Homecoming added incentive for Durant
Lemar Durant sports a little extra motivation for Saturday night’s game at BC Place.
Not that he or any of the other Calgary Stampeders need it.
Not with first place in the CFL’s West Division and a bye into the West Final on the line.
But Durant enjoys the added adrenalin of playing in his hometown, as the 12-5 Stamps will do to round out the CFL regular season Saturday against the 9-8 B.C. Lions in Vancouver (8 p.m., TSN/770 CHQR).
“I feel that little extra boost,” said the 26-year old Stampeders receiver, a Vancouver native.
“I played in BC Place as a little kid probably five or six times. This is one of the games I look forward to every year. And especially now that we have to win to clinch first place and get that first-round bye, I think we’re just all amped up and ready to go.”
Yup, this one is certainly a biggie. The Stamps have stumbled down the stretch, having lost three straight games.
Along with it, they lost three chances to clinch top spot in the division and direct passage to the West Final.
So now, it’s come down to one final game. Beat the B.C. hosts Saturday and they host the West Final on Nov. 18 at McMahon Stadium.
Lose and they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West semifinal next Sunday at McMahon with Saskatchewan earning top spot.
So there’s plenty of get up and go attached to this regular-season finale for Durant & Co.
“And also I like playing indoors, especially at this time of the year,” said Durant with a big grin. “So that’s never a bad thing.” What’s been bad, however, is the last month of football for the Stampeders.
After nearly falling at the hands of the host Montreal Alouettes on Thanksgiving Monday, they’ve been winless in a trio of followup contests, leaving everybody to wonder what’s wrong with a club that’s used to having its way with all comers in the regular season.
That ‘everybody’ includes the players themselves.
“Everybody’s so used to Calgary just winning every game pretty much,” Durant said. “So when we lose, we take it hard. Like in the locker-room, everyone’s taking it to heart. All the games we’ve lost have been really close games that we could’ve won. It’s just a little tweak here and there could’ve changed everything and changed the momentum of the game.
“I think things will turn around this game.”
The overwhelming sentiment in the locker-room is not to push the panic button heading into Saturday’s tilt. “Not at all,” Durant said.
“That’s what coach is trying to stress, too, that we’ve got the playmakers and we’ve got the players to do what we need to do.
“So there’s no point in panicking or stressing out. Just go out and do what we can do and be who we are and things will work out.”
If they don’t work out, of course, it’s not the end of the world for the Stampeders.
“We’re in first or second place,” said Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell.
“If you’re panicking there, that’s a problem. I’m glad we’re not in fifth place, that’s when you panic.”
So the big question then is if there’s any change in mindset to go along with the motivation to end the slide and right the ship just before the playoffs?
“No,” said Stampeders defensive lineman James Vaughters. “More or less we’ve been in the same position for the last three weeks, so we approach every game the same way. We just hope to get a different result this time.
“No reason to panic.” None whatsoever.
STRANGE DAYS
These are strange days, indeed, for the suddenly stuck-on-12-wins Stampeders. Perhaps Thursday was the most bizarre, though.
“We’re working hard,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “But we had some weird things happen in practice — things that haven’t happened all year.”
On one kickoff attempt, the ball fell off the tee and was subsequently kicked into a teammate’s helmet. No damage done, thankfully. And on a couple of Rene Paredes field-goal tries, the pigskin clanked off the uprights.