Rigaux twins take top spots in varsity girls hockey coaches’ poll

There’s not much to choose between Delainey and Vayda Rigaux. Glenlawn’s terrific tandem — identical 15-year-old twins — have been shredding the Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League this winter. Delainey, a right-handed centre, led all league scorers during the regular season with 33 goals and 49 points in 22 games while Vayda, a left-handed blue-liner, was second in scoring with 14 goals and 45 points in 22 games. Vayda’s total was 10 points clear of the rest of the league. In a tight race, Delainey edged her sister by a single vote in the annual Free Press varsity girls […]

Bisons top Cascades, halfway to national championship berth

Light Uchechukwu hammered 13 kills and Ella Gray supplied 12 more to lead the University of Manitoba Bisons to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-16) sweep of the Fraser Valley Cascades in Canada West women’s volleyball action at Investors Group Athletic Centre Thursday night.

News from Edmonton not the shot in the arm the CFL is looking for

TORONTO — You know things aren't going well for the Canadian Football League when the biggest news of the week happens after the weekend's games have concluded.

Rather than focusing on how the Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-0) entered their bye week as the only remaining unbeaten team this year, or the Calgary Stampeders (1-2) upsetting the Montreal Alouettes (1-1) to prevent going 0-3 for the first time in nearly 20 years, all eyes are instead on the Edmonton Elks (1-2).

Edmonton rocked the CFL world when they announced late Sunday that several players had tested positive for COVID-19, with the league then making the decision to cancel their Week 4 matchup against the Toronto Argonauts scheduled for Thursday night.

"This is in keeping with the standard of care for COVID-19 and professional sport," the league's statement read in part. "It also reflects our desire to put the health and safety of our players, coaches and staff — as well as public health — above all other considerations."

Ice-cold cameo for red-hot Hellebuyck

Connor Hellebuyck looks to be on a Vezina Trophy-winning pace early in 2019-20 but a cameo appearance in Winnipeg's 5-1 triumph over the visiting Detroit Red Wings Tuesday was probably his most uncomfortable performance of the season thus far.

The 26-year-old goaltender went in cold off the bench when starter Laurent Brossoit required some repair work on his pads. The stint lasted 1:09 on the game clock, just long enough to face two shots, one of which found the back of the net.

It was the briefest appearance of Hellebuyck's career, with the previous low coming during his rookie season, lasting all of 4:33 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 4, 2016. He stopped three of six shots in that one.

Did he have much time to think about his predicament against the Wings?

Blue Bombers back home with Grey Cup

Hundreds of Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans cheered the arrival of the Grey Cup championship winning team on Monday at the Richardson International Airport.

The Bombers' chartered flight from Calgary touched down in Winnipeg shortly before 3 p.m.

Fans' chants of 'Here we go Bombers' and 'O'Shea' accented by megaphones, cowbells, and horns filled the arrivals area in anticipation of the team descending the escalators to the main concourse.

Meanwhile, a victory parade is being planned for Tuesday, a club spokesman said; details will be announced later today.

Blue & Gold legends Cameron, Kennerd recall glory days

SATURDAY Blue Bombers Hall of Fame punter Bob Cameron reached out to the team’s current punter and kicker, Justin Medlock.

Cameron, a three-time Grey Cup champion during his 23-year career in the Blue and Gold, sent Medlock a picture of himself, Rod Hill and Trevor Kennerd celebrating with the silver mug in 1988.

“I said, ‘This is what you have to look forward to. So, put the hammer down.’ He texted me back saying, ‘Thanks, we will.’ That was pretty neat,” said Cameron, who made the trip to Calgary for Sunday’s Grey Cup.

Less than 24 hours later, Medlock would have an opportunity to take a similar picture and send it back to Cameron as the Bombers dominated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to end the team’s 28-year Grey Cup drought.

Celebration at long last

After 29 years of waiting, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are finally Grey Cup champions again.

Thrill of victory for a generation of Bombers fans

CALGARY -- It was the moment an entire generation of long-suffering sports fans have been dreaming of, one that many thought might never come. But all that waiting, all that worrying, came to a cathartic end on Sunday night as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ended their Grey Cup drought in dominating fashion.

That's right, the local football club is the best in the land for the first time since 1990, a rather foreign concept that's going to take a little getting used to around these parts. After all, disappointment has become embedded in our collective DNA. We're the lovable losers everyone feels sorry for, the little engine that couldn't.

But rather than the typical agony of defeat, the Bombers and their supporters are feeling something new right now -- the thrill of victory. And what a scene it was following the 33-12 triumph, from the field at McMahon Stadium here in Calgary all the way back to the basements, bars and streets back home in Winnipeg.

You couldn't have scripted a better plot.

Fans euphoric with Bombers Grey Cup win

CALGARY—Brady Friesen knew he was going to cry once the game was over.

He knew he was going to weep from the second he left Steinbach for Calgary to cheer the Blue Bombers on in the Grey Cup. He always knew he was going to cry when the final whistle blew, but he wasn’t sure whether tears of joy or sorrow would be running down his cheeks.

Then the clock started running down in the fourth quarter, with Winnipeg leading 33-12. Finally, it read all zeroes, giving the Bombers their first Grey Cup win in 29 years, and giving the 24-year-old Friesen the first chance he’s gotten to feel the euphoria of watching his team win it all.

“I’m bawling,” he said, as shreds of blue and gold fell from the sky and sprinkled across the field at McMahon Stadium. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that confetti fly.”

Bombers fans take to the streets in celebration

Popping champagne and blasting Queen's We Are The Champions over a speaker, Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans gathered on Portage and Main as their 29-year Grey Cup drought ended.

“We waited 29 years to celebrate something this big,” said Jeff Baquiran. “I’m long overdue to run up and down Portage and Main and celebrate a Grey Cup win.”

Police closed the intersection as fans were singing and cheering on their way over. Cars honks echoed through the streets with drivers laying on the horn in celebration.

People bunched together, began to sing the O Canada as loud as they could, followed with chants of “We won the cup.”

Big Blue bliss: Bombers end 29-year Grey Cup drought

CALGARY — After 29 years of waiting, after 348 months of heartbreak, after 1,513 weeks of despair and after 10,591 days of doubt, this sentence can finally be written: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are Grey Cup champions.

Alas, the almost three-decades-long championship drought is no more and the Bombers are finally at the top of the Canadian Football League castle. And there they were Sunday night, celebrating like kings near the south end zone of McMahon Stadium, crying and cheering after a dominating 33-12 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup.

“It’s unreal. It’s amazing. It’s a dream come true and you set out to set goals and do things and, when your hard work is rewarded, it’s an amazing feeling,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said after the game, while blue and gold confetti rained down from the sky. “We just wanted to win this game. We’ve been underdogs all year, counted out all year and any year, for myself, I’ve been counted out and disrespected and this is just a dream come true.”

Few could have predicted such a convincing end to what had been an up-and-down 2019 season for the Bombers. They started the year with five straight wins and then puttered down the stretch, losing seven of their next 12 games to drop from first to third in the West Division.

Emotions run high among Grey Cup fans at tailgate party

CALGARY — Steinbach's Brady Friesen could hardly wait to get to McMahon Stadium Sunday.

The opening kickoff of the 107th Grey Cup, featuring the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, wasn't set to happen until 5 p.m. CST, but Friesen arrived at McMahon Stadium just before 9:30 a.m. on the day his team might finally break its 30-year championship drought.

"It's been such a long drought, and I knew I had to take in the full day," said Friesen, 24, wearing a Milt Stegall jersey.

"(In 1990) I wasn't even born yet," he said. "There's a whole generation of Manitobans who have no idea what it feels like to win the Grey Cup, and I'm probably going to burst into tears if that happens."