West heavyweights set for slugfest Saturday in Calgary

CALGARY — It’s the third instalment of a compelling trilogy.

One game separates the 11-3 Calgary Stampeders and 10-4 Edmonton Eskimos in the West Division standings as they prepare to meet Saturday in Calgary at 4 p.m. Calgary ground out a batten-down-the-hatches 16-7 decision on Labour Day, while the Eskimos ended a 12-win run of southern dominance via a 27-16 rematch conquest five days later.

A Stampeder victory Saturday translates into a two-game advantage with three to play — so consider the first-place case closed. An Eskimo win and the green-and-gold have their noses in front on the head-to-head tiebreak and therefore in control of the bye and subsequent division final home-field advantage for a trip to the Grey Cup in November.

For public consumption, anyway, the Stamps were all playing coy on the eve of renewed hostilities, adopting a strictly-business, just-another-day-at-theoffice demeanour.

Adding yet another subplot to Saturday, John Hufnagel could nail down the 100th win of a decorated CFL coaching career.

“I’m more interested in getting a lot more wins than 100,” Hufnagel said. “How many do we need to accomplish our goal?

“I’m in the same situation as a player is — you can have some accolades and good things happen to you during the season but bottom line is what happens at the end of the season.

“And did you earn the right to be called a champion.”

While not guaranteeing anything, Saturdays’ Showdown for the Summit at McMahon could go a long way in that quest.

So go on, buy into the justanother-day-at-the-office party line they all seem to be selling.

Yeah. Right. As if.