Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Montreal Alouettes, to decide the winner of the 2005 season of the Canadian Football League.

The game got off to a slow start, with Edmonton holding a 10–1 lead going into half-time, thanks to a Sean Fleming field goal and a Ricky Ray touchdown pass to Ed Hervey.

The Alouettes came on strong in the third quarter, scoring on a pair of goal-line plunges by backup running back Éric Lapointe, with the Eskimos notching a Fleming field goal in reply.

Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo scored on a one-yard bootleg that caught Eskimos linebacker Marcus Winn out of position.

Facing third-and-four in Montreal territory, Ray hit Derrell Mitchell on a deep out pattern to get a first down, and a trio of penalties left the Eskimos first-and-goal at the Alouettes' one-yard line.

In the presentation ceremony after the game, the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player award was given to Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray, who completed 35 of 45 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns.

The Most Valuable Canadian was Edmonton backup fullback Maven Maurer[b] (substituting for the injured Mathieu Bertrand), who picked up 41 receiving yards on four catches.

November 13 MONTREAL – The perennial powerhouse Alouettes boasted four 1,000-yard receivers for the second consecutive season (and second time in CFL history).

A remarkably low crowd of 31,199 turned out to watch the Alouettes stomp on the Roughriders in the first half, leaping out to a 24–0 lead on three Anthony Calvillo touchdown passes to Terry Vaughn, Ben Cahoon, Thyron Anderson and a Damon Duval field goal.

Crandell began to get over his struggles as the Alouettes sat back on their big lead, and threw a touchdown pass to Jamel Richardson early in the third quarter to give Roughriders fans some hope.

But another touchdown pass to Jason French in the fourth quarter was the only other scoring the Roughriders could produce, and Duval hit two more field goals to send Montreal to Toronto for the East Final.

Reynolds scored the touchdown that Stallings set up, and quarterback Henry Burris added another on a goal-line plunge before the half.

The Eskimos would have been in deep trouble if not for kicker Sean Fleming, who nailed four field goals in the second quarter to give Edmonton a chance.

The Eskimos started the fourth quarter with a devastating 93-yard clock-killing drive, finishing it up with a one-yard touchdown from fullback Mathieu Bertrand to tie the game at 23.

The Stampeders began to roll on the next drive, but a fumble by Reynolds broke Calgary's back, and a touchdown pass from Maas to Jason Tucker gave the Eskimos their first lead.

Lapointe scored three second-half running touchdowns for Montreal while quarterback Anthony Calvillo put in a mediocre 190 yards for a team renowned for aerial pyrotechnics.

Damon Duval hit four field goals to add to Lapointe's three touchdowns giving Montreal a Grey Cup berth and a 33–17 victory.

VANCOUVER – On the heels of his benching against Calgary, it seemed likely that Edmonton head coach Danny Maciocia would leave Ricky Ray as the backup for the West final against the British Columbia Lions.

In B.C., Dave Dickenson unsurprisingly got the start over former Most Outstanding Player Casey Printers, leading some to joke that four of the CFL's best quarterbacks would be in this game.

They racked up two Sean Fleming field goals, a rouge punt through the endzone, and a one-yard touchdown plunge by Ray to notch fourteen first-quarter points.

He threw an interception to Barron Miles that bounced off Edmonton receiver Trevor Gaylor's shoulder pads and lost a fumble on a bad exchange.

Meanwhile, Dickenson briefly got in a groove, nailing Geroy Simon with a ninety-yard touchdown toss, the longest in Lions playoff history.

The far-from-sellout but boisterous crowd of 37,337 grew restless and British Columbia coach Wally Buono sent in his backup, Printers, to great applause.