Isaac Owusu
Ticats.ca Staff
The Tiger-Cats are set to return to their home city after a 637 day absence.
It has been one year, eight months and 29 days since October 27, 2012, when the Tiger Cats prevailed 28-18 over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Ivor Wynne Stadium. That victory marked the team’s final game in the ‘Steel City’, before departing to Guelph, where they played their entire 2013 season at Alumni Stadium.
On Saturday, the Ticats host the expansion Ottawa Redblacks at McMaster University’s Ron Joyce Stadium.
Bakari Grant played in the most recent regular season game in Hamilton and is eager to once again suit up in front of a Hamilton crowd.
“It feels good. It has been over a year that we’ve played a game in Hamilton, so getting to play in front of our fans in this city is huge,” he said.
“It’ll be a good feeling to have them behind us,” he added.
Grant, who snagged in three catches for 87 yards and a touchdown in the Ivor Wynne finale, currently leads the team with 10 catches for 76 yards.
The time being away from the home crowd made him understand how important those fans are.
“They just have a genuine love for the team and genuine love for the tradition of Hamilton. I think it takes a year or two to really understand what that means to the fans and what it means to the city, but it’s amazing to have that kind of support and those kind of fans cheering us on.”
This game also serves as an extra homecoming for defensive lineman Brian Bulcke, who signed with the Tiger-Cats in 2013 but will play his first regular season game on Hamilton soil on Saturday. After opening the season with three straight games on the road for the first time in franchise history, the veteran defensive tackle acknowledges that it will be nice to line up as the home team this weekend.
“Just the fact that we’re playing at home feels so good,” he stated
“I know a whole bunch of the guys, especially the Canadians on the team, we have families coming to the game and playing for the fans and families makes it even more special,” he added.
Bulcke, an important piece to the CFL’s second ranked-defence, has eight tackles along with a sack. He is confident that having the fan base behind the team is a difference maker.
“Saturday is going to be something extremely special in the CFL. I’ve got proof in the sense when we were in Toronto last year for Eastern Final… there were probably 20,000 Ticats fans in the stands. I actually remember pointing at them and getting pumped up, and they were so loud that Toronto how to switch to a silent count in their own stadium!”
That says it all. So if we could just take that enthusiasm and bring it back to the city on Sunday it’s going to be awesome,” he said.
All season, Head Coach Kent Austin has preached to the team that that all games are important, regardless of location, but for Bulcke having the crowd behind them for the first time this year is very significant.
“For us it means everything,” he stated.
“We had an off season event where there was probably four or five thousand fans that came and showed their support for the team at the airport, and that was in the off season. So I know that being here means so much to the city and that feedback is going to be awesome,” he said.
