Hamilton Tiger-Cats tweak lineup for big game against Montreal

In advance of what is an important stretch of games for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the team will field a new look lineup Thursday night when they host the Montreal Alouettes.

Already staring at a record of 1-5 through one-third of the CFL schedule, Hamilton is on the cusp of entering a string of what amounts to six consecutive four-point contests against Montreal and the Toronto Argonauts.

Thursday’s pregame show on 900 CHML radio begins at 6:30 p.m. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. A half-hour after the final whistle, catch The 5th Quarter postgame show on CHML, 900chml.com and on CHML’s Facebook page.

Already without injured star linebacker Simoni Lawrence, the Cats will not have 14-year veteran right tackle Chris Van Zeyl on the field against the Alouettes.

Van Zeyl’s hip injury will force Hamilton to move Colin Kelly from left tackle to the right side of the offensive line while Travis Vornkahl comes off the practice roster to take Kelly’s spot.

Hamilton will get a boost on offence with the 2022 debut of slotback Lemar Durant, who has spent the first six games of the campaign on the sidelines with a hand injury.

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The game will mark Durant’s 75th regular season contest in the league and has made 183 receptions for 2,353 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Fresh off a 40-33 victory over Ottawa in Week 7, the Alouettes are 2-4 this season and sit two points ahead of Hamilton in the East Division.

A win would push the Tiger-Cats into a second place tie with Montreal while the Alouettes would vault into a tie for first place with the Argos in the East win a victory.

3 quick stats:

• Thursday’s game marks the 195th meeting between the Tiger-Cats and Alouettes since 1950. Montreal leads the all-time series with 96 wins, 91 losses and seven games have ended in a tie.
• Hamilton and Montreal have split their last six regular season games. However, the Alouettes have dominated this series at home with a record of 62-33-4.
• After six starts, Ticats QB Dane Evans is second in the CFL with 1,720 passing yards but he is 12th in quarterback efficiency with a rating of 85.8. Trevor Harris has played in five games this season and is sixth in the CFL with 1,312 passing yards. Harris’s QB rating of 98.8 is the seventh highest.