The Eskimos will play in the Grey Cup for the first time in six seasons after handing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a 33-30 loss in the West Division final.

Edmonton has the chance to win its 12th title and become only the third team in the past quarter of a century to claim the Grey Cup on home soil -- and the first since the 1994 B.C. Lions.

Related
CBC's Brenda Irving talks about the jinx
Tom Higgins looks ahead to the Grey Cup

But in one sense, winning the CFL's marquee game would be the least of their accomplishments, as their win over the Bombers brought to an end one of the most enduring hexes in CFL history.

Prior to this year's contest, the home team only managed to win three of the last 15 Western finals. In fact, the team that hosted the Western final went on to play in the Grey Cup only once in the last six years.

That's quite a difference from the East where the home team has gone 11-4 in the division final since 1987.

Western Curse, indeed.

No other team was plagued by the curse more in recent years than the Eskimos.

In last year's Western final, the Calgary Stampeders sauntered into Commonwealth Stadium and scored seven points on their 72-yard, opening drive en route to a 34-16 dismantling of the Eskimos.

And the curse ran even deeper than that for Edmonton. Before this year, the Eskimos have hosted the West final five times since 1987. They lost all five games.

Making matters worse was the fact it was their bitter archrivals, the Stamps, which were the only club to win a Western final on home soil in the past 15 seasons.

The Eskimos also killed off the Prairie Jinx. Of the eight previous Grey Cup games hosted in the Prairies -- Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Calgary and Winnipeg -- the host team never managed to qualify.

"It's nice we have skewed the jinx," said Eskimos coach Tom Higgins after defeating Winnipeg.

"I thought we came out guns ablazing. We knew we had to score points early and that was enough to bring us through."

Finishing first in the West never used to be the kiss of death. From 1972 to 1986, the home team won the final 12 out of the 15 years. And then it all suddenly changed.

And while Edmonton fell prey to the curse last year, there was no stopping them from reaching this year's Grey Cup final.

Edmonton finished the season 13-5-0, good enough for first place in the West and second overall in the CFL. They were particularly strong down the stretch, winning four of their last six games and were 8-1 at Commonwealth Stadium.

The Eskimos burst out of the gate, winning nine of its first eleven games. The highlight of the season was in September when it defeated Calgary 28-20 at McMahon Stadium in the Labour Day classic on Sept. 2. Four days later, the Eskies hammered the lowly Stamps 45-11 in Edmonton.

Those two victories, along with Edmonton's 27-21 win over the Stamps in Week 1, allowed the Eskies to sweep the season series 3-0 against their provincial rivals.

While they were the unquestioned kingpins of the West, the Eskimos failed miserably against the Alouettes -- the kings of the East.

Montreal won both games between the two titans, hammering Edmonton 37-14 on Aug. 2 and 48-30 on Oct. 14.

Head coach Tom Higgins made headlines in the second half of the campaign by employing a rotating quarterback system that kept pivots Ricky Ray and Jason Maas on their toes.

Ray opened a lot of eyes when he burst on to the scene during a three-game relief stint for Maas early in the season. When Maas was sidelined by a back injury just ahead of Labour Day, the 22-year-old Ray solidified his grip on the No. 1 job.

Ever since Maas' return, Higgins kept opponents guessing by refusing to announce whom he'd be starting prior to games. Often times, Higgins had Ray and Maas play half a game each, or replace one with the other at the drop of a hat when one of them ran into trouble.

"The way things happen, you've got to be ready to play no matter what," Ray said during the season. "Obviously, if you do know you're starting you can kind of prepare for it better."

"It's a tough deal. Before when it first started happening it was, 'If I go in there and screw up, I'm going to get yanked.' "

"Now, I just go in relaxed and play and if it's not my day, then we've got another guy who can come in and do the job. If it is your day, you'll probably see the end of the game."

It was an overall team effort this year for the Eskimos. Edmonton received consistent play on both sides of the ball from its players in boasting the fourth best defence and third rated defence in the league.

Edmonton placed five players on the 2002 CFL All-Star Team: John Avery (running back), Sean Fleming (kicker), Elfrid Payton (defensive end), Terry Vaughn (slotback) and Jason Tucker (wide receiver).

Avery has ripped up the CFL in his first season with a league leading 1,448 yards rushing and 9 TDs. Fleming was a model of consistency, booting 34 of 42 field goals (81%) and finished the year with 170 points.

Payton had a league leading 16 sacks and he's currently second on the CFL's All-Time list with 148, just nine back of former Hamilton great Grover Covington. Vaughn finished second in the CFL with receptions (94) and receiving yards (1,291) and 9 TDs. Vaughn has cracked the 1,000+ mark eight straight seasons.

Tucker caught 51 passes for 911 yards and 8 TDs, including three in one game. The five all-star selections are the most Edmonton has placed on the CFL All-Star team since 1996, when six Eskimos were named.

Edmonton also has a pair of finalists in the running for the 2002 CFL Outstanding Player Awards. Payton is the Western nominee for CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player, while tackle Bruce Beaton has been named the West finalist for CFL Most Outstanding Lineman.

Higgins will need all of his stars to perform at peek performance if the Eskimos are to beat the Alouettes.

"The Als are a dynamic football club, and they deserve to be in the Grey Cup," Higgins told CBC's Brenda Irving. "We're just going to have to buckle down and get ready to play our best football to be able to stay on the same field with them."

"It's going to be a tough battle. The only people we lost to (at home) were the Montreal Alouettes."