{"id":727775,"date":"2026-06-10T16:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727775\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:00:15","slug":"game-preview-2-blue-bombers-vs-tiger-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727775\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview | #2: Blue Bombers vs. Tiger-Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an electricity and excitement which comes with every home opener, and it has been coursing through the Winnipeg Blue Bombers locker room over the last few days like a thunderbolt heaved by Zeus himself.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers, 1-0 after last Friday\u2019s dramatic 30-28 win over the Stampeders in Calgary, are on Manitoba soil to host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Thursday night. And inside the clubhouse there has been a giddy anticipation as we inch closer to another Princess Auto Stadium sellout, which would push the consecutive capacity crowd streak to a franchise record 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be real \u2014 it\u2019s going to be a sell out,\u201d said running back Brady Oliveira with a wide grin. \u201cWinnipeg fans will never let us down. I\u2019m expecting another sell out.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, Week 1 is exciting, and we started out on the road, and it was a great way to get the season started off in the win column. But there\u2019s nothing like opening night at home. Again, we\u2019re all expecting a sold-out crowd at Princess Auto Stadium, so we\u2019re really jacked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BLUE BOMBERS (1-0) vs. TIGER-CATS (0-1)
Kickoff: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. CDT; Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg
TV\/Streaming: TSN, RDS2, CBS SportsNetwork; CFL+<\/a>
Radio: 680 CJOB (pre-game: 5:13 p.m. CDT); Play-by-play: Derek Taylor\/analyst: Doug Brown
Weather forecast: Light rain in the afternoon; chance of shower in the evening, high of 16C
FYI: Guaranteed $250K 50\/50; Big Sugar at halftime; Chris Streveler Retirement Party
PlayNow odds: The Blue Bombers are favoured by three.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s dominance at home over the last few years is a very real thing. The Blue Bombers had the CFL\u2019s best home record in 2025 at 7-2 and have posted eight consecutive winning seasons at home since 2017. Over that span, Winnipeg is a remarkable 56-14 at home, by far the best mark in the league. That total is boosted to 60-15 including playoffs since \u201917.<\/p>\n

Consider this list of home records \u2014 and the winning percentage \u2014 over the last eight seasons, for comparison:<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers: 56-14; .800
\nArgonauts: 43-27; .614
\nStampeders: 42-27-1; .607
\nRoughriders: 42-28; .600
\nLions: 39-31; .557
\nTiger-Cats: 38-32; .543
\nAlouettes: 33-37; .471
\nElks: 28-42; .400
\nRedBlacks: 23-45-2; .343<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t think those numbers aren\u2019t noticed by the visitors \u2014 or the environment created by all that winning \u2014 here\u2019s receiver Tim White, who spent the last five years with the Ticats, when asked about what sticks out during his visits over the last few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the fan base and understanding how loud they are,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember the week leading up to the game it was always about how loud the crowd is, the silent count and how the offence needs to respond in such a crazy environment. I made a few plays here that I felt great about but it\u2019s really about the environment \u2014 seeing all that blue, hearing the bombs go off\u2026 that\u2019s definitely intimidating when you\u2019re an away team coming in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CFL\u2019s Week 1 crowds also hammer home how significant averaging over 30,000 per game over such a long spell is so unique. Hamilton drew 18,577 to their home opener against Montreal, Calgary had 17,743 against Winnipeg and Ottawa drew 15,038 \u2014 in a constant rain \u2014 against Edmonton.<\/p>\n

All three home teams, for what it\u2019s worth, lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways playing against Winnipeg, it was always tough to play here and to win because of the fan noise from the crowd \u2014 and I always hated it, to be honest with you because you knew you were in for a long night,\u201d said new defensive tackle Jake Ceresna on this week\u2019s episode of The Huddle<\/a>. \u201cTo have that on my side, I can\u2019t wait. I\u2019m so pumped up and excited about that. I can\u2019t wait for Thursday night and to play in front of that crowd and the (Hamilton) offence having to go on silent count.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it\u2019s so loud and to have that advantage on the field is unbelievable. I\u2019ve never had that advantage before. I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

FAMILIAR FACES IN NEW PLACES<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tim White posted some remarkable numbers during his five seasons with the Tiger-Cats, including four consecutive 1K seasons through last year. But asked about playing his old squad, he spoke only about focussing on the game plan, adding \u201cI\u2019m a rookie when it comes to playing them so\u2026 we\u2019ll see. I\u2019ll get out there, see how I feel and go off of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like at this point I\u2019m not too big on answering any questions about Hamilton right now. I\u2019m focussed on being a Bomber, I\u2019m focussed on the things I can do to benefit my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair enough.<\/p>\n

There are a bunch of Winnipeg-Hamilton connections, of course, with White being joined in Winnipeg this year by another former Ticat in cornerback Jonathan Moxey, with centre Chris Kolankowski and receiver Keric Wheatfall now in Steeltown alongside a slew of former Blue Bombers in Kenny Lawler, Liam Dobson, Marc Liegghio, Myron Mitchell, Johnny Augustine, Jake Dolegala, Miles Fox, Owen Hubert and Jakub Szott.<\/p>\n

Of note, Sergio Castillo (2017) and Zach Collaros (2014-17) are also both former Ticats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got love for that organization, the guys in the locker room, the coaching staff,\u201d said Moxey. \u201cThey know what they\u2019re going to get out of me, they\u2019re going to get my best. I\u2019m going to go out there, I\u2019m going to play hard, play with my new teammates and our goal is to be 1-0.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moxey will be facing the QB who was his teammate in Calgary from 2019-23 and then again for the last two years in Hamilton \u2014 Bo Levi Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day he doesn\u2019t care who\u2019s out there,\u201d said Moxey. \u201cI talk a lot of trash, so does he. Our lockers were right next to each other back in Hamilton and across from each other in Calgary. It\u2019s that back-and-forth banter. I love Bo, but we\u2019ve got to battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

STEP FORWARD<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Football coaches and players are forever in pursuit of the impossible \u2014 the perfect game \u2014 and it\u2019s what fuels them daily. Critical this week for the Blue Bombers is to take a step forward after a solid win in Calgary last week that wasn\u2019t without its flaws. But making those corrections after posting a \u2018W\u2019 and not after an OT loss like the one suffered by Hamilton last week, means the narrative around the club is completely different.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumber 1, we got the victory,\u201d said offensive coordinator Tommy Condell of the attack\u2019s handiwork in Week 1. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be things we need to improve and things we need to work on \u2014 little things, details that maybe the naked eye couldn\u2019t see but we as coaches can. You\u2019re never going to complain about a win, I can tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Condell was lamenting one pre-snap penalty \u2014 a delay of game infraction \u2014 that he pinned on himself. Asked about the offence and the ongoing narrative about his tendency to favour the pass \u2014 although Oliveira was over 100 yards rushing in Calgary \u2014 Condell shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026 whatever narrative is out there I\u2019m going to win that game,\u201d he said. \u201cI learned a long time ago with my kids if we go to a steakhouse, someone\u2019s not going to be happy \u2014 one wants hot dogs, one wants this. The most important thing is we want to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE OL\u2019 GUNSLINGERS<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Two CFL QB legends take the field Thursday night with both ultimately destined to share a space at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Collaros has 144 starts in his career with a 90-54 record, is a two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player, three-time Grey Cup champ and the MVP of the championship game and a two-time CFL All-Star. Mitchell, meanwhile, has 159 starts to his name and a 110-47-2 career record, is a two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player winner, a three-time CFL All-star, two-time Grey Cup champion and two-time Grey Cup MVP.<\/p>\n

Those are two stellar resum\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Mitchell was an impressive 34-of-39 last week for 307 yards with one interception \u2014 a Pick-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to confuse Bo because he\u2019s seen so many snaps of high-level football,\u201d said Blue Bombers defensive coordinator Jordan Younger. \u201cHe\u2019s prepared for a lot of what you can show him. Doing what we do \u2014 changing the numbers, changing the body types, changing the looks, making it as difficult as possible for him to get a pre-snap read is how I believe you would slow him down as far as his ability to get the ball out.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers have made three changes to their depth chart from last week in Calgary. On are DE David Reese, DT Michael Fletcher and LB Charles-Elliot Bouliane \u2014 all of whom are making their CFL debuts.<\/p>\n

Off are DL De\u2019Shaan Dixon, DB Jaiden Woodbey and LB Jaylen Smith. Woodbey and Dixon have been moved to the six-game injured list along with DBs Cam Allen, Ethan Ball, WR Kevens Clercius, LBs Jovan Santos-Knox and Lane Novak, DL Tanner Schmekel and OL Micah Vanterpool. Smith is on the one-game injured list.<\/p>\n

FULL DEPTH CHART<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s an electricity and excitement which comes with every home opener, and it has been coursing through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-727775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727775","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=727775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}