B.C. Lions: These guys are ready to win a championship: Darnell Sankey

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B.C. Lions coach Buck Pierce’s team opens the regular season Saturday with a visit to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

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Published Jun 11, 2026 • 4 minute read

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Sankey Linebacker Darnell Sankey chases the play during Montreal Alouettes training camp in Saint-Jerome, north of Montreal, on May 15, 2025. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal GazetteArticle content

Darnell Sankey isn’t shy.

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“I like the hunger here. I feel like these guys are ready to win a championship and I don’t say that lightly,” the new B.C. Lions’ linebacker explained after practice one day earlier this week when asked about why he signed with the club as a free agent in December.

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“This organization has been good, but, for that lack of a better term, it hasn’t been good enough, because we haven’t won (a title). We’ve been great, but we haven’t been exceptional. We need to be exceptional. That is the goal.”

Aiming at exceptionality begins in earnest Saturday, when the Lions open the 2026 CFL regular season with a visit to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Lions took steps forward last season in the inaugural year under the regime led by general manager Ryan Rigmaiden and head coach Buck Pierce. They won seven straight games before falling 24-21 to the Roughriders in Regina in the Western Final.

B.C. comes into the year with the longest, active, Grey Cup-game-appearance drought in the circuit. They haven’t been to the league’s big dance since 2011, when they beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 34-23 at B.C. Place for the title. Only the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who last won the crown in 1999, have a longer current string without a league championship, and they’ve lost in the final on four occasions since 2013.

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That’s just one of the trends to track with the Leos this season. Here’s some more numbers to know:

51: Days between the start of the CFL season and the Lions’ first game of the campaign at B.C. Place.

The World Cup coming to town has meant that the Lions have had to vacate their normal home digs. Their first game at B.C. Place this time around comes in Week 8, when they host the Toronto Argonauts on July 25.

B.C.’s first seven weeks of the schedule includes two byes, three road games and two games as the home team based out of the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.

Rigmaiden says that the time in Kelowna offers the roster an extra chance to bond together. And team president Duane Vienneau has headed up organizing these neutral-site events for both the league (games in the Maritimes) and the Lions (games on Vancouver Island), so this is far from a new phenomenon for those in charge.

Apple Bowl seating capacity is listed at 2,254 on the Tourism Kelowna website. Vienneau said earlier this week that they would like to bring in enough temporary seating to be at 18,000, and possibly pushing 20,000, by that first game there against the Calgary Stampeders on June 27. The Lions also face the Edmonton Elks at the Apple Bowl on July 4.

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5,290: Yards that Nathan Rourke passed for last season, establishing a record for a Canadian quarterback in the CFL.

Rourke is coming off a campaign where he won the league’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian honours. He’s in his prime at age 28. And you wonder how much better the entire offence will be in its second year under Pierce.

Through all this, Rourke seems more and more comfortable all the time as the face of the franchise, the leader of the team.

“He’s always putting in the extra work. He’s always in the weight room, always doing extra sprints,” second-year safety Jackson Findlay said. “It’s good to see that from your quarterback and your leader.

“You feel it, for sure. You feel that he’s one of the hearts of our team. His commitment to winning that Grey Cup is really motivating all of us to be as good as we can be.”

Russ Jackson’s 3,641 yards passing for Ottawa in 1969 had been the former high-water mark for Canadian pivots in the league. Rourke, who was born in Victoria and raised in Oakville, Ont., also threw for 31 touchdowns and then ran for another 10 TDs last season.

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13: Combined days that Sankey (eight) and defensive lineman Casey Sayles (five) were out of work in the CFL before signing with the Lions as free agents.

The Montreal Alouettes released Sankey, a two-time-reigning East Division all-star, on Dec. 11, and cited that they were looking to change the roster ratio in the process. The Ticats released Sayles, 30, who was a 2025 East all-star, on Jan. 8, looking to create some salary cap space. Rigmaiden moved quickly, and made two key additions to his defence before the official opening of free agency on Feb. 10.

“There were a lot of factors,” Sankey, 31, said in regards to where he wound up signing. “But my No. 1 factor is to win.”

2: Times that Findlay has had an espresso martini out of the Stanley Cup.

Findlay is from North Vancouver, his dad Anthony is a strength and conditioning coach and Anthony’s clients over the years have included Sam Reinhart, 30, the Florida Panthers’ forward from West Vancouver.

The families have remained close. Findlay has been a part of Reinhart’s day with the Cup after Florida championships in 2024 and 2025, and took part in that very unique celebratory sip.

“I owe him a couple of drinks out of the Grey Cup. That’s the goal this year, winning the Grey Cup. We’ve got big hopes this year. I’m really excited to see what we can do on the field,” Findlay, 22, said.

SEwen@postmedia.com

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