2008 Calgary Stampeders season

2008 Calgary Stampeders season
General manager	John Hufnagel
Head coach	John Hufnagel
Home stadium	McMahon Stadium
Results
Record	13–5
Division place	1st, West
Playoffs	Won Grey Cup
Uniform

The 2008 Calgary Stampeders season was the 51st season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 70th overall. The Stampeders finished in first place in the West division, won the West Final and played in the 96th Grey Cup in Montreal. The Stampeders defeated the hometown Montreal Alouettes to win their 6th Grey Cup championship.

This season started the following streaks for the Stampeders:

• 14 consecutive seasons above .500 (2008-2022)
• 14 consecutive seasons .500 or better (2008-2022)
• 12 consecutive seasons 10+ wins (2008-2019)

Offseason

Transactions

• April 24, 2008 – Montreal native Kevin Challenger signed with the Calgary Stampeders on Friday April 25. The former Boston College star was eligible for the NFL Draft but Challenger was ranked number 108 among NCAA receivers. Challenger spent five years at Boston College and was a starter the 2006 and 2007 seasons.^[1]
• May 27, 2008 – Calgary Stampeders head coach/GM John Hufnagel traded Duncan Mahony to the Edmonton Eskimos. Calgary received a conditional draft pick for the 31-year-old O'Mahony.^[2]

CFL draft

In the 2008 CFL Draft, 48 players were chosen from among 752 eligible players from Canadian universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA.^[3] The first two rounds were broadcast on TSN.ca with host Rod Black.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	2	Dimitri Tsoumpas	OL	Weber State
1	3	Jesse Newman	OL	Louisiana-Lafayette
2	16	Fernand Kashama	DE	Western Michigan
3	27	Ronald Hilaire	DL	Buffalo
5	35	Jon Gott	OL	Boise State
6	43	Jonathan Lapointe	FB	Montreal

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
A	June 13	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	39–14	Win	27,580	1–0
B	June 19	at BC Lions	39–35	Loss	26,242	1–1

^[4]

Regular season

Season standings

West Division view talk edit
Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Calgary Stampeders	18	13	5	0	595	420	26	Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders	18	12	6	0	500	471	24	Details
BC Lions	18	11	7	0	559	479	22	Details
Edmonton Eskimos	18	10	8	0	512	536	20	Details

Season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance	Record
1	June 26	vs. BC Lions	28–18	Win	30,159	1–0
2	July 3	at Edmonton Eskimos	34–31	Loss	32,706	1–1
3	July 10	at Montreal Alouettes	23–19	Win	20,202	2–1
4	July 17	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	43–16	Win	31,116	3–1
5	July 24	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	32–28	Loss	26,882	3–2
6	August 2	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	22–21	Loss	35,650	3–3
7	August 7	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	30–25	Win	28,800	4–3
8	Bye					4–3
9	August 22	at BC Lions	36–29	Win	34,221	5–3
10	September 1	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	37–16	Loss	35,650	5–4
11	September 5	at Edmonton Eskimos	38–33	Win	46,014	6–4
12	September 12	vs. Montreal Alouettes	41–30	Win	30,960	7–4
13	September 20	vs. Toronto Argonauts	34–4	Win	33,135	8–4
14	September 27	at Toronto Argonauts	44–16	Win	29,672	9–4
15	October 3	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	37–34	Loss	30,945	9–5
16	October 13	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	42–5	Win	35,650	10–5
17	October 18	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	37–16	Win	30,110	11–5
18	October 24	at Hamilton Tiger Cats	28–17	Win	20,614	12–5
19	November 1	vs. BC Lions	41–30	Win	30,275	13–5

^[4]

Roster

2008 Calgary Stampeders roster
Quarterbacks  1 Henry Burris QB  4 Will Proctor QB  7 Ben Sankey QB 17 Barrick Nealy QB Running backs  9 Jon Cornish RB 21 Joffrey Reynolds RB 26 Rob Cote FB 32 Demetris Summers RB Wide receivers  3 Ryan Thelwell WR 11 Brett Ralph WR 85 Ken-Yon Rambo WR Slotbacks 80 Jeremaine Copeland SB 82 Nikolas Lewis SB 86 Teyo Johnson SB 87 Jabari Arthur SB		Offensive linemen 60 Derek Armstrong RG 62 Jesse Newman LG 64 Jeff Pilon RT 65 Ben Archibald LT 67 Dimitri Tsoumpas RG 68 Rob Lazeo C 69 Fabio Filice LG Defensive linemen 42 Mike Labinjo DE 56 Randy Chevrier DT 71 LeMarcus Rowell DL 93 Howard Hodges DT 96 Miguel Robede DT 97 Eddie Freeman DT		Linebackers  2 JoJuan Armour OLB 23 Shannon James OLB 37 Marc Calixte OLB 39 Charleston Hughes LB 43 Saleem Rasheed MLB 44 Justin Phillips LB 48 Juwan Simpson LB Defensive backs 14 Milton Collins DB 25 Keon Raymond DB 27 Brandon Browner CB 28 Brandon Smith HB 29 Dwaine Carpenter DB 31 Wes Lysack S 33 Dwight Anderson CB 35 Lenny Walls DB 88 Markus Howell CB/WR Special teams 12 Sandro DeAngelis Kicker 16 Burke Dales Punter		Injured  4 Julian Battle HB  6 Matt Grootegoed OLB  8 Richard Karikari S 15 Dave Dickenson QB 19 Calvin Bannister HB 38 J. R. Ruffin DB 47 Neil Ternovatsky MLB 58 Antonio Hall LT 61 Godfrey Ellis LG 90 Julian Jenkins DL 91 Pat MacDonald DT Practice Roster 24 Lavarus Giles RB 34 Funtaine Hunter DE 49 Jonathan Lapointe RB 57 Michael Byrne OL 66 Tim O'Neill C 89 Reggie Williams SB 94 Marcus Parker DT Italics indicate Import player Roster updated 2008-10-24 Depth Chart • Transactions 46 Active, 11 Inactive, 7 PS → More rosters

Player stats

Passing

Player	Att	Comp	%	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
Henry Burris	591	381	64.5	5093	39	14	103.8
Dave Dickenson	9	5	55.6	79	0	0	85.0
Will Proctor	1	1	100.0	49	0	0	158.3
Barrick Nealy	12	5	41.7	32	0	0	47.9
Jermaine Copeland	1	1	100.0	16	0	0	152.1

^[5]

Rushing

Player	Att	Yards	Avg	TD	Fumbles
Joffrey Reynolds	227	1310	5.8	10	4
Henry Burris	87	595	6.8	3	9
Jon Cornish	30	254	8.5	1	0
Demetris Summers	19	121	6.4	1	1
Barrick Nealy	9	112	12.4	3	1

^[6]

Receiving

Player	No.	Yards	Avg	Long	TD
Ken-Yon Rambo	100	1473	14.7	81	8
Nikolas Lewis	87	1109	12.7	85	10
Jermaine Copeland	52	763	14.7	60	7

^[7]

Awards and records

• Henry Burris, Led West Division, Passing Touchdowns (39)
• Henry Burris, Led West Division, Passer Rating (103.8)^[5]
• Joffrey Reynolds, CFL Rushing Champion, 1310 Yards^[6]
• Joffrey Reynolds, Led CFL, Rushing Attempts (227)
• John Hufnagel, Annis Stukus Trophy winner as the CFL's coach of the year.^[8]

All-Star Selections

• Brandon Browner, Western Division All-Star, Defence
• Henry Burris, Western Division All-Star, Offence
• Sandro DeAngelis, Western Division All-Star, Special Teams
• Rob Lazeo, Western Division All-Star, Offence
• Ken-Yon Rambo, Western Division All-Star, Offence
• Joffrey Reynolds, Western Division All-Star, Offence

^[9]

Playoffs

Game	Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Result	Attendance
West Final	November 15	2:30 PM MST	vs. BC Lions	22-18	Win	35,650
Grey Cup	November 23	4:00 PM MST	Montreal Alouettes	22-14	Win	66,308

^[4]

West Final

Date and time: Saturday, November 15, 2:30 PM Mountain Standard Time
Venue: McMahon Stadium, Calgary, Alberta

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
BC Lions	6	6	3	3	18
Calgary Stampeders	0	9	6	7	22

Grey Cup

Date and time: Sunday, November 23, 4:00 PM Mountain Standard Time
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Calgary Stampeders	0	10	6	6	22
Montreal Alouettes	3	10	1	0	14

References

1. CANOE – SLAM! Sports – CFL – Calgary: Stampeders sign Boston College receiver^[usurped]
2. CANOE – SLAM! Sports – CFL – Calgary: Kicked to the curb^[usurped]
3. "Draft List for Year 2008" (PDF). Canadian Football League. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 6 May 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
4. 2008 CFL Schedule Archived 2008-12-07 at the Wayback Machine
5. "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
6. "Rushing 2008 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
7. "Receiving 2008 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
8. "Hufnagel named CFL's top coach". CBC Sports. 2009-03-03. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
9. "CFL.ca - 2008 East & West Division All-Stars". Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2017-08-23.