10. Shania Twain
The image of Shania Twain arriving by dog sled during the 2017 Gray Cup snowy halftime show in Ottawa in 2017, then followed by That Don’t Impress Me Much on stage: this moment could just as easily be number 1 on this list.
No, really, there isn’t much more Canadian than that time.
By the way, the Toronto Argonauts won 27-24 in overtime over the Calgary Stampeders that night, thanks to a successful field goal from Liam Hajrullahu late in the fourth quarter.
9. LeSean McCoy, snowy match specialist
What to do in a National Football League (NFL) game when the pass lines are unreadable, snow is falling so heavily that visibility is almost zero? One runs. We run a lot.
PHOTO MATT SLOCUM, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
LeSean McCoy, then with the Philadelphia Eagles
Talk to LeSean McCoy. In December 2013, the Philadelphia Eagles running back ran for 217 yards, a franchise record. He scored two touchdowns, 57 and 40 yards. And the home side won 34-20 over the Detroit Lions in a blizzard in Philadelphia.
The two teams couldn’t see so much that they didn’t attempt a field goal. On seven of the eight touchdowns scored, we even turned to two-point conversions rather than just the extra point.
The expertise LeSean McCoy acquired during that snowy game even served him on another occasion, in 2017, when he lined up with the Buffalo Bills. He had run for 158 yards and got a touchdown in a 13-7 win over the Colts.
8. Where did the penalty spot go?
In Germany, a Bundesliga match between Freiburg and Cologne in December 2017 was postponed for 30 minutes so that the field could be cleared and the lines repainted. But it seems that we forgot to redraw the penalty spot on the side of the Freiburg net.
When a penalty was called in favor of Cologne in the 18e minute of the engagement, the referee realized that there was no circle. He therefore took 11 paces from the goal line to measure the lawful 11 m “with a mitten”.
Unfortunately for Cologne, their 3-0 lead melted like snow in the sun. The team lost 4-3, allowing two penalties in stoppage time.
7. The Snow Plow Game in 1982
Did you know there’s a tractor hanging from the ceiling of the New England Patriots Hall of Fame?
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE HALL OF FAME
The famous snow plow
This snowplow was used to clear the playing area of the Patriots’ Schaefer Stadium in 1982, at the very end of a season game against the Miami Dolphins.
So much snow was forecast that fans were invited to watch the game for free. We even offered $ 10 to those who helped clear the bleachers.
In the fourth quarter, the supporters had so far been treated to a spectacular 0-0 game. Patriots head coach has decided to send snowplow operator Mark Henderson to the field. We wanted to allow kicker John Smith to make a 33-yard field goal on a surface unobstructed by snow.
The game ended 3-0 with this successful kick.
6. The lost bullet in Baltimore
The weather was nice during the first two races. But this meeting between the Cleveland Indians and the Orioles in Baltimore on the opening day of Major League Baseball, March 31, 2003, would take a whole different turn from the third engagement.
The snow has started to fall. And not just a little. In a few minutes, the visibility became practically zero.
So much so that when Ellis Burks of the Indians hit the ball towards right field in the third inning, no one knew where it had landed. Neither the pitcher, nor the batter, nor the umpire, not even the outfielders. When the ball was finally seen inside right field, it was declared in play. Singles, Ellis Burks. But pitcher Rodrigo Lopez, in particular, now believes that ball should have been declared false, since it would have struck the stands before bouncing and returning to the field.
The match was interrupted for about 15 minutes, then was able to run its course normally. The Orioles ultimately won 6-5.
5. Mel Parnell replaces balls with snowballs… on skis
A thick blanket of snow blanketed Boston’s Fenway Park on April 14, 1953. It had snowed so much that Major League Baseball’s opening game had to be postponed.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Mel Parnell with his skis
That didn’t stop pitcher Mel Parnell from having a little fun skiing down the field, with a snowball in his glove rather than a baseball.
4. The 2014 Winter Classic
The National Hockey League (NHL) has repeatedly attempted to recreate the context of an outdoor winter hockey game as seen at the neighborhood rink. But she has never succeeded in reaching such favorable conditions for this scenario as this 1er January 2014, during the Winter Classic in Michigan.
The Maple Leafs and Red Wings, two original NHL teams, faced off. Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier wore a toque over his helmet like José Théodore at the 2003 Legacy Classic. Snow was falling heavily at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Over 105,000 fans gathered, a record number for an NHL game.
And both teams’ retro-looking jerseys were just perfect, adding to the already successful TV look … much at the expense of playing on the ice.
The Leafs won 3-2 in a shootout.
3. The 1977 Ice Bowl at the Olympic Stadium
Brooch under the espadrilles. This is how the Alouettes managed to dominate the Eskimos at the 1977 Gray Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
It is that at the time, the Big O did not yet have its roof. And, you guessed it, it had snowed before the encounter. We had put salt on the field, except that the temperature went down on the day of the game. Result: the playing surface looked more like that used by the Canadian at the Forum than what we were used to seeing during a game of gridiron.
PHOTO FROM THE BOOK TOUCH BY TONY PROUDFOOT
Photo from the book Touch by Tony Proudfoot
For more grip, therefore, Alouettes defenseman Tony Proudfoot had the brilliant idea of stapling pins under the soles of his shoes. He did the same for his teammates. The Eskimos, with their usual shoes, could never find their balance.
The Alouettes won 41-6 thanks to this clever ploy, and his quarterback Sonny Wade had 22 of his 40 passes for 340 yards and 3 touchdowns.
2. Sam Adekugbe’s Angel Leap in Edmonton
This is the story of a national team that wanted to qualify for its first World Cup since 1986. It invited Mexico to play a qualifying match in Edmonton in November 2021, in the most wintery conditions possible: a feeling of -16 ° C after a snowstorm had buried the ground earlier in the day.
But this selection was Canada, and her judgment had been enlightened when she decided that these conditions would be favorable to her against a CONCACAF giant. The Maple Leaf emerged from Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, renamed Iceteca for the occasion in reference to Mexico’s Azteca Stadium, with a 2-1 victory.
The jump of the angel of Sam Adekugbe, who plunged into the snow after the second Cyle Larin’s goal will be remembered by Canadian soccer fans for a long time to come.
1. Adam Vinatieri cements his legend
It’s January 19, 2002. The Patriots face the Oakland Raiders in the American Conference Divisional Playoffs. A blizzard completely enveloped Foxboro Stadium in New England, where more than 60,000 fans gathered. The Pats are down 13-10 at the very end of the fourth quarter, and Tom Brady has just suffered a sack that caused a fumble … The carrots look done.
Except that. The officials regroup and decide that Brady’s right arm has started a forward swing, which means it’s an incomplete pass, not a fumble. A rule almost unknown to everyone at the time.
So the Patriots are alive. Kicker Adam Vinatieri sets up to hit a 45-yard punt, the sight completely clouded by the blizzard.
He succeeds. It’s 13-13. We’re going into overtime.
Vinatieri would seal the creation of his legend by hitting another precision punt, 23 yards that one, to allow the Patriots to win 16-13. They will win the first Super Bowl in their history that year.