Winter storm wreaks havoc at TD Place prior to East Division final

OTTAWA – The weather was a major storyline in the East Division final Sunday.

The Ottawa Redblacks and Edmonton Eskimos battled at TD Place on a wet, snow-covered field, thanks to the city’s first snowstorm of the winter.

But the major factor was the wind, which blew at about 37 kilometres throughout and gusted at times to nearly 49 km-h.

The start of the second half was delayed by several minutes as stadium officials worked to repair the lines on the field. They had been scraped away while crews shovelled the snow off the turf.

A paint machine was brought out to make the repairs but it ceased working, reportedly because of the cold conditions. That forced at least one crewman to re-paint the lines by hand.