It’s an unlikely rivalry, but it’s the hottest in football
The Stampeders have found one equal, and it’s the team that won the Grey Cup
Is it a rivalry? You bet it’s CALGARY a rivalry.
While geography and division makeup might give the Calgary Stampeders more traditional rivalries with the likes of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Edmonton Eskimos, recent history has put the Ottawa Redblacks right up there at the top of the list.
A loss in the Grey Cup will do that. So will having three of four games go to overtime.
“Out of our games, it’s the third straight game we played them,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said, referring to last year’s Grey Cup and then the Week 1 opener in the nation’s capital that ended in a 31-31 draw. “Any time you look at a hockey series, basketball series … when you play a team over and over, you obviously get a little more rivalry and a little more dislike for that team.
“We understand they’re a good organization, a good team … I knew it was going to be a good challenge playing them back-to-back. They have a lot of veterans over there, so we’ve got them at home.
“Let’s see if we can take care of business.”
It should be noted that nobody in the Stampeders organization says they’re using the rivalry as extra motivation heading into Thursday’s home opener at McMahon Stadium. They’re professionals, and the Stamps say they’re motivated to compete to the best of their abilities regardless of who is lining up on the other side of the ball.
It’s just that these Redblacks games are starting to matter in a way nobody would have believed back in the early days of 2014, before professional football returned to eastern Ontario.
But over the last 12 months, the Redblacks have proved to be a major thorn in the Stampeders’ side. The Stamps have steamrolled through every other team the CFL has thrown at them, but they’ve emerged from their last four games against the Redblacks with one win, one very big championship loss and two ties.
“I think it’s an early rivalry as far as age, just because Ottawa just now coming back (into the CFL),” Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said.
“But I think it’s one that’s going to live on for a long time, just because of the history behind the Grey Cup and the overtime games happening consistently.
“We’ve done pretty well against them at home, but that was different teams, so right now, it’s finding out who these Calgary Stampeders are versus who those Ottawa Redblacks are.”
Mitchell’s not wrong to point out that the Stampeders have done well at home against the Redblacks. The one time the teams played at McMahon Stadium last year, the Stampeders dominated and came away with a 48-23 win, and Calgary remains the one CFL city where the Redblacks franchise hasn’t won a game since they entered the league.
While that might suggest the Stampeders should be considered favourites heading into Thursday’s Week 2 matchup, the home team will be fielding a beat-up squad and are considerably younger and less experienced than they expected to be heading into the season.
The Redblacks also underwent a makeover in the off-season and have been repeating the old mantra about 2017 being a new season and a new team.
But even among the newcomers in Calgary, the rivalry feels very real.
“I definitely know about the rivalry,” Stampeders rookie receiver Marken Michel said. “I can see it in the guys’ faces and how hard they come out and practise. I can tell what it means to them.”
Having two games in six days to start off the season has added a little fuel to the rivalry’s fire, but in a way, it’s also disappointing — at least to Stampeders defensive back Josh Bell. Both teams are still finding their feet this early in the season, after all, and once they’re firing on all cylinders, they won’t have another chance to measure themselves against their rivals unless they meet in the Grey Cup.
“I’m sick of playing them — that’s what I’m sick of,” Bell said. “I think the schedule is kind of crazy. You’d like to play this team again, a rematch you can highlight maybe six or seven weeks later.
“They’re the defending Grey Cup champions and we just tied them. Now you can come back and you really want to beat them at home.
“But that’s a good team — a very, very good team. It shows every time we play them, and it shows how good a team we are.”
I think it’s one that’s going to live on for a long time … right now, it’s finding out who these Calgary Stampeders are versus who those Ottawa Redblacks are.