Mosaic Stadium Memories

[Matt Baker]

Hey folks,

As we are headed to Regina to help shut down Mosaic Stadium on Saturday, I wrote a piece for our site on some of the Lions' memories in the old venue..

Included are some pretty good quotes from Al Wilson whom I spoke to last week. Check it out! A group of us are going for a tour of the new stadium after walk through Friday so I'll be sure to report back with some updates.


http://www.bclions.com/2016/10/24/orang ... -of-green/

[TheLionKing]

I for one won't be shedding a tear when they tear down Taylor Field (as it was originally known). As a season ticket holder in the 60's and 70's saw too many heartbreaks with Ron Lancaster, George Reed, Gordie Barwell etc beating the Lions. Absolutely amazing how slow the clock is when the Riders are trailing in the game. Remember several occasions where the Lions had the game won, but the officials throws a flag allowing Jack Abenschan (sp) time to kick the winning field goal. Anyone remember defensive back Craig Murray running into an unpadded goal post at full speed and almost killed himself ?

[Belize City Lion]

I was at the 1991 game when Flutie brought the Lions back from 14 points down with about 2 mins left in the game. I was wearing my #5 Lions jersey and for most of the game I had been enjoying some good natured ribbing from the Rider fans around me. Of course the Riders were winning for most of the game. But as Flutie engineered the winning drive one of the Rider fans leaned in to me and said "you should take that jersey off before you get to the parking lot". Sure enough the crowd leaving the stadium was much less jovial than the good sports in my section. As I made my way to the safety of my car someone tossed a drink at me, dousing me with what appeared to be sprite and rye. But despite all that, that game was one of my all time top CFL experiences.

[Hambone]

By a twist of fate I was born in Regina. I only spent 5 months out there, 3 of them in the womb, before my parents and I scurried back to Vancouver Island. My mom still tells me we could see Taylor Field from the maternity ward at Grey Nun's hospital. When I went back for the first time more than 30 years later I figured no *poop* Ma you could probably see the stadium from everywhere in Regina circa 1957.

My most vivid memory of the dilapidated old barn is of sitting in the temporary end zone seats for the 1995 Grey Cup. I had just moved from the north end of the Island to PG that summer. I was still relying on cold weather gear Vancouver Island style which amounted to the heaviest coat I owned, pair of long johns and one of those grey Stanfield wool shirts. I didn't even own a pair of gloves. Holy Crap it was cold! It would seem like an eternity had passed and I'd turn back to look at the scoreclock behind me to see that only a minute and a half had ticked off since the last time I checked. It wasn't until days after that I found out they came close to evacuating those south endzone stands for safety reasons at some point during the game. They had another serious situation brewing at halftime. I think I'd ducked out a few minutes early to beat the halftime rush. When I tried returning to my seat I met gridlock in front of the temps. Keep in mind they added 20000 temps to get up to the 50000 capacity. Probably half of those were in the south endzone. Access and egress to the concourses was through a fairly narrow pinch point no more than 15' wide, maybe less, between the temps and the back of the endzone. When it came time to return to the seats there was probably still a thousand or so trying to get out to the concourse area while that many or more were trying to return to their seats. Nobody was moving and you could see the look of panic starting to show on some faces. It took the security idiots on the other side of the fence a while to figure out there might be a problem and pull the security fence back to free up room for people to move again.

Definitely my happiest moments there came in 2008 when I was doing some contract work for Husky Energy out in the Brandon area. I went over to Mosaic for a game in late September and again for the 2008 WSF. The Lions won them both.

[Robbie]

I was at the 1991 game when Flutie brought the Lions back from 14 points down with about 2 mins left in the game.

Part of the comeback involved the Lions recovering an onside kick.

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Some comments and memories of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field:

#1.
As the article mentioned, in the 1988 WDSF the Lions put in a good, solid performance in winning convincingly 42-18 and ruined the Roughriders first home playoff game (and any playoff game for that matter) in a dozen years since 1976.

#2.
I guess most of you weren't around when the Lions won their very first playoff game - game 1 of the 1963 WDF 19-7 in which the Lions eventually prevailed in 3 games on their way to the first Grey Cup appearance.

#3.
The 1989 Lions season was a bad one for the most part as they went from a Grey Cup appearance to last place in the West and missing the playoffs. But I remember a comeback win on September 30, 1989. The Lions trailed 30-26 with the ball at midfield. With the supposedly last play in the game Dunigan passed downfield which didn't create a touchdown but drew a pass interference penalty. With no time in the clock and closer to the end zone, Dunigan threw to the end zone which was incomplete but created another pass interference penalty. With the ball at the one yard line, Dunigan ran into the end zone for a 32-30 win.

#4.
On September 27, 1987 the Lions stood 8-3 and appeared invincible with solid wins over East division leader Winnipeg and a demolition over Ottawa in the last three games. Arriving in Saskatchewan against the last place Roughriders appeared to be a routine, easy win. But alas, Roughriders controlled the game with leads of leads of 10-0, 23-8 and 35-12 in the eventual 35-20 win and that started a three game losing streak that costed Don Matthews his head coach job.

#5.
1995 Grey Cup. For me personally I was indifferent to either team and was not hurt that the cup went to south of the border.

#6.
July 5, 1987 in the second game for both Toronto and Saskatchewan. At QB for the Argonauts was John Congemi and James Curry was at DT for the Roughriders. After Congemi threw an interception, James Curry immediately laid a very hard and sudden block against Congemi which severely injured Congemi. As a result of that, I think both the CFL and NFL changed their rules with regards to the treatment of the QB in the event of a change of possession.

[Robbie]

It was also at this stadium that for the first time, I observed an attempted punt rouge to try to win the game in the last play and in this case, it failed.

Given the single point rouge rule, do you remember a time when a team intentionally ran a punt rouge - say during a tie game - to try to win the game? While we've all seen a last play field goal win, do you remember a single point rouge win? We all remember the 1994 Grey Cup and how Lui Passaglia connected with a 38-yard field goal to break the deadlock 23-23 to win the game for the Lions, but just prior to that he missed on a 37-yarder and the Baltimore kick returner barely managed to get out of the end zone. Suppose Lui missed his final attempt as well but this time, the kick went through the end line for a single - would that be exciting as well? Perhaps not. I remember the commentators suggesting that perhaps Lui might want to punt the ball to the zone. I remember on October 20, 1991 in Edmonton the Lions played their sixth and final overtime game and with game deadlocked at 38-38 Lui came on to attempt a 23-yard field goal with no time left on the clock for the win from the left side hash mark. But instead of kicking to the uprights Lui intentionally kicked the ball to the left and it ball sailed through the end zone for the rouge and gave them a 39-38 win. So in that case, it was an intentional field goal rouge.

It was at Mosaic Stadium on September 24, 2006 when the Lions and Roughriders went into overtime. After the Roughriders didn't score in their end of the first overtime, then on the Lions half Paul McCallum attempted to punt the ball through the end zone for a rouge win. But the Roughrider kick returner managed to catch the punt and bring it out of the end zone. The Roughriders eventually won the game in the second overtime. I think that was the only time I've seen an attempted punt rouge to win in overtime.

[Robbie]

The answer to a trivia question in the years to come: Who made the very last score at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field?
A: Richie Leone

[B.C.FAN]

The answer to a trivia question in the years to come: Who made the very last score at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field?
A: Richie Leone

I love it. A meaningless punt single by a visiting kicker having his worst game as a pro. A fitting end to a forgettable season for the Riders.

[Robbie]

#6.
July 5, 1987 in the second game for both Toronto and Saskatchewan. At QB for the Argonauts was John Congemi and James Curry was at DT for the Roughriders. After Congemi threw an interception, James Curry immediately laid a very hard and sudden block against Congemi which severely injured Congemi. As a result of that, I think both the CFL and NFL changed their rules with regards to the treatment of the QB in the event of a change of possession.

An attached article about that incident.