\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"Heywood](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3997088_web1_2025012710018-20250127090136-67979ab6cb22b31decdc2624jpeg_271509-CPT638735693743118442..jpeg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
Heywood Yu \/ The Canadian Press Files<\/p>\n
Drew Wolitarsky was released by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after seven seasons with the team.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After waiting out free agency, he ultimately decided it was time to move on.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I just didn\u2019t feel like I had a deal on the table that I was happy with. I feel like it was just at that point where you\u2019re not feeling very wanted and, at the same time, you\u2019re just chasing something out of your pride rather than being real about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I talked about it with my family, many colleagues, many friends, and I just decided that, No. 1, I was going to retire but I really wanted to retire as a Bomber. That\u2019s just where I feel my heart was and that\u2019s where I put all my heart and soul into community-wise. I had so many friends out there\u2026 it just made sense. I wanted to go out as a Bomber.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to retire as a Bomber. That\u2019s just where I feel my heart was.\u201d<\/p>\n
His final campaign was hard for reasons much bigger than football.<\/p>\n
Wolitarsky signed with Hamilton because of Ted Goveia \u2014 who was newly hired by the Ticats after a decade as an assistant general manager in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201c(He) was like, \u2018Dude, I want you here in Hamilton. You\u2019re going to be my first signing as the GM.\u2019 I was excited about that,\u201d said Wolitarsky.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t THE CANADIAN PRESS\/CFL<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Former Hamilton Tiger-Cats general manager Ted Goveia.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n At the end of training camp, Goveia called Wolitarsky into his office and informed him that he was losing his battle with cancer. It was announced on Sept. 12, 2025 that Goveia had died \u2014 hours before the Ticats hosted the Bombers on \u2018Team Ted\u2019 night, which was scheduled as a way to honour his decades of service to Canadian football.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just kind of how the year was, man. It was just bad news after bad news after bad news,\u201d said Wolitarsky.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 We ended up winning the game for Ted. It was a beautiful night. But it was just a sad year. I went through a lot mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with everything he encountered in Hamilton, Wolitarsky is extremely grateful for everything the CFL, and Canada in general, gave him over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, I was just happy to get up there, have a job and play football. Now my wife and I are like \u2018Do we even want to go back to the U.S.?\u2019 And we\u2019re like \u2018I don\u2019t think we do,\u2019\u201d said Wolitarsky, who has two young kids with his wife Savannah.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just kind of how the year was, man. It was just bad news after bad news after bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, we\u2019ll see. So much has changed with both countries since 2017 and personally with a family and for safety and all these things, like there\u2019s something very attractive about Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n After a standout career at the University of Minnesota, it was brought to Wolitarsky\u2019s attention that he could be a national player in the CFL since his mother was born in Montreal. He got his Canadian citizenship after the 2017 CFL Draft, leading to the Bombers taking him in a supplemental draft. In 98 career games, the two-time Grey Cup champion had 227 receptions for 2,954 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns.<\/p>\n He was not just a fan-favourite, but also a locker room-favourite for being California-cool and having a magnetic personality.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Winnipeg, man. I really do. I\u2019d be so happy to just even come back and visit.\u201d<\/p>\n He also fully embraced Winnipeg, spending 2020 here despite the season being cancelled, and dove head first into the local music scene. After his release, Wolitarsky returned to the city and threw a farewell concert at The Osborne Taphouse.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Winnipeg, man. I really do. I\u2019d be so happy to just even come back and visit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m probably going to throw a little party again. Maybe do a little concert again and have everyone out again to just say thank you\u2026 It\u2019s such a small, big city. You know everybody, you love your neighbours, everyone\u2019s friendly, everyone\u2019s looking after each other. You kind of have the chip on the shoulder where everyone thinks where you live sucks, and you kind of love that because it keeps everyone out and you guys are all happy where you live.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t So what\u2019s next? Wolitarsky isn\u2019t entirely sure. Coaching, teaching, music, football, everything\u2019s on the table \u2014 except for a 9-to-5 desk job, that\u2019s not his shtick.<\/p>\n \u201cLife goes on, man. But there\u2019s still great things to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n