Saskatchewan contended on and off in the 1950s, with four consecutive winning seasons and second-place regular season finishes from 1953 to 1956. Teams from this era featured standouts such as Frank Tripucka, Reggie Whitehouse, Ken Carpenter, Mike Cassidy, player-coach Frank Filchock and Cookie Gilchrist who was the first Roughrider player to rush for 1,000 yards in 1958. Even with that talent, they couldn't return to the Grey Cup as clubs fielded by either the Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers ended their season in each of these years. Their strongest season was in 1956 when the Roughriders achieved a 10–6 record and won their first playoff series since 1951, only to lose to the Eskimos in the Western Finals.