 Olympic Stadium 19,362
4 4 July 19 at BC Lions W 44–24 1–3 BC Place Stadium 21,855
5 5 July 24 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 36–10 2–3 Olympic Stadium 20,302
6 6 Aug 1 at Toronto Argonauts L 31–40 2–4 SkyDome 20,302
7 7 Aug 7 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 29–22 3–4 Olympic Stadium 25,210
7 8 Aug 11 at Saskatchewan Roughriders W 32–20 4–4 Taylor Field 21,997
8 8 Bye
9 9 Aug 23 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders W 23–16 5–4 Olympic Stadium 26,511
10 10 Aug 30 at Ottawa Rough Riders L 6–17 5–5 Frank Clair Stadium 28,451
11 11 Sept 7 vs. BC Lions W 28–27 6–5 Olympic Stadium 15,161
12 12 Sept 13 at Calgary Stampeders W 25–23 7–5 McMahon Stadium 19,196
13 Bye
14 13 Sept 29 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats L 38–39 7–6 Ivor Wynne Stadium 17,740
15 14 Oct 4 vs. Edmonton Eskimos W 32–18 8–6 Olympic Stadium 17,886
16 15 Oct 14 at Ottawa Rough Riders W 25–18 9–6 Frank Clair Stadium 14,080
17 16 Oct 19 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders W 28–21 10–6 Olympic Stadium 18,671
18 17 Oct 25 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 45–41 11–6 Olympic Stadium 20,231
19 18 Nov 1 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 42–24 12–6 Winnipeg Stadium 25,968

[3]

Roster

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Montreal Alouettes roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Defensive backs

Special teams

Practice Roster

Playoffs

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East Semi-Final

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Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Hamilton Tiger-Cats ? ? ? ? 11
Montreal Alouettes ? ? ? ? 22

East Final

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Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Montreal Alouettes ? ? ? ? 7
Toronto Argonauts ? ? ? ? 43

Awards

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1996 CFL All-Star Selections

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1996 CFL East All-Star Selections

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1996 Intergold CFLPA All-Star Selections

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[4]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.cfl.ca/canadian_draft/list?year=1996 Archived 2012-09-02 at the Wayback Machine 1996 CFL Canadian Draft
  2. ^ "1996 Regular Season Standings | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  3. ^ "1996 Montreal Alouettes". The Pro Football Archives. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  4. ^ "Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2012-11-07.