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News June 12, 2026

Game Recap | Ham 37 Wpg 27

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats spoiled the Blue Bombers home opener with a 37-27 win Thursday night; photos by Cameron Bartlett

@EdTaitWFC

These are not — repeat not — the ideal elements for a team’s home opener: the guest instantly gets way too comfortable in your house and then completely trashes every piece of furniture before the hosts awake and respond.

And when they finally do, the damage was far too extensive to salvage anything.

So, there’s no sugar-coating what happened in the 2026 home opener for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Thursday night, as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats waltzed into town and then threw their own party on the premises in a 37-27 victory in front of another packed Princess Auto Stadium.

As a result, Winnipeg will enter its first bye week of the Canadian Football League season at 1-1, while the Ticats even their record at the same with their road win.

“Listen, it’s early in the season, first (home) game and there’s nobody going to be more disappointed in themselves than really everybody on this team,” said quarterback Zach Collaros, who was 28-of-35 for 421 yards with touchdowns to Nic Demski and Pokey Wilson and one interception.

“We all want to win. We want to win all three phases and we love each other.”

More on the Blue Bombers first loss of 2026 from our view in the press box…

INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

Some key takeaways to munch on in the immediate aftermath:

-Bo Levi Mitchell & Co. put up ridiculous numbers in the first half — 233 yards passing and three touchdowns and 309 yards net offence — in building a 24-10 advantage at the intermission.

The numbers weren’t nearly as gaudy in the second half, as Mitchell finished with 287 yards passing on 19-of-24 passing and Hamilton amassed 455 yards of net offence, including 124 yards rushing by Larry Rountree III.

But when it mattered most — with Winnipeg having pulled to within one TD with just over two minutes left — the Blue Bombers’ D couldn’t get the stop they desperately needed.

“We didn’t play well as a defence, myself included,” said defensive back Evan Holm. “Lots of missed assignments, missed alignments, missed tackles.

“Everybody took their turn making mistakes and defensive back-wise we all just made mistakes. They’re a good offensive team with a lot of weapons and a smart offensive coordinator — I’m not going to take anything away from them. There were times we were in the right call, and we just didn’t do our job.

“They played great, but we had our opportunities.”

-The Blue Bombers cranked out some impressive passing numbers — the ground game was limited with the offence down a couple scores at halftime and in chase position for much of the second half — as Brady Oliveira finished with just eight rushes for 32 yards while pulling in six receptions for another 51.

“Our offence was keeping up, they were out there doing well, we just needed to finish a couple more drives,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “And all of that amounts to losing in Week 2.”

Asked afterward if the lower run totals were dictated by the score, he added:

“It’s dictated by the fact Zach threw 80 percent and for 400-plus yards. On any given week, whatever it’s going to look like that’s what you’re going to do. When your quarterback is hot and those throws are available and they’re eating up chunks… it was down to a one-score game.

“Our style is whatever it’s going to take. That’s what we’ve hung our hat on for years and years — to have the ability between one game and the next to figure out very quickly what it’s going to look like that week. It was a track meet.”

-A couple notable Winnipeg receiver numbers:

  • Tommy Nield let the Blue Bombers with seven catches for 111 yards in his first 1oo-yard receiving game.
  • Demski finished with four catches for 79 yards, including the 500th catch of his career.
  • Wilson finished with the score and had six catches for 87 yards.

-Ticat defensive back Jamal Peters was injured with 6:10 left in the first quarter after taking a knee to the head while tackling Nield. After a long delay he left the game on a stretcher, with the Ticats later posting on social media he was cleared and good to travel home with the team.

-As prolific as Winnipeg’s offence was, they also had a Sergio Castillo field goal attempt hit the upright, while Collaros was intercepted in the end zone. There was also an almost-TD by Nield in the back of the end zone that then led to the attack settling for a field goal.

“Offensively we just left points on the field,” said Collaros. “It starts with me turning the football over there in the second quarter before halftime. Can’t do that. That’s at least three points for us.

“There’s when we look back at the film or when you’re looking at the sideline, there’s going to be a lot you wish you had back that could have led to points. It’s something you’ve got to take and figure out.”

OLD HOME WEEK

The Tiger-Cats roster is stocked with ex-Blue Bombers and a handful in particular jumped out in the Hamilton win.

-Receiver Keric Wheatfall finished with three catches for 102 yards, including a pair of 47-yard grabs, while Kenny Lawler was limited to two catches for 17 yards, although he did draw a pass interference penalty in the end zone that led to a score. As well, Myron Mitchell had five catches for 50 yards.

-Quarterback Jake Dolegala — Hamilton’s short-yardage specialist — had six carries for 10 yards and a TD.

-Kicker Marc Liegghio was a perfect 3-for-3 on his field goal attempts, including a 53 yarder.

-And Liam Dobson, starting at centre, was part of an O-line group that had 171 yards along the ground.

15 STRAIGHT

Despite the outcome, Bomber Nation continues to bring it as the club recorded it’s 15-consecutive sold out game — a franchise record.

THE STREVOLUTION RETURNS!

The man, the myth, the legend that is Chris Streveler sure knows how to draw a crowd at what was billed as his ‘Retirement Party.’

The Blue Bombers had stayed in the fight long enough to make the final few minutes matter, cutting the Ticat lead to 34-27 with just over two minutes remaining.

But the defence couldn’t hold with the key moment coming with 1:34 remaining and the Ticats facing a second and nine. That’s when Mitchell hit Kiondre Smith for a 30-yard gain to the Blue Bombers 24-yard line.

That then set up Liegghio’s third field goal and extinguished any hope of a comeback.

Three of them, in fact, and all from the first half as Mitchell threw for three scores, Hamilton cranked out 309 yards net offence while converting 10-of-13 second-down opportunities.

Credit the Blue Bombers for rallying, but that’s a ton of significant punches they took to the mug in the opening rounds.

The Blue Bombers will now enter a bye week and then return home again to face the Edmonton Elks on Thursday, June 25th with a scheduled start of 7:30 p.m.