Eagerly anticipating the final battle

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This article was published 19/11/2019 (2127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — Nic Demski is set to play in his first Grey Cup game since joining the Canadian Football League five years ago. It’s a moment the Winnipeg native has been dreaming of his entire life.

To have it finally come as a member of his hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers has made the experience all the more surreal for the 25-year-old, who played high school football at Oak Park and later honed his skills with the University of Manitoba Bisons.

“It’s crazy. I don’t think it has sunk in,” Demski said Tuesday evening, just moments removed from stepping off a chartered plane with the rest of his teammates and Bombers staff. “Grey Cup, at the start of every year since I’ve been playing in the CFL, that’s the No. 1 goal that I want to reach. I want to get here and then I want to win it. To have this chance, I really don’t want to waste it away.”

The West Division champion Bombers have officially touched down in Calgary for the start of what should be a dizzying few days of preparation. Distractions will be aplenty leading up to the championship game Sunday at McMahon Stadium against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, champions of the East Division. It will be an experience unlike any the Bombers have endured over their 18-game regular season and two rounds of playoffs.

There’s the many media appointments, coupled with on-field practices and off-field meetings. There’s also much to divert one’s attention, especially the spirited nightlife options magnified by the thousands of visitors flocking to the city to take in the big game and the festivities leading up to it.

“The message really is that we got to this point for a reason, and it’s because of the process, because of how hard we worked every single week. You don’t win the game on game day. You win the game on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4… there is nothing after this week,” said Bombers middle linebacker Adam Bighill, who won a Grey Cup in 2011 with the B.C. Lions. “Put every ounce of energy you have into preparing for this week. We have the opportunity to spend more time together, put as much time as we can into understanding our opponent and ourselves, and how we’re going to get this win.”

He added: “The experience is really being in a city full of energy that can’t wait to see a Grey Cup game. But it really comes down to the work, and not getting caught up in distractions.”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea has been here before, winning the Grey Cup three times as a player (1996, 1997, 2004) and again as a special-teams co-ordinator (2012), all as a member of the Toronto Argonauts. He understands the added attention given to players and has picked up ways over the years to help dim the lights when they get too bright.

“Just letting them know the way the schedule is going to play out through the week isn’t perfect, it’s OK. Because you’re not having your meetings right after practice, you’re not having meetings right before practice — it’s all disjointed,” O’Shea said. “But by the end of the day, they’re going to get all their work done and they’re going to know it.”

O’Shea has said many times over his six seasons in Winnipeg that he doesn’t like to meddle with the players, that he has a strong leadership group to set an example for the rest of the team. He plans to lean on those players this week, to make sure everything runs smoothly so he can focus more on game-planning against a Tiger-Cats team that finished a CFL-best 15-3. The Bombers finished the regular season with a 11-7 record.

“You’ve got to… the leaders got to step up and keep things going the right way and talk to the guys,” O’Shea said. “We’ve got a good group. They know what they’re here for.”

Bighill said the incentive for his players to be on their best behaviour leading up to the game is simply the chance to hoist a Grey Cup. He also noted that how focused they are in their preparation will likely determine how well they fare against Hamilton, a team that has shown all year it’s the one to beat.

The Bombers have yet to defeat the Tiger-Cats this season, falling twice by a combined 28 points. Hamilton defeated Winnipeg 23-15 at home in Week 7, and delivered a convincing 33-13 victory in the most recent meeting on Sept. 27 at IG Field.

“The underdog? I would say no,” Bighill said. “But the fact of the matter is we have not beaten Hamilton. They are the only team in this league we have not beat. They’re the most explosive offence, they have a great defence and they have a great special-teams unit. So we’ve got to go out and prove we are the best team in this league and we can take home the trophy.”

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It’s not like the Bombers have squeaked their way into the Grey Cup game, either, and there’s no doubt the Tiger-Cats have taken notice of the path they took to get here. After all, to claim the West Division title, the Bombers had to defeat the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, both in enemy territory.

Fittingly, the Bombers have been dubbed “road warriors” for the 2019 CFL playoffs, which has been a major rallying point for the Blue and Gold. It’s also why, despite being designated the home team in Sunday’s game, Winnipeg has elected to wear their white road jerseys instead of the blue ones they usually wear when they play away from IG Field.

“We’ve been winning on the road all through the playoffs,” Demski said. “We just want to keep that tradition alive.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.