Sitting just one win away from a berth in the Grey Cup game, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers returned to the practice field after two days off.
The Bombers have started to prepare for the all-or-nothing West Final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday.
It’s just the third time these two teams have met in the West Final and the first since 1972. The Riders eliminated the Bombers in the West Final in both 1966 and 1972.
The Bombers also lost both their games in Regina this season, but this time are hoping to spoil the party with quarterback Zach Collaros getting a shot at his ex-team after spending a season and a half in the Riders’ green and white.
“I don’t think I’d be human if I didn’t say there was more motivation,” Collaros said.
“It’s a big time rivalry obviously between Labour Day and the Banjo Bowl. So there’s that factored in, with being the West Final, it’s a game of pretty big magnitude.”
“Every week it ramps up more and more. Every week, it just gets bigger and bigger,” ” linebacker Adam Bighill said. “You’re going to be in that stadium, and it’s going to be as loud as it’s ever been, and that’s what you live for.”
“It’s gonna be nuts, gonna be nuts,” Andrew Harris said.
“We all know how passionate those fans are, and we’re in their way right now to go to a Grey Cup, so it’s going to be absolutely chaos in there.
“There’s no better feeling than going into an atmosphere like that, and shutting up their fans, and coming out with a W.”
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Quarterback Chris Streveler was on the field with the rest of his teammates on Wednesday, but didn’t take part in any drills.
He played a huge role in their win in the West Semifinal against the Calgary Stampeders, and it’s hard to imagine they’ll be able to keep him off the field on Sunday.
Head Coach Mike O’Shea called it a “vet day” for Streveler, but there’s no question his gutsy performance on one leg served as an inspiration for his teammates.
“He’s a tough SOB man,” Harris said. “He plays with a certain attitude and a certain fire. It’s definitely inspiring, and great to be around, and great to have a teammate like that and definitely someone you can feed off of.”
“He’s just a gladiator on the field,” offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld said. “A guy who’s willing to put his body on the line for the success of the play for one yard, for 20-yards, for a touchdown, for whatever is needed — he’s a guy who’s willing to go out there and do it.”
It’s the second straight year the Bombers have advanced to the division final after they knocked off the Riders in last year’s West Semifinal.
They lost by eight points to the Stamps in last season’s West Final. Not that they need any extra motivation for a game as crucial as this, but players still remember the feeling after having their season ended just one game shy of the Grey Cup.
“I think it’s a little bit in the back of our heads,” Neufeld said. “Just knowing what that feeling was like, but we’re just so focused on the things Saskatchewan is doing, and the things we’re going to have to do to beat them. That’s our main motivation.”
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“I just know how I felt after that game in Calgary last year, and I don’t want that feeling again,” Harris said. “For myself, it’s relaying that emotion, and that feeling that I had to everyone else that might not have been in here.
“Just re-iterating how important, and how big, and how special this is.”
Kickoff in Regina is set for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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