Iconic moments in Ivor Wynne Stadium history

When the Hamilton Tiger-Cats host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday fans will bid farewell to one of the most iconic stadiums in Canadian sports, as it will be the final regular season game in the Canadian Football League played at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Originally called Civic Stadium, which opened in 1930 and was later renovated and renamed in 1970, the venue will be demolished later this year to make room for a new stadium set to be completed in 2014 for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

The stadium has a rich history and fans attending the game will get to keep a unique ticket as a souvenir.

Check out the ‘golden ticket’ for Saturday’s Ivor Wynne Stadium finale… #Ticats #CFL twitter.com/Ticats/status/…

— Hamilton Tiger-Cats (@Ticats) October 25, 2012

Although the game is important to the Ticats and Blue Bombers because the winner will keep their slim playoff chances alive, the day will be filled with memories and a sense of nostalgia as those in attendance will look back on what has occurred at the venue.

With that in mind, here is a look at some of the greatest and most iconic moments in Ivor Wynne Stadium history:

The Tiger-Cats have won eight Grey Cups in their 62-year history but the 1972 Grey Cup is by far their most memorable and perhaps the single most iconic moment in the stadium’s history.

With just seconds left in the fourth quarter and the game all tied up at 10 points apiece, Ticats quarterback Chuck Ealey threw a completion to that season’s Most Outstanding Player Garney Henley. The following play, with no time remaining on the clock, rookie kicker Ian Sunter, who was the youngest player in the CFL at the time, kicked the winning field goal to secure a 13-10 Tiger-Cats victory.

The game was significant for another reason: It marked the final game for Ticats legend Angelo Mosca.

The 1972 edition of the Ticats will be honoured during halftime of Saturday’s game.

Angelo Mosca sipping from the Grey Cup.

Many consider the 1996 Grey Cup to be the most exciting championship game in CFL history. The Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 43-37 in conditions that personified the obstacles a team needs to overcome to hoist the Grey Cup.

Not only was it a thrilling, back-and-forth game, but the weather conditions made everything that much more dramatic. At approximately minus-10 degrees Celsius with winds of 20km/h and non-stop snow, the game had a bit of everything: safties, kickoff and interception returns for touchdowns, many lead changes and “Downtown” Eddie Brown’s miraculous 64-yard TD catch where he kicked the football up to hands, which some call the greatest play in Grey Cup history.

It was Doug Flutie’s first season with the Argos and the first of back-to-back championships for Toronto.

Typically, Ivor Wynne has a capacity of 29,600 but for this game there were 38,595 people packed into the venue after organizers added temporary seats.

Doug Flutie being chased in the snow in the 1996 Grey Cup.

On Sept. 5, 1988, Ticats receiver Earl Winfield made CFL history. Winfield, who played for Hamilton from 1987 to 1997, became the first player to score a touchdown three different ways in one game. Winfield had 400 total yards that game including a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown, a 101-yard punt return touchdown and a pass reception for a touchdown in a 56-28 win over the Argos. Winfield finished his CFL career with over 10,000 receiving yards, 75 TD receptions and 12 return touchdowns, but that game remains the highlight of his career.

Earl Winfield set a CFL record at Ivor Wynne Stadium in 1988.

“Oskee wee wee! Oskee wa wa! Holy mackinaw! Tigers, eat ’em raw!”

They are words that give CFL fans not from Hamilton heartburn every time they’re uttered, but it’s a time-tested tradition in Steeltown.

The “Oskee Wee Wee” chant was started by a man named Vince Wirtz in the 1920s. He developed the moniker Pigskin Pete and was a staple at Hamilton football games for years. Pigskin Pete has had several reincarnations, as Bill Wirtz took over duties in 1967, Paul Weiler was named Pigskin Pete in 1976 and Dan Black has had the honour since 2006 after Weiler retired.

Paul Weiler spent 31 years as Pigskin Pete.

Since 1950, the first year the team was called the Tiger-Cats, Hamilton has taken on their provincial rivals from Toronto 43 times in the Labour Day Classic. The Ticats have a record of 29-15-1 on Labour Day and perhaps the most memorable game was in 2004 when the two clubs tied 30-30 in a scrappy affair.

Ivor Wynne hosted more than just CFL games over the years.

In 2004, 2005 and 2008, the Vanier Cup — Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s championship football game — took place at Ivor Wynne Stadium. The game in 2004 was the lowest-scoring Vanier Cup in CIS history with Laval beating the University of Saskatchewan 7-1. In 2005, Wilfred Laurier topped Saskatchewan 24-23 and in 2008 Laval blew out Western 44-21.

Also, many kids who grew up playing football in the Greater Toronto Area often had weekend games at Ivor Wynne. It afforded Ontario’s young, aspiring athletes the chance to feel like a pro and make plays on the same field that their CFL heroes did.

There have been several concerts held at the venue over the years as well. The most memorable was in 1975 when Pink Floyd came to town. For the big finale, the band’s crew lined the stadium’s scoreboard with pyrotechnics and proceeded to blow it to pieces, which caused damage to nearby houses.

Rush played there in 1979 and it was the last concert at Ivor Wynne Stadium until earlier this month when the Tragically Hip played a farewell show.

Despite it being a football stadium, a charity hockey game called Our Game to Give took place there in 2005. This past January, an American Hockey League game between the Hamilton Bulldogs and Toronto Marlies became the first outdoor game held in Canada in AHL history.

Ivor Wynne Stadium as a hockey rink.