Brady Oliveira doing his thing last week against Calgary; photos by Cameron Bartlett
There’s 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.
The Blue Bombers, 1-0 after last Friday’s 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.
“Let’s be real — it’s going to be a sell out,” said running back Brady Oliveira with a wide grin. “Winnipeg fans will never let us down. I’m expecting another sell out.
“Obviously, 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’s nothing like opening night at home. Again, we’re all expecting a sold-out crowd at Princess Auto Stadium, so we’re really jacked up.”
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+
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.
Winnipeg’s dominance at home over the last few years is a very real thing. The Blue Bombers had the CFL’s 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 ’17.
Consider this list of home records — and the winning percentage — over the last eight seasons, for comparison:
- Blue Bombers: 56-14; .800
- Argonauts: 43-27; .614
- Stampeders: 42-27-1; .607
- Roughriders: 42-28; .600
- Lions: 39-31; .557
- Tiger-Cats: 38-32; .543
- Alouettes: 33-37; .471
- Elks: 28-42; .400
- RedBlacks: 23-45-2; .343
And if you don’t think those numbers aren’t noticed by the visitors — or the environment created by all that winning — here’s 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.
“It’s just the fan base and understanding how loud they are,” he said. “I 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’s really about the environment — seeing all that blue, hearing the bombs go off… that’s definitely intimidating when you’re an away team coming in here.”
The CFL’s 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 — in a constant rain — against Edmonton.
All three home teams, for what it’s worth, lost.
“Always playing against Winnipeg, it was always tough to play here and to win because of the fan noise from the crowd — and I always hated it, to be honest with you because you knew you were in for a long night,” said new defensive tackle Jake Ceresna on this week’s episode of The Huddle. “To have that on my side, I can’t wait. I’m so pumped up and excited about that. I can’t wait for Thursday night and to play in front of that crowd and the (Hamilton) offence having to go on silent count.
“I hope it’s so loud and to have that advantage on the field is unbelievable. I’ve never had that advantage before. I’m really looking forward to it.”
FAMILIAR FACES IN NEW PLACES
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 “I’m a rookie when it comes to playing them so… we’ll see. I’ll get out there, see how I feel and go off of that.
“I feel like at this point I’m not too big on answering any questions about Hamilton right now. I’m focussed on being a Bomber, I’m focussed on the things I can do to benefit my team.”
Fair enough.
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.
Of note, Sergio Castillo (2017) and Zach Collaros (2014-17) are also both former Ticats.
“I’ve got love for that organization, the guys in the locker room, the coaching staff,” said Moxey. “They know what they’re going to get out of me, they’re going to get my best. I’m going to go out there, I’m going to play hard, play with my new teammates and our goal is to be 1-0.”
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 — Bo Levi Mitchell.
“At the end of the day he doesn’t care who’s out there,” said Moxey. “I 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’s that back-and-forth banter. I love Bo, but we’ve got to battle.”
STEP FORWARD
Football coaches and players are forever in pursuit of the impossible — the perfect game — and it’s 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’t without its flaws. But making those corrections after posting a ‘W’ and not after an OT loss like the one suffered by Hamilton last week, means the narrative around the club is completely different.
“Number 1, we got the victory,” said offensive coordinator Tommy Condell of the attack’s handiwork in Week 1. “There’s always going to be things we need to improve and things we need to work on — little things, details that maybe the naked eye couldn’t see but we as coaches can. You’re never going to complain about a win, I can tell you that.”
Condell was lamenting one pre-snap penalty — a delay of game infraction — that he pinned on himself. Asked about the offence and the ongoing narrative about his tendency to favour the pass — although Oliveira was over 100 yards rushing in Calgary — Condell shrugged.
“I don’t know… whatever narrative is out there I’m going to win that game,” he said. “I learned a long time ago with my kids if we go to a steakhouse, someone’s not going to be happy — one wants hot dogs, one wants this. The most important thing is we want to win the game.”
THE OL’ GUNSLINGERS
Two CFL QB legends take the field Thursday night with both ultimately destined to share a space at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
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.
Those are two stellar resumés.
Mitchell was an impressive 34-of-39 last week for 307 yards with one interception — a Pick-6.
“It’s really difficult to confuse Bo because he’s seen so many snaps of high-level football,” said Blue Bombers defensive coordinator Jordan Younger. “He’s prepared for a lot of what you can show him. Doing what we do — 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.”
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 — all of whom are making their CFL debuts.
Off are DL De’Shaan 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.
