Kadie Smith
The 1994 Grey Cup Champion BC Lions are, to this day, remembered as the team that upheld the pride of Canada on home soil and had one of the most magical playoff runs in CFL history. In the scope of Canada’s biggest sporting event, there have been more exciting games, but none that meant as much as the 82nd Grey Cup game, and no team that cared as much as the ’94 team. Ask around; there’s never been a game quite like that one.
With the league on the verge of bankruptcy the previous season, the CFL embarked on expansion plans into the US with a team in 
Sacramento, adding franchises in Las Vegas, Shreveport, and Baltimore in ’94. For some, this was a chance to expand the league and gain more fans, but for a large component of others, the Canadian quota and the very lifeblood of the CFL’s uniqueness was at stake if US expansion took hold.
The stakes were high in ’94.
Plagued by in-fighting, the Lions’ squad that year was notorious as much for their off-field antics as they were for their last-second heroics on the field. As Jamie Taras, then the team’s right guard and now the club’s Director of Community Relations famously said, “that was the year of all the crazies.” But when push came to shove, no other team seemed to rally together quite like those guys did. What’s that saying? I can fight with my family, but damned if you can?
That drama carried over to the game – you can’t have a magical playoff run without a few nail biters along the way. Finishing 11-6-1 (third in the West), the Lions faced the heavily favoured Eskimos in the semis. Despite a blocked-punt major from Browne, the Esks led 23-21 with four minutes to play, sitting first-and-goal. It seemed the Leos’ season was over when Charlie Gordon intercepted the Esks’ pass on the goal line, followed by a speedy and unlikely drive down the field by the Lions, and a last-minute field goal from Passaglia. The Leos took the game 24-23 and headed to McMahon Stadium to face the Stamps in the Western Final
The magic in Edmonton was surpassed only by what unfurled on the field in Calgary. Down 36-31 with 1:34 left to play, and the Stamps trying for a field goal, Lions receiver Ray Alexander leaped up and made a one-armed block that left the crowd in stunned silence. McManus then took the Leos downfield in record time and finished with a last second TD pass to Flutie to give the Lions the win 37-36…another one-point game.
The Lions faced their dreaded US rival, the Baltimore Stallions at BC Place in the Grey Cup game, the first-ever championship in football history to feature a US and Canadian team. The Stallions were embraced by the football hungry city of Baltimore who had lost their NFL team a decade prior. Playing without the restrictions of the ratio, they stacked their team around talented pivot Tracy Ham and gave him the largest and most feared offensive line in the league for protection. The national anthem was sung a little louder that night; it was tinged with more emotion.
Again, the Lions were the clear underdog, and again, it was a last minute play that sealed it.
Everyone remembers the story. Everyone remembers where they were when it happened, And it couldn’t have happened any other way.
The Lions were plagued by turnovers early on before McManus came in to mount a heroic second-half comeback, taking charge
and restoring the team’s confidence. The rest of the game seemed to play out like a knock-down, drag-out fight, with neither team giving or gaining much ground. The Lions, as they had all year, fought for every inch.
With under a minute to play , the Lions had a chance to take the lead on a 37-yard field goal attempt, but Passaglia’s attempt was wide. You could hear the sound of 55,000 stomachs clenching. There was no way they could win now.
He was given another chance though when the Stallions. could only muster a quick two-and-out. Flutie returned the punt back to Baltimore’s 38; field-goal range. With no time left on the clock, Passaglia would not make the same mistake again. The crowd was silent until it was confirmed that the ball had indeed sailed though the uprights and the Lions had won the Grey Cup 26-23.
There’s a old joke that no one actually saw the ball go though the goal posts; everyone had their eyes closed. No team had ever had three miracle games like that.
The sold-out crowd erupted, giving the team one of the longest standing ovations in the city’s history. This game and this moment meant so much more to the fans and to the league. The ’94 Lions proved that Canadian players could contend and win against a team that didn’t have a ratio. The Stallions would go on to win the Grey Cup against the Stamps in ’95, but in 1994, at that moment, on that day, the BC Lions kept the glory north of the border.