The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have invitations, but will hardly be welcomed to the party with heartfelt hugs and kisses like soldiers returning from a tour of duty.
Yes, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are holding a huge Canada Day 150th celebration Saturday night at their spiffy new digs – the $278 million Mosaic Stadium – and have plans to christen the joint with style.
Namely, with a win over their prairie rivals in front of a sold-out crowd of 33,000-plus.
The Bombers, obviously, would love to spoil the party by figuratively sticking needles in all the balloons, guzzling straight from the punch bowl, snatching the best steak from the grill, ‘accidently’ busting a lamp or two and – most importantly – exiting Regina with a season-opening victory.
Some meticulously plan parties, others gleefully spoil them.
“That’s exactly it,” began Bombers running back Andrew Harris with a grin after practice Thursday. “This game is going to be nuts. Any time you have a game on a Saturday night in Regina, period… there will be a couple pops in those fans and it’s going to be crazy in there.
“And on top of that, for it to be Canada Day… well, there’s no more ‘Canadian’ a game than the Riders and the Blue Bombers. It’s going to be great. I can’t imagine how it’s going to be and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
A Bombers vs. Riders matchup, regardless of when or where, always comes with its accompanying juicy storylines. This one is no different… at least, from a Bombers perspective.
The Riders are 0-1 after last week’s 17-16 loss to the Montreal Alouettes and obviously don’t want to be in an 0-2 hole in an uber-competitive West Division to start the season.
Couple all that with the opening of the new building – on Canada Day, no less – and there should be cranked-up pressure for the home side.
And the Bombers? They just want to finally get at it after having the Week 1 bye.
“That’s the thing: this is our first opportunity to play and that’s what is most important,” began defensive end Jamaal Westerman. “We know about the rivalry between Winnipeg and Saskatchewan. We know about playing Canada Day and it’s a great way to open the season for us, especially with it being the 150th.
“We know about playing them in their new stadium and that the atmosphere is going to be crazy because their fans are just like our fans. They’re going to have a lot of adult beverages, especially with this being a night game, and will be fired up for this one.
“But for us, this is a chance for us to start the season the way we want and to be trending up. We know they’re a new team and that they’ve improved.”
“We want to start the season 1-0, regardless of who we’re playing and where we’re playing,” added veteran receiver Weston Dressler, a former Rider. “I don’t know if there’s any extra incentive because of the opponent or the stadium that it’s in… that wouldn’t change our mindset one bit, no matter who we’re playing.”
The Riders are expecting a sellout in their new building, which has a capacity of 33,000. The Bombers have spent the last week or so occasionally practicing with piped-in crowd noise to deal with that, but also know that part of handling Saturday night is to soak it all in and not shy away from the experience.
“We’ve got to overcome the noise and at the end of the day, once you get into the swing of things and into that zone, then all that other stuff just adds to the excitement,” said Harris.
“These kind of games, any game, you’ve got to live in the moment. You can’t let the game get too big. It’s like all the kids now, every time something happens they want to take their phones out to try and capture it. Sometimes you just need to live in the moment.”
“For us, we’ve just got to live in the moment Saturday night, embrace it and enjoy it.”
