THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Henry Burris is hoping the Stampeders can bring some of their road prowess back to Calgary for Saturday’s matchup against the red-hot Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The Stampeders will try and pick up their first home win of the season after going 0-2 to start the season at McMahon Stadium, despite winning all three games on the road.
“I thought it was no place like home,” said Burris, “For us, it’s been there’s no place like the road. We need to turn that around. Of course, this is our home base right here and you can never let anybody come into your house and be able to beat you and we’ve let that happen twice this year.”
Calgary dropped its home opener 23-21 on Canada Day to the Toronto Argonauts before losing 24-19 to the Edmonton Eskimos on July 23.
Cornerback Geoff Tisdale, who played three years with Hamilton before signing with the Stamps in the off-season, said Calgary will face a tough task against the Ticats, who have won three straight games after an 0-2 start.
“They’re coming in real hot, so we’ve got to be on our game,” said Tisdale, who’s surprised Calgary haven’t had success at home yet. “It’s actually kind of weird that you win on the road and you’re not doing so good at home. We’re trying to get our first home win right now. It’s a big game for us. We’ve got to come out and just stick to our game plan and we should be alright.”
Hamilton linebacker Markeith Knowlton liked hearing that the Stampeders are concerned about their home-field performance thus far.
“Sometimes, that can also play against you because you want it so bad,” Knowlton said. “Sometimes you tend to make mistakes because you try to do too much.”
Knowlton said that the Ticats have taken a simple approach during their three-game streak.
“We pretty much just worry about what we’re going to do and not them so much,” he said, adding that he expects the game to go right down to the wire. “It’ll be a good battle. It’s going to be like a boxing match — who can take the punches the longest and who’s going to give up first.”
Calgary coach and general manager John Hufnagel said the similarities between the teams would lead to a tight game.
“Both teams have a lot of skill and a lot of team speed,” Hufnagel said. “Both teams play an aggressive style on defence. Both teams make the defence defend a whole team using multiple personnel groupings and formations. I expect it’s going to be a barnburner being decided late in the fourth quarter.”
According to receiver Dave Stala, the Ticats have to stick with what’s been working over the past few weeks.
“We didn’t start off too well, but over the last few weeks our team’s been playing well,” said Stala, who’s tied for the league lead in touchdowns with five. “We’ve been putting up 30 points and I’ve been getting the bulk of the balls. I’m not complaining about that. If you’re a receiver you want that.
“We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and swagger. Guys are making plays.”
As for the Stamps, Burris said he’s working towards re-establishing Calgary’s offence as one of the best in the league, especially at home.
“It’s something that we’ve been working towards each and every week trying to get better,” Burris said. “We have to go out and win this game at home, because we’ve let our fans down twice. We’ve let ourselves down.
“Even though we’ve got a tough opponent coming in here (on Saturday), we’ve got to make sure we reassure this home-field advantage. It’s something that we haven’t been able to establish so far this year.”
