Outrage back in Rider Nation over losing
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| Cody Fajardo (#7) sets to throw a pass in 2019. |
Judging by the reaction to the Roughriders 22-19 setback to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday night at Mosaic Stadium, it appears the answer is no.
After jumping out to a 3-0 start, the Roughriders have lost four of their last six games. Fans consumed by ragehol have returned too.
The Roughriders sit second in the CFL’s West Division with a 5-4, but the hold on second spot is far from secure. The British Columbia Lions sit third at 4-4 and the Stampeders sit in fourth place with a 4-5 mark.
Having posted two straight wins over the Roughriders, the Stampeders have already claimed the seasonal series between the two clubs and hold the head-to-head standings tiebreaker.
With the way the records are shaping up in the East Division, it is conceivable the Roughriders could miss the playoff all together.
When the losing happens, the members of Rider Nation point the fingers in all directions. It is the fault of vice president of football operations and general manager Jeremy O’Day, head coach and special teams coordinator Craig Dickenson, franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo, the offensive line, the receivers who aren’t catching passes and the defence that gives up big plays at inopportune times.
The misfortune is a team effort.
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| Roughriders HC Craig Dickenson works the sidelines in 2019. |
A year ago at this time, a lot of different public health orders were in place across Canada to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At the moment, the world is still firmly in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, but vaccines have allowed sporting events to be held in front of full capacity venues at a large number of places in North America.
The CFL wasn’t able to navigate the public health orders in 2020 and didn’t hit the field at all. A year ago at this time, there was a lot of speculation that the CFL might have played its last game and might become a pandemic casualty.
There was a lot of speculation that the financial losses the CFL’s nine teams would incur would end the league.
There were people who wondered if you would get to see a Roughriders game again at Mosaic Stadium.
For the longest time, the Bombers 33-12 Grey Cup victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2019 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alta., stood as the last game played in the CFL.
As the calendar turned to 2021, news of team financial losses for 2020 came in.
In late March of this year, the community owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who won the Grey Cup in 2019, announced a loss of $6,982,217 for 2020. In May, the community owned Edmonton Elks announced a loss of $7.1-million for 2020.
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| Dan Clark calls signals at centre in 2019. |
It is believed the six other CFL franchises posted bigger financial losses for 2020 than the three community owned teams did.
Somehow, the CFL returned.
On August 5 at IG Field in Winnipeg, the host Blue Bombers downed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 19-6 before 29,376 spectators to open the CFL regular season.
I personally thought it was a miracle the CFL returned to play.
One day later on August 6, the Roughriders returned to a sellout crowd of 33,350 spectators at Mosaic Stadium to down the visiting Lions 33-29.
Most in Rider Nation savoured this day as a sign that things were returning more to normal.
It was safe to say the fans were just happy to see the Roughriders play a game again.
Another normal also returned, as fans went crazy over analyzing and cutting down the team when losses started to happen.
That was pretty evident in the aftermath of Saturday’s setback to the Stampeders.
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| Gainer the Gopher makes his rounds in 2019. |
On the bright side, attendance was still listed as a solid 27,964 to see the Roughriders fall to the Stampeders on Saturday.
For myself personally, I give the Roughriders a mulligan for everything that happens this season. They’ve already played nine more games than I thought they would play.
For a half glass full argument, at least Rider Nation has a team to complain about. That is better than not being able to complain, because the team ceased to exist.
Raiders stumble out of the gate, other
thoughts
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| The Raiders have stumbled to an 0-4 start this season. |
After topping the WHL regular season standings in 2018-19 and winning the league championship, the Raiders have stumbled out of the games to start the 2021-22 campaign dropping their first four games getting outscored 21-5 in the process.
On Saturday, the Raiders dropped an 8-0 decision to the Winnipeg Ice at the Wayne Fleming Arena in the Manitoba capital. The Ice, who improved to 4-0, appear to be the powerhouse team for the current campaign.
Right-winger Connor McClennon had a hat trick for the Ice, while centre Matthew Savoie had three assists. Savoie appears ready to take on star status fitting the fact he was selected first overall by the Ice in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, which is now known as the WHL Prospects Draft.
Jakin Smallwood had a pair of goals for the Ice, while Mikey Milne, Conor Geekie and Zachary Benson had singles.
Ronin Geraghty went the distance in goal for the Raiders turning away 26 shots. Gage Alexander turned away all 13 shots he faced to pick up the shutout for the Ice.
The Raiders have had to deal with the fact they have had guys away at NHL training camps. At the moment, they are still missing star defenceman Kaiden Guhle, who is still at camp with the Montreal Canadiens.
By the sound of media reports coming out of Montreal, Guhle is having a great camp with the Canadiens. Due to the fact Guhle is 19-years-old, he has to be returned to the major junior ranks unless he cracks the Canadiens NHL roster.
I still would like to see what the Raiders would look like with Guhle and Nolan Allan as a top defensive pairing.
If the season turns into a reloading campaign, general manager Curtis Hunt and head coach Marc Habscheid are the right guys to have in their respective places to guide the club through rough waters.
They are both experienced hockey leaders who have seen and dealt with all types of scenarios before. The Raiders will always be in good hands with Hunt and Habscheid on board.
During my 10 seasons covering the Medicine Hat Tigers for the Medicine Hat News from 2004 to 2014, I saw how key it was to have good people in those leadership positions as Willie Desjardins and Shaun Clouston ensured the Tigers kept being an elite franchise over that time period.
After the Raiders won the WHL title in the 2018-19 campaign, they captured a banner for finishing first in the East Division in a 2019-20 that got cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
They finished fourth in the seven-team WHL East Division bubble last season.
With the way junior hockey cycles go, it is hard to avoid the reload year after having highly successful seasons.
- The Saskatoon Blades have started out 2-1 thanks to a familiar sight. Veteran 19-year-old left-winger Kyle Crnkovic has three goals and two assists, and veteran centre Tristen Robins, who will turn 19-years-old in November, has one goal and four assists.
- Can you see the Calgary Stampeders running the table to win their last five straight games to running their current winning streak to seven games and finish the regular season 9-5 after a 2-5 start? If any team can do that in the CFL, it is the Stampeders quarterbacked by Bo Levi Mitchell.
- Could this be a big year for football in Winnipeg? The Blue Bombers sit first overall in the CFL with an 8-1 record, and the University of Manitoba Bisons football team has started the U Sports regular season 2-0 to sit first in the Canada West Conference. If both the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup end up residing in Winnipeg in December, you can bet you will hear all about it.
- The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Regina Rams have both started their U Sports regular seasons with 1-1 records. It would be fun if one of those teams could have a special campaign in 2021 with a Vanier Cup win.
- One of the most fun moments this season might occur if Saskatoon Blades general manager Colin Priestner makes a visit to Prince Albert in the role as president and governor of the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush. In branding themselves as Saskatchewan’s team, the Rush like visiting communities across the province, and I suspect Priestner would be able to ham it up with Raiders fans being on the same side when it comes to the Rush.
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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