Andre Proulx left Saturday’s game thanks to a heart attack, but his crew filled in well

There was an odd occurrence in Saturday night's Toronto Argonauts - Edmonton Eskimos clash, as referee Andre Proulx was helped off the field and then carted off to the locker room with a towel on his head partway through the second half. On air, there were suggestions Proulx's absence was due to heatstroke or dehydration, but it was revealed Sunday that he actually suffered a mild heart attack during the game. Fortunately, Proulx is reportedly doing okay in hospital and is scheduled to be released Monday, and although he'll miss at least his next planned assignment (next Friday's Hamilton-B.C. clash), it sounds like he may be back before too long. Having something like this happen to a referee is a scary moment for the CFL, but the best possible outcome happened: Proulx was attended to quickly and seems to be recovering, and head linesman Michel Pinsonneault (who took over as referee in Proulx's absence) and the rest of the crew did an admirable job of filling in.

Pinsonneault and the rest of the officiating crew deserve a lot of praise. Officials come into a game with very specific roles, so rearranging those on the fly and doing so with one less man than typical is far from easy. Officiating performances are always subjective, and there will always be some unhappy with the calls that are made (probably a lot of Toronto fans in this case, as the Argonauts were frequently penalized Saturday night), but from this corner, the officiating team did an impressive job of stepping up to replace Proulx. The rest of the game didn't look all that different from a typical CFL clash with a full complement of officials, and most of the penalty calls that were made seem deserved. Officials in the CFL get a lot of public criticism for mistakes, but rarely are talked about when they do well; this group deserves plenty of plaudits for making the most of a tough situation.

Similarly, Proulx is one of many CFL fans' favourite targets on Twitter, but he deserves plenty of support through this regardless of what you think of his officiating. The 48-year-old is in his 14th CFL season, and it's pretty impressive that anyone devotes that amount of time to a largely thankless job that involves taking a lot of abuse. Proulx's mistakes are constantly amplified, but he's rarely credited when he gets a decision right, and that's a common theme for CFL officials. He worked the Grey Cup last year, and did a solid job in this writer's estimation, but didn't receive much praise for it. From this corner, it's good to hear that Proulx is recovering well. Here's hoping he's able to get back on the field before too long.