Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats will open the 12th week of action in the 2009 Canadian Football League season, as they kickoff Friday, September 18th, at 5:30 pm MDT (7:30 pm Eastern Time). The game will take place at Ivor Wynne Stadium, where the Stampeders will try to extend their three-game winning streak.

Calgary is 6-4 this year, tied in the first place of the West Conference with Saskatchewan. On the other hand, Hamilton is 5-5 right now, second place of the East Conference,  with those five wins already matching their best single-season win record of the last five years.

Since making the playoffs back in 2004, the Tiger-Cats have won only 15 of their last 72 games, and have finished at the bottom of the league in the last four years in a row.

Last season, when they met on the same stadium, the Stampeders went away with victory with a final score of 28-17. That win broke a two-game losing streak for the Red and White in Hamilton, after losing in 2006, 20-17, and in 2007, 24-20. The last six games between this teams, when playing in Hamilton, are divided with three wins for each squad.

Calgary has scored an average of 21.3 points per game in those last six games and surrendered an average of 19.1 points; the only time either team scored more than 30 points was in 2005 when the score was 39-17 for the Stamps.

When playing in September, the Tiger-Cats hold a negative record of 2-8 in the last 10 games, contrary to the Stampeders who are 7-3 in the last 10 played this month on previous seasons.

Calgary’s offense has made the difference each week and this week’s game will be no exception. The two teams are fairly closely matched in terms of defensive numbers, but Calgary has a definite edge in offensive stats. Calgary leads the league in average points scored per game (32.8), touchdowns (31), first downs (226), total offense (407 yards), yards passing per game (307.4) and average gain per pass (8.9 yards).

As we can see, Calgary’s offense has been one of the best this season (if not the best), while Hamilton has not been playing well in the last years. I think that it will be a tough game for Calgary, but at the end the Stampeders will have no problem to take this game over the Tiger-Cats and continue their winning streak.

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