Mr Viral
Where to start?
The year 2024 was glorious for Montreal’s sports teams.
The CF Montreal, the Alouettes, and the Carabins all had great seasons: let’s take a detailed look at what happened with each of these clubs.
CF Montreal (11-10-13)
It started well for CF Montreal.
The club hadn’t lost after three away matches to start the season, but it became more complicated afterward.
It was truly in the 10th match of the season that things started to spiral quickly. The crushing 4-1 defeat against Nashville hurt, and CF Montreal went on a terrible streak afterward:
Loss 4-1 vs Nashville
Loss 3-2 vs Miami
Loss 3-1 vs Columbus
Loss 5-1 vs Toronto
It was night and day compared to the start of the season. The club only won one match in May…
Amid all this, there were rumors surrounding the possible departure of the club’s star, Mathieu Choinière.
Nothing to help, then.
Things got better at the beginning of June and the club went on a five-match unbeaten streak.
However, with losses of 4-1 against Colorado, 2-0 against NYC, 5-0 against New England, and 4-1 against Cincinnati during the final stretch of the season, there were growing concerns about the club’s playoff participation.
CF Montreal was never consistent, after all… And when Choinière officially left at the end of August, hopes faded.
But miraculously, CF Montreal had good results in September and October.
It qualified for the preliminary round match of the MLS Cup, played at Stade Saputo in front of a roaring crowd… But the club ultimately lost in penalties to Atlanta.
WE’RE THROUGH TO THE NEXT ROUND #UniteThe404 pic.twitter.com/7JNI6naEkY
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 23, 2024
From CF Montreal’s 2024 season, we also remember…
The positive performance of Josef Martinez (11 goals)
The disappointing performance of Matías Cóccaro
The emergence of Joel Waterman
The presence of Laurent Courtois
For one of the rare times in its history, CF Montreal will start the next season with the same coach as the previous season.
That’s a good thing… And it remains to be seen if Joey Saputo will want to invest money in the group so the club can have a better season in 2025.
Note that the club will play its first match on February 22, in Atlanta.
Montreal Carabins (7-1-0)
The Carabins had a good season.
This is often the case, but the Montreal team was one of the best in the country. And it showed week after week:
Match #1, victory 45-14 against Sherbrooke
Match #2, victory 47-8 against McGill
Match #3, loss 32-22 against Laval
Match #4, victory 30-18 against Concordia
Match #5, victory 25-6 against Sherbrooke
Match #6, victory 38-28 against McGill
Match #7, victory 32-31 against Laval
Match #8, victory 33-2 against Concordia
The Carabins easily accessed the RSEQ playoffs and defeated McGill University in the provincial semi-finals by a score of 42-3.
However, the club lost the final against its long-time rival: the Rouge et Or from Laval University won the final (22-17) to claim the Dunsmore Cup for the 17th time in its history.
It is difficult to predict what lies ahead for the Carabins since they will have to manage without Jonathan Sénécal next year.
But the University of Montreal has one of the good football programs in the country and there is no need to worry too much on that front.
Montreal Alouettes (12-5-1)
The Alouettes’ season is easy to summarize.
After week 12 in the CFL, the Montreal club held a record of eleven wins and one loss… And at that moment, thoughts were already turning to the playoffs in Montreal.
It makes sense.
Jason Maas (coach) knew it was practically sealed, which is why we saw a certain relaxation in the final stretch of the campaign.
The Alouettes won only two of their last seven matches of the season, and even though they had won the Grey Cup in 2023, they entered the playoffs in the “wrong” way.
The Sparrows faced the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern final and sunk themselves with several turnovers during the match.
It was a great contest, but the Alouettes were unable to beat their opponents:
The Toronto Argonauts defeat the Montreal Alouettes 30-28 in a thriller to advance to the 111th Grey Cup! pic.twitter.com/MEfeQQvZoY
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 9, 2024
The defeat hurt because in the Alouettes’ locker room, they genuinely believed in their chances of winning the Grey Cup for a second consecutive year.
But that might be the issue too: the club arrived at the playoffs perhaps a bit too confident… And that led to several mistakes against Toronto.
Note that we also witnessed the emergence of quarterback Davis Alexander, who replaced Cody Fajardo on several occasions in the Montreal lineup.
It was Alexander who received a vote of confidence from Danny Maciocia since Fajardo was traded to Edmonton on December 17:
«Thank you, Montreal. Until we meet again.»
Thanks for giving me one of the greatest years of my career pic.twitter.com/A4Wr0KYH1G
— Cody Fajardo (@CodyFajardo17) December 17, 2024
Montreal Team in the LPHF (13-6-5)
Lastly, we must mention the Montreal team!
The LPHF launched its activities in 2024 and the league had a successful first year of existence.
The Montreal team did well, finishing with a record of 13 wins, six losses, and five additional overtime losses, which allowed them to end up in second place in the league’s overall standings.
Unfortunately, Marie-Philip Poulin’s team lost in three games during the first round of the playoffs against the Boston team, abruptly ending the Montreal women’s season.
But here’s the positive: Poulin, Laura Stacey, and Erin Ambrose were all among the most productive players in the LPHF during the 2024 season.
They did well:
(Credit: LPHF)
Conclusion
The Alouettes and the Carabins are likely to be quite good again in 2025.
As for CF Montreal… It is always complicated to predict because we never know when a controversy might arise around this club.
But ultimately, it would be nice to see CF Montreal have a great season.
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