The Montreal Alouettes are hoping to finish the 2009 CFL season with a victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 97th Grey Cup in Calgary Sunday night.

The Als have competed in the Grey Cup seven times in the past decade but they've only won once, back in 2002.

The team has beaten the Riders twice in the regular season and is considered the favourite in Sunday's game.

Montreal finished atop the East Division standings with a league-best 15-3 record while Saskatchewan took first in the West Division for the first time since '76 with a 10-7-1 mark.

Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo, 37, gets the start for Montreal and is looking to cap an impressive season in style. Calvillo, in his 16th CFL season, was named the league's outstanding player for the second straight year and third time overall. He finished third overall in passing with 4,639 yards but completed 72 per cent of his passes and had just six interceptions in 550 pass attempts.

Saskatchewan's Darian Durant is completing his first full season as the team's starter and has shown the promise of becoming one of the CFL's top quarterbacks. Durant finished fourth overall in passing this season with 4,348 yards and also had 24 TD strikes -- second only to Calvillo, who had 26 -- and also rushed for 501 yards, averaging over eight yards per carry.

Reporting live from the McMahon Stadium Sunday afternoon, CTV Montreal's Randy Tieman said there's no doubt the Als are feeling nervous about the big game.

"The guys are pretty anxious," said Tieman. "Any time you go into Grey Cup for the seventh time in this decade and you're only 1-5 -- I think they're a little bit nervous to say the least."

Tieman described the stadium as "a sea of green", as rowdy Roughrider fans sporting green face paint cheered loudly behind him.

"I think the Alouette fans here are outnumbered about 1000 to one," he said.

Game coverage

The Grey Cup game is being broadcast on TSN. The network is using 32 cameras -- including a helicopter camera -- providing access to most every angle. TSN is also offering a live look into the CFL review command centre. And there's a good reason why TSN is pouring so much into its Grey Cup coverage. Some 3.65 million viewers took in last year's CFL title game.

With files from The Canadian Press