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 1981–86, 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
Head coachBob Price
Home fieldOlympic Stadium
Results
Record12–6
Division place2nd, East
Playoff finishLost East Final
Uniform

Offseason

Start of a new franchise

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 1982-85). 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
Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
19Denis MontanaWRConcordia University
218Bryan ChiuDTWashington State
327Adam CassidyOLAlberta
436Tom HipszDEToronto
653Adrian RainbowQBBritish Columbia
762Marc CharlesDTMorgan State

[1]

Preseason
Week Date Opponent Venue Score Result Attendance Record
A June 13 Ottawa Rough Riders Olympic Stadium 38–7 Win 11,215 1–0
B June 20 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Ivor Wynne Stadium 43–39 Win 16,346 2–0

Regular season

Season Standings
East Division
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Toronto Argonauts18153055635930
Montreal Alouettes18126053646724
Hamilton Tiger-Cats18810042657616
Ottawa Rough Riders1831503525246

[2]

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

[3]

Roster
Montreal Alouettes roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Receivers

 Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

Practice Roster

Playoffs

East Semi-Final
TeamQ1Q2Q3Q4Total
Hamilton Tiger-Cats????11
Montreal Alouettes????22

East Final
TeamQ1Q2Q3Q4Total
Montreal Alouettes????7
Toronto Argonauts????43

Awards

1996 CFL All-Star Selections

1996 CFL East All-Star Selections

1996 Intergold CFLPA All-Star Selections

[4]

References
  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 2009-06-09. 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.
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