Justin Dunk
CFL.ca
For the second time in three years the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will call Moncton Stadium home for one game.
“When we played Calgary there in 2011, the crowd was fantastic, it was sold out, terrific energy in the stadium and you could tell everyone there was having a great time,” Ticats offensive lineman, Peter Dyakowski said.
Two years ago the Tabbies painted the Hub City Black and Gold with an impressive offensive display in a 55-34 win over the Calgary Stampeders.
“We’re undefeated, we’re batting 1,000 in Moncton. That’s a great trend,” Dyakowski said.
Not only did the seven-year CFL veteran enjoy winning in his only trip to Moncton, he made sure to take full advantage of the vast and incomparable seafood selection on the east coast.
“When I was out there in 2011, I had fish and chips on several occasions, I had lobster and sushi as well. Usually I’m a big lobster fan, but the lobster I had there was just okay. So, what I did was I bought lobsters, they were selling live lobsters at the airport for a pretty decent price, it was around eight bucks a pound,” Dyakowski explained.
“So I bought a few lobsters, brought them home and I cooked them up – I looked up the ‘Joy of Cooking’ lobster recipe online. They were perfect. So I had beautiful New Brunswick lobsters the next night when I got back to Hamilton.”
“I’m definitely going to bring some lobsters back with me again this time.”
Just like the great tasting seafood caught off the coast of Atlantic Canada, the Maritimes would like to catch a CFL franchise.
It has long been discussed, whether or not the area would be able to sustain and support a professional football team to the level required to be successful.
From his experience in 2011, Dyakowski believes it’s not even a conversation.
“You can tell the people out there really want to have a team one day – one day soon it seems like. Everyone I talked to was fired up about the idea of the CFL visiting and they’re really excited about the prospect of there being a permanent CFL club out in that direction,” he said.
“I get the feeling that if we had an Atlantic team it would get supported a lot like the Roughriders in Saskatchewan.”
Ticats rookie Neil King knows how well football is supported in the Maritimes. King played his university football for St. Mary’s and he’s going to have to come up with a bunch of tickets for his east coast friends.
“I have to get a double-digit amount of tickets and the number will keep growing until game day. I will try to get as many tickets as possible for all of the guys that are going to come,” King said. “Hopefully there is a bunch of nice vets that are feeling good and will give their tickets to the rookie.”
The SMU product, like Dyakowski, is looking forward to getting his fill of seafood on his trip back to Atlantic Canada.
“The sushi hasn’t been the same since I left the east coast,” King explained. “Seafood, sushi, oysters, you name it – it’s the best and freshest fish you can get.”
After the Ticats are done filling up on seafood to get all the energy they need to take on the Alouettes, Hamilton hopes their 2011 presence in the city of Moncton will help give them a distinct home field advantage.
“The crowd was definitely in our favour last time,” Dyakowski said. “Now this time around, with Montreal coming in, they are a little bit closer geographically and then we have all of the francophones in New Brunswick who might feel a bit more of an affinity for the Alouettes than for us.”
“But I would like to think that there will be some allegiance carrying over from the last time we were out the there, since we are technically the home team.”
Home crowd advantage or not, the Ticats are looking to keep their undefeated mark in Moncton in tact.
