The B.C. Lions have officially ruled out four players for Sunday’s clash with the Edmonton Elks, most notably starting centre Michael Couture.
The 31-year-old native of Burnaby, B.C. has started all 35 games he’s appeared in since joining his hometown team in 2023, including all five this year. He was unable to practice at all this week due to a hand injury, leading to his status for this week.
The Lions already have two Canadian offensive linemen on the six-game injured list in David Foucault (leg) and Tyler Packer (head). The team officially activated rookie Alex Berwick earlier in the week to join Anu Una and Andrew Peirson in the lineup, while signing veteran Hunter Steward to the practice roster. All four players have the capacity to play centre, though it remains unclear which of them will start.
Also ruled out for this week were Canadian linebacker Adam Auclair (ankle), Global defensive tackle Tibo Debaillie (ankle), and American fullback Zander Horvath (hand). American defensive tackles Jonah Tavai (calf) and DeWayne Hendrix (thigh) are listed as questionable after missing last week, but were full participants in practice the last two days.
Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke is available and is expected to start despite continuing to be limited by an oblique injury. According to reports, he did not take any first-team reps on Wednesday and split time with Chase Brice on Thursday, but took the majority on Friday.
Other key starters listed as available despite injury limitations include Canadian receiver Justin McInnis (core), American defensive backs Garry Peters (hip) and Jalon Edwards-Cooper (illness), and Canadian linebacker Ben Hladik (knee).
The B.C. Lions (2-3) will visit the Edmonton Elks (1-3) at Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday, July 13 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. B.C. is coming off a 21-20 walk-off win over the Montreal Alouettes, while Edmonton got its first win of the season in a 39-33 home victory of the Ottawa Redblacks.
The weather forecast calls for a high of 22 degrees and a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada and on CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 730 CKNW in Vancouver and 880 CHED in Edmonton.
