The long snapper\/place kicker duo spent four seasons together at Wilfrid Laurier (2021-24), and now the Yates Cup champions have reunited at Stampeders training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve talked about throughout our career at Laurier together,\u201d said MacGougan, \u201cHow fun it would be to maybe carry it forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know each other really well, get along really well, the chemistry is there so it\u2019s awesome to have him here.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/macgougan-hodge-laurier-800x450.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The special-teams pair took the field together for the first time as CFL teammates in last Monday\u2019s pre-season opener.<\/p>\n
Hodge went one-for-one on field goal attempts, nailing a 43-yard kick in the fourth quarter to extend the Stampeders lead over the Riders.<\/p>\n
After the play, Hodge and MacGougan quickly reunited for a celebration they had originally created in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cJason and I have a bunch of different cellys,\u201d Hodge admitted. \u201cWe talked before the game and when we were at Laurier we\u2019d go \u2018Okay, if it\u2019s inside 40 yards we do this celly, if it\u2019s insid 40 to 50 we do this, 50-plus we do a different one\u2019 and that\u2019s the one we did in college from 40, 40-plus so we thought we\u2019d roll with it here as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made that our second or third year, and thought we\u2019d show them off again,\u201d added MacGougan. \u201cIt was a lot of fun and really nostalgic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The journey for the two Golden Hawk alums continues in training camp.<\/p>\n
MacGougan enters his second camp in Calgary, this time as the sole long snapper on the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came into camp a little bit more confident, obviously having a bit more experience,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to come in and know a lot of the guys, know the system Coach (special-teams coordinator Craig Dickenson) wants to run, so it makes it a lot easier coming in the second time around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hodge begins his first camp with the Stamps after spending time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts last year before heading back for one final season in Waterloo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been nice to be in one place and not moving around all the time,\u201d said Hodge. \u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed that part of it, making some connections with the guys here. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/macgougan-hodge-thumb-2-800x450.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old joins veteran Rene Paredes, who is entering his 15th season, as well as global kicker Jude McAtamney who was drafted sixth overall by Calgary in this year\u2019s CFL Global Draft. The Northern Ireland native has prior pro experience with the New York Giants.<\/p>\n
As Hodge competes for his spot on the team\u2019s final roster, he\u2019s been able to turn to MacGougan for guidance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great to lean on him,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a full-circle moment. We played for four years at Laurier and lived together for three years so it\u2019s been pretty sweet to be back living here and playing with him again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stampeders have their final pre-season outing against the Edmonton Elks on Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m. MT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spoken into existence. Jason MacGougan and Dawson Hodge always talked about playing together in the pros. The long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-693599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}