CALGARY \u2014 The B.C. Lions conclude their CFL regular season against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but their playoff path is set as host of the West Division semifinal.<\/p>\n
B.C. fell 32-13 to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday, but the Lions (10-7) had already clinched second in the West when the Edmonton Elks beat the Blue Bombers the previous evening.<\/p>\n
So B.C.\u2019s player management was at the forefront Saturday in Calgary.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Nathan Rourke, the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Player last season, was among the Lions whose load got lighter as the game progressed.<\/p>\n
Rourke was taken out of the game after completing eight of 11 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown pass in the first half. <\/p>\n
His backup Kaidon Salter was 6-for-14 for 113 yards and was intercepted once in the second half.<\/p>\n
B.C.\u2019s top two receivers, Keon Hatcher Sr. and Justin McInnis, both sat out snaps.<\/p>\n
Lions head coach Buck Pierce was cagey about his plans for player deployment Friday against the Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d was all Pierce said.<\/p>\n
Salter sees Friday\u2019s game against Winnipeg as a chance to showcase his talent, if given the opportunity to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I\u2019m in the game, it should look no different from when Rourke\u2019s in the game,\u201d said Salter. <\/p>\n
With nothing at stake for B.C. against Winnipeg, Pierce still expects a complete effort from his team in order to carry momentum into the division semifinal Oct. 31 in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be playing better football down the stretch and that\u2019s the message to the guys,\u201d said Pierce.<\/p>\n
The Lions beat the Blue Bombers in their lone meeting so far this season, which was a 35-19 victory July 30 in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just want to go out there and play as a team and play to the best of your ability,\u201d said Salter. \u201cJust stay together, stick together, just keep on being one, being one brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salter said his focus is on the final game of the regular season before he thinks about the playoffs. <\/p>\n
The Lions have been the hottest team in the CFL after a 1-5 start. They\u2019d won nine of 10 heading into Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
B.C. awaits their West semifinal opponent, which could be Winnipeg, Calgary or the Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n
The Lions will have the support of the Stampeders and their fans Friday versus Winnipeg because Calgary\u2019s playoff fate relies on a Blue Bombers loss.<\/p>\n
Stampeders coach and general manager Dave Dickenson hoped Pierce would play his starters against Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be lobbying to say \u2018hey, you don\u2019t want to go into playoffs on a losing streak, a two-game losing streak,\u2019\u201d Dickenson said.<\/p>\n
The Lions seek a playoff win at home and again Nov. 7 in the West final in Edmonton to reach their first Grey Cup game since 2011 when B.C. won it as the host team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to clean up and we\u2019re just excited to get back to work,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Sam Matheos, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 The B.C. Lions conclude their CFL regular season against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but their playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-938912","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\/938912","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=938912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}