At a press scrum last Thursday, the day before the Redblacks were to play their season home opener and officially open the new TD Place Stadium, one of the owners, Roger Greenburg, was asked why he decided to become the co-owner of a football team. Dave Robinson Womens Jersey . His answer just may be the best example of why football will work this time, when it didnt on two previous occasions in Ottawa. Im paraphrasing, but the chairman/CEO of Minto Developments said that he believes there are four pillars that make up a strong community. The first is the medical system. Second, is the education system. The third is the arts and the final one is the sports culture. He went on to say that the Senators have contributed to the sports culture, but it was time to add to that with the return of professional football to the city and the addition of professional soccer. Greenburg and his partners John Ruddy, William Shenkman and Jeff Hunt wanted to be part of building and strengthening one of the pillars of a strong community. In other words, this ownership group has done all of this for the right reason - to strengthen the community that they live in and they were rewarded on Friday night for all their hard work and perseverance. Fridays home opener was an unforgettable experience and, hopefully, showed one of our other major cities in the country, that happens to be only about four hours away, just what is possible. The Redblacks didnt score a touchdown on the field, but they did in the stands and that is what mattered most. Jeff Hunt said the team could have sold another 15,000 tickets to the game and that will translate into demand. Based on the in-game experience on Friday night, nobody should be surprised to hear that the next home game will be sold out soon. The atmosphere was electric. It was a young energetic crowd, who partied like they were attending a rock concert. In fact, in what was an ingenious move, there was also a rock concert going on before the game to get people pumped up for kick-off at what was a Canadian-style tailgate party. TD Place Stadium is fantastic with great sightlines and a design that not only looks outstanding, but is designed to enhance the fan experience for soccer and football, specifically. It doesnt feel like an all-purpose facility that accommodates many, but pleases none. The game itself was not a masterpiece, but it had an exciting finish when, down by two, Redblacks QB Henry Burris hit Kerrie Johnson on a deep ball to set up the game winning field goal. It wasnt a walk-off winner by Brett Maher, but when Ricky Ray was intercepted in the dying seconds, it was game over and the crowd erupted. The games MVP was the crowd, that included Prime Minister Steven Harper, who sat beside CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon and Rough Rider great, Russ Jackson. In fact, one of the highlights of the night was when our TSN cameraa caught a fan walking by the PM and the commish to shake hands with Jackson. It was not a slight to our country leader or the leagues top man, but a show of respect for history of football in Ottawa. And speaking of the telecast, I owe the football fans in Ottawa an apology for mistakenly saying that the five Grey Cup teams in the 60s and 70s were all coached by Frank Clair. My intention was to say that all the Cup teams in the 60s were coached by Clair. Jack Gotta was the coach from 1970-1973 and George Brancato was the coach when the Rough Riders beat Saskatchewan to win in 1976. The telecast wasnt perfect and neither was the night - apparently, some of the concessions ran out of beer and the traffic was a bit tricky, which, of course, was pointed out by some sportswriters...I swear some people would complain that their ice cream is too cold. I recently went to a George Strait concert in Dallas at AT&T Field, one of the most elaborate and state-of-the-art stadiums in the world and it had traffic issues, as well. In fact, it was so jammed up, I ended up tailgating in the parking lot for almost two hours after the event waiting for it to clear. On Friday night, the small issue were just that - small - and didnt, in any way, take away from the success of the event. It was a look at what is possible, even in Ontario ,when it comes to CFL football. The capacity of TD Place Stadium is 24,000, which just may be the perfect number and a blueprint for a possible stadium in Toronto. Our country has great football fans, but just not the volume to consistently fill a 40-to-50,000-seat stadium and at 24,000 in the stands, owners are making money. For those who would say that, if the NFL were in Toronto, they would sell out the old SkyDome, I would remind those people that the NFL regular season games played in Toronto were not sell-outs and not even close. In fact, sources have said that upwards of 20,000 tickets to the games in the Buffalo Bills series were freebies, handed to people on the street. No, 25-30,000-seat stadiums are the perfect size for CFL football, professional soccer and summer concerts and, for proof of that, look no further than Friday night in Ottawa. It can work in Toronto, as well, with a stadium at a realistic capacity and one built for football and soccer, specifically. It worked in Montreal, it is working in a big way in Winnipeg and, after Game One in Ottawa, it looks like it will be a huge hit there, as well. The answer may be BMO Field, which seems to still be part of the plan for the Argos. On our TSN set in Ottawa, Commissioner Mark Cohon had this to say when asked what it would take to replicate the Ottawa plan in Toronto: "The answer is a smaller stadium like BMO," said Cohon. "We know that they have a four-year deal left with Rogers Centre. Were talking to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, were talking to the city of Toronto and were working to see if we can move [the Argos] into BMO Field and replicate what we have [in Ottawa.]" The blueprint for the correct business model has now been created and now all that is needed in Toronto is for David Braley, or whomever buys the Argos, to start building the fourth pillar in that community. Congratulations again to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group and, on behalf of the football fans in our country, thank you. At the end of the night in Ottawa, the scoreboard read Redblacks 18 - Argonauts 17, but the true winners were the fans and the community in our nations capital. Jace Sternberger Youth Jersey . - David Tomasek had two goals in regulation time and was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Belleville Bulls upset the Oshawa Generals 6-5 on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Mike Daniels Packers Jersey . Founding members of the Genie Army, a group of Eugenie Bouchard supporters who cheered for the rising tennis star during the Australian Open in January, will be in the city for the Rogers Cup, beginning this weekend. http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Darnell-Savage-Jr-Jersey/ . According to a report from ESPN, the Green Bay Packers have re-signed the cornerback to a four-year, $39 million deal with a $12.With the Penguins being one of the highest scoring teams in the league and the Jets a team that surrenders a lot of goals, perhaps the high scoring affair should have been expected. It had been 10 games since the Penguins had given up the first goal of the game at home and eight games since they had trailed 2-0 at home, but that was the case after one with a couple of Jets rookies doing the damage. Jacob Trouba, with his fourth of the year, opened the scoring 1:47 in with assists from Olli Jokinen and Adam Pardy. Pardy was back in after missing the last four games. Sidney Crosby, the NHLs leading scorer, was awarded a penalty shot and a chance to tie the game, but was stopped by Al Montoya. In the final seconds of the period, Mark Scheifele gave the Jets the 2-0 lead with his seventh goal of the season, all of which have come on the road. Assists on the goal went to Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian. Shots in the first period were 11-11. The Penguins got their offence going early in the second on a goal from Evgeni Malkin, his first game back after missing 10 due to injury. James Neal stole the puck from Dustin Byfuglien to start the play and the Pens were on the board at 1:06 of the second. Neal then went to work and scored two in 34 seconds and by the 4:59 mark of the period, the Penguins had the lead at 3-2. Blake Wheeler, with his team leading 16th, evened the game at 6:02. Bryan Little had the lone assist. All was quiet for the next five minutes other than Montoya and Marc-Andre Fleury being busy making saves. At 11:38, Jussi Jokinen put the Pens back in front, but before the high scoring period could end, Evander Kane scored two goals only 2:11 apart to regain the lead for the Jets. His second of the night, 14th of the year and seventh in the last 11 games came at 19:42. It was 5-4 after two with shots in the second favouring the Jets 13-11. The Penguins started the third with an offensive push, but the Jets weathered the storm for the time being. But another giveaway resulted in Malkins second of the night coming at 8:29. The winner then came at 12:38 off a face-off with a Matt Niskanen shot going off a Jets players stick and in. The Jets had some great chances, but could not beat Fleury. The best opportunity came from close in off the stick of Andrew&nbssp;Ladd, but Fleury made a great save to keep the Pens ahead. Mike Daniels Womens Jersey. . In the final seconds Scheifele had Fleury down, but his shot from close in went over the net. The final shots were 39-34 for the Penguins. The Jets got 11 shots from their defence with Mark Stuart leading the way with four. Jussi Jokinen led all players with eight shots on goal. Kane led the Jets with six. It was Kanes 15th two-goal game of his career. A pair of Jets rookies are on impressive scoring runs. Mark Scheifele has six goals and 11 assists in his last 21 games, while Jacob Trouba has two goals and three assists in his last six games. Blake Wheeler is now tied for second in team points with Byfuglien with 32. Byfuglien has three goals and seven assists in his last 12 games, but was a minus-three on the day. Leading all NHL defencemen in shots, Byfuglien was held to just a pair by the Pens The Jets were held scoreless in three power play opportunities and have not scored on the man advantage in six in a row after scoring nine power play goals in eight games. Eric ODell played his fifth game of the season, but was limited to just 4:25 of ice time. The win for the Penguins was their 12th straight at home, marking a new franchise record. Coach Claude Noel started his post-game news conference by saying that the Jets made“too many mistakes. You have to defend against this team.” The Jets simply give up too many goals and this is not on the goalies. There were far too many grade-A scoring chances against and it was the Jets 25th one-goal game of the season (The team is 10-10-5 in those games.) “We dont protect the lead, we play with it,” continued Noel. “Were one up going into the third, first five or six minutes we are solid, we want to play on our toes, dont sit back and manage every shift. You have to play the right way. There were a lot of break downs in our end. They gave us five, we gave them six. Our plan was not to win the game 7-6.” The Jets now return home, winless on their three-game road trip, to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (available on TSN Jets and TSN 1290,) the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon and the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday. It will be an interesting start to the week for players, as the remainder of the Olympic teams will be announced. ' ' '