In Canada, there’s no shortage of passionate sports fans, and passionate fans lead to sports rivalries. Some of the Canada’s biggest sporting rivalries are based on geographic boundaries, while others reflect a clash in cultures, or a superiority complex between rivalling cities. One thing they all have in common is unbridled intensity for the home team.
Buckle up because we’re going Coast to Coast for a nation-wide tour of these great sports rivalries—and you don’t want to miss out. Whether you’re a fan of the NHL, CFL, MLS or university sports, there’s something in this list for you.
Vancouver Canucks vs Calgary Flames
The NHL’s Pacific Division has two major rivalries, and one of them is the ongoing feud between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Both teams surged in the ‘80s and early ‘90s and faced off repeatedly in the postseason during that stretch.
On two of three runs to the Stanley Cup Finals (1982 and 1994), the Canucks had to beat their rivals in the divisional round—and it wasn’t easy. In the 1994 run particularly, the seventh-seed Canucks were major underdogs against the second-seed Flames, who won the season series and went 3-1 against the Canucks in the first four games of the Conference Quarterfinals. The Canucks made history when they came back from the deficit and won three straight games in overtime to eliminate the favourites.
In Calgary’s 1989 Stanley Cup winning year, they likewise had to get past the Canucks in the Division Semifinals. The matchup was repeated in the Flames’ 2004 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, and both Game 6 and 7 of their series against Vancouver went to overtime.
Calgary Stampeders vs Edmonton Elks
The Battle of Alberta rears its head in several major leagues, CFL included. Their provincial teams are the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks, who’ve been caught up in a feud since long before the CFL was established.
Their most significant modern matchup is the Labour Day Classic, which is a week-long stretch in the CFL where the same rivalry matchups occur year after year. The Stampeders have hosted the Elks in this event since 1959; however, the annual matchup was happening before then. If you include the rivalry games before 1959, the record is split, but, for just the official CFL games, the Stampeders are ahead 28-26-1.
Five days after the game, Edmonton hosts their rivals in a rematch at Commonwealth Stadium in the back end of the home-and-home series. This is always a critical game for the side that lost the week prior.
Calgary Flames vs Edmonton Oilers
The Battle of Alberta can also be found in the NHL where the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers duke it out for provincial supremacy. When the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary, the Oilers were going into Year 2 in the NHL. This was when the league was realigning their conferences to facilitate more local divisional matchups—and a rivalry was born.
The Oilers and Flames dominated the West with rosters full of Hall of Famers. The Oilers had Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and legendary hockey coach Glen Sather. Meanwhile, the Flames were equally stacked with Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Mullen and Al MacInnis. Both teams were perennial contenders in the postseason and met five times between 1983 and 1991.
With neither team interested in being Alberta’s underdog, their matchups were and still are intense. The Oilers got the last shot in their 2022 playoff series when they eliminated Calgary en route to the Conference Finals.
Saskatchewan Roughriders vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Another big rivalry in the CFL is found in the prairies between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. These two teams have been battling on the gridiron since the ‘40s, and are another feature attraction in the CFL’s annual Labour Day Classic.
In 2003, the Blue Bombers’ Hall of Fame placekicker Troy Westwood really fuelled the rivalry with the Roughriders when he called their fans “a bunch of banjo-pickin’ inbreds” in the leadup to a Western Division Semi-Final game. Not long after, he issued his infamous “apology,” saying the vast majority of people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play a banjo.
The Blue Bombers had been wanting to host an annual rematch against the Roughriders on their turf for quite some time; they leaned into Westwood’s ribbing and created the unofficial Banjo Bowl. It is indeed the biggest local football event in the region, selling out every year. The Bombers are 13-7 overall.
Ottawa Gee-Gees vs Carleton Ravens
Ottawa University and Carleton University are both in Canada’s capital city, and that leads to a competitive rivalry between the student bodies and their respective sports teams that goes way back.
In 1955, the Ravens and Gee-Gees football teams faced off in what would later become an annual grudge game called the “Panda Game.” The name came from Ottawa U’s stuffed panda mascot named Pedro, who became the merciless target of many pranks and “pandanappings” between the schools over the years.
The Panda Game arguably has the rowdiest spectators of any sports events in Ottawa. During the ‘60s, vandalism and riots were the norm, and the week leading up to the game became known as “Hate Week.”
Ottawa U own the overall win record of 38-17 and the record for biggest win margin, which was a 44-0 blowout win in 1957. An aluminum trophy of Pedro is awarded to the winner every year.
Toronto Argonauts vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats
When the Toronto Argonauts face off against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Ticats), there’s an intensity unlike any other matchup. These two cities don’t like each other; they’re close in proximity but represent very different lifestyles and fanbases.
Toronto, being the economic hub of Canada, is a massive metropolis, with endless entertainment opportunities everywhere you look. Hamilton, meanwhile, is a working-class blue collar “steel city” that has recovered from economic hardship; their passionate fanbase brings immense levels of energy to every game, and the players pay back with a gritty all-in style of football. On top of the natural superiority complex that exists between the cities, the Argonauts are the most decorated team in the CFL with 18 Grey Cups to their name.
You’re guaranteed to get a good show when these two teams meet for the CFL’s Labour Day Classic that showcases the league’s top rivalries as an annual tradition. Ticats QB Bo-Levi Mitchell extended his record to 7-0 in Labour Day Classics when he led the Ticats out of a slump to a victory over Toronto in the 2024 edition. His prior victories came from his time with the Calgary Stampeders.
CF Montreal vs Toronto FC
Canada’s two biggest cities have had a competitive dynamic that pre-dates our professional sports leagues. Toronto is home to mostly English-speaking Canadians, while Montreal is the homeland of French Canadians and a cultural mecca for Quebec. The division creates the perfect climate for intense sports rivalries, including MLS.
The rivalry between CF Montreal and Toronto FC is known as The Canadian Classique and 401 Derby (the 401 being the highway that connects Toronto to Montreal). Montreal Impact (now known as CF Montreal) was promoted to MLS in 2012 and played their opener against Toronto in front of a home crowd of 24,000 spectators. Montreal won 2-1.
The following season, their fanbase grew and 38,000 spectators attended the opener. Montreal won again and went on to win the Canadian Championship—a domestic cup run by the Canadian Soccer Association. Their best performance of the season was a 6-0 victory over Toronto.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens
The fiercest rivalry in Canadian sports goes to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, the only two Canadian teams from the NHL’s Original Six. These teams pioneered the National Hockey League in North America, and both Toronto and Montreal joined in 1917.
The tension between the Leafs and Canadiens goes deeper than simply being Original Six members. As Canada’s two biggest cities, Toronto and Montreal have the historical weight of Anglo Canada and French Canada and all of their differences.
The Leafs and Habs have traded blows in the postseason over the years, and their rivalry peaked in the ‘60s. Between 1963 and 1966, they faced off in the Semifinals, and in 1967, they met in the Finals. The underdog Leafs beat the Canadiens 4-2 in that championship series. It was the last time the Leafs won a Stanley Cup and was the end of the Original Six era. Choose your allegiance and put some money on your team in our sportsbook. There are betting markets for NHL, CFL, MLS and more. Short term bets are in the gamelines posted daily, and long term ones are on the futures market. The only way to make a big game more fun is to have some money riding on the outcome.