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2) One of last year’s Grey Cup finalists is going to return to the championship game.

And only one, as the Eskimos and Ottawa Redblacks square off in Sunday’s East Division final. After a 26-20 win by the Eskimos in last Novembers’ Grey Cup in Winnipeg, Ottawa has turned the tables by sweeping the two-game season series against the defending champions. Prior to that, Edmonton hadn’t lost to the current rendition of Ottawa’s CFL franchise, having won their first five meetings – including that Grey Cup game. Edmonton crossing over means their championship rematch takes place one week early, with the winner earning the right to compete against the West Division’s representative. Is it still too early to hope for an all-Alberta final for the first time in CFL history?

3) Changing kick returners nearly backfired on the Eskimos.

It was an intriguing notion seeing regular return man Troy Stoudermire benched in order to get both running backs John White and Shakir Bell in the lineup. It meant Bell handled kickoffs and missed field goals, while punt return duties fell on rookie receiver Brandon Zylstra. Zylstra was fortunate to recover the ball he bobbled on his first return of the game, and while you can’t necessarily blame him entirely for the onside punt that went Hamilton’s way – seeing as how the ball appeared to go off a teammate first – a more veteran returner would probably have been able to take better charge of the situation. One thing’s for sure, if White ended up getting injured and they lost that game, head coach Jason Maas would have been asked why he didn’t do all he could have to get Bell in as a backup.