Music: {allcanada} Out with a bang

TORONTO -- Andre Durie ended the Toronto Argonauts' dismal season with a bang.

Durie caught two Dalton Bell touchdown passes and the five-year veteran registered his first career 100-yard receiving game (eight receptions, 144 yards) to lead Toronto past the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-16 on Thursday night.

Durie put Toronto ahead 23-16 with a 43-yard catch at 4:27 of the fourth before a Rogers Centre gathering generously announced at 20,833 spectators.

Cory Boyd cemented the win for Toronto (6-12) with a six-yard TD run at 6:43, set up by Jasper Simmons' interception return to the Hamilton 12-yard line. Boyd finished with 105 yards, his 11th career 100-yard game, tying him with Bill Symons for fourth-most in club history.

Toronto earned its first win over Hamilton since Sept. 11 2009 -- a streak of six straight losses -- and ended the season with two straight wins. But the Argos will finish last in the East Division and miss the playoffs for the third time in four years.

Hamilton (8-10) had already clinched third in the East and will travel to either Montreal or Winnipeg for the conference semifinal next weekend. The Ticats used all three quarterbacks -- Kevin Glenn, Quinton Porter and Jason Boltus -- in the contest.

Toronto slotback Jeremaine Copeland became the 15th player in CFL history to surpass 10,000 all-time receiving yards with a 32-yard catch in the first. But the 11-year veteran finished the year with no TD receptions, a career first.

Porter, who replaced Glenn to open the second half, pulled Hamilton into a 16-16 tie with a five-yard TD strike to Aaron Kelly at 2:42 of the fourth.

With Toronto's season complete, the big question now is whether Jim Barker has coached his final game for the Argos?

There has been persistent late-season talk Barker, the CFL's coach of the year in 2010 who is also the Argos GM, will have to eliminate one position from his business card this off-season. As the general manager, Barker would not only have more job security but also be able to hand-pick his successor.

And a name being mentioned in such a scenario is special-teams co-ordinator Mike O'Shea. A long-time Argos star linebacker, O'Shea has mentored under Barker, serving as his sounding board along the sidelines the past two seasons.

A knock on O'Shea would be his obvious limited CFL coaching experience -- he's in his second season as an assistant -- and having never been a head coach before. But in 2000, the Argos promoted superstar Mike (Pinball) Clemons to head coach upon his retirement even though he had never coached before.

Clemons surrounded himself with qualified assistants and went on to compile a 68-55-1 regular-season record from 2000 to '07 and led Toronto to two East Division titles and a Grey Cup championship in 2004.

The hiring of O'Shea, assuming he would want the job and the attention it brings, could create an off-season buzz in Toronto as the city prepares to host the 100th Grey Cup next year.

It would also allow the Argos to keep Orlando Steinauer -- another Barker hiring -- as the club's defensive co-ordinator. Steinauer began the season as Toronto's secondary coach but took on the co-ordinator's position when Chip Garber was fired earlier in the year.

O'Shea and Steinauer not only have coached together in Toronto, but are also former teammates with the Argos.

Toronto's Noel Prefontaine added two converts and four field goals.

Hamiton's Justin Medlock booted three field goals and a convert.

Prefontaine's 46-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining capped a low-scoring first half and staked Toronto to a 10-6 half-time advantage.

The Argos also had the lone TD of the half, Bell's 23-yard strike to Durie at 9:32 of the first moments after Copeland's historic grab.

All Hamilton mustered with Glenn were Medlock field goals of 32 and 34 yards.

NOTES: Kick-returner Chad Owens (hip) was among Toronto's scratches. He will finish the season 56 kickoff yards short of Ian Smart's league record of 1,805 set in 2008 with B.C. Hamilton's scratches were halfbacks Avon Cobourne and Marcus Thigpen, linebacker Renauld Williams and offensive lineman Jason Jimenez . . . Ticats general manager Bob O'Billovich spent nine seasons as Toronto's head coach (1982-'90, '93), twice being named the CFL's top coach (1982, '87) and winning the '83 Grey Cup.