Brandon Blue&Gold

?? Probably means this... https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/mcmaster-marauders-had-to-shovel-snow-at-vanier-cup-workout--cis-boss-says-there-s--no-real-rules--for-championship-week-011541932.html And this... http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5162881-visiting-marauders-feel-frost-in-land-of-carabins/ Sounds like the CIS needs to figure out some regulations for the Vanier Cup. Montreal shouldn't have been allowed to treat it like a home game.

So going by this, do I have to commit (pay partial or full $$$) to a Grey Cup ticket for my season ticket seat by Dec 15? I am fine with reupping for 3 more years but if they want $300 from me for the GC within two weeks I'm gonna have to pass. Or do you pay later? I didn't get this info in the mail (my buddy is the account holder).

Has anyone traveled to other whl cities to see their teams play? Where and when and how was the experience? I've only seen the Wheaties play outside of Brandon (and WInnipeg) when I lived in Calgary back in 03/04. Neat to see the support big league city Calgary gives to a junior team live in person,even if the damn Hitman won that game,

Without seeing the games I really can't comment too much but I will take the split. Sounds like the WK D has been lacking lately but I would also wager the Blades are on a bit of an upswing and matchup well with the Wheaties, and kudos to them. We had a good game against the Raiders on Saturday and now have a home and home vs a hot Regina Pats team looking for payback from last year's playoffs. Good times ahead! This stretch could also mean the Wheaties are coming down to earth after a very hot start or it's a bit of a hiccup. I think the Regina games will show where the Wheaties are at this point in the season. The trade for Moodie was a good move, landing a solid if unspectacular veteran goalie for a late round pick was a move we needed to make. Papirny needs a break once in a while and we need a backup that can hold down the fort if Papirny gets hurt. Thompson was shaky at best in that role so hopefully he improves back in the AJHL. I do feel kinda bad for Thompson as he was showing off his new goalie mask on Twitter all done up Wheaties style and then gets sent down two days later. Poor guy. Hopefully just a minor setback for him.

I blame tonight's loss purely on me having to work so I couldn't be there . Oh well can't win them all. 2-1 in the season now Duressler. Chance to tie on friday.

You know it Dr. Blue! We can shake our fists at each other in the stands and tip back a pint after the game. Good times ahead hopefully .

As much as I love the Jets (versions 1 and 2), the Wheat Kings have always been the team I cared about the most. Being raised in the area meant going to see many games as a kid and later on as a teenager. Also playing against a few future Wheaties and other WHLers in minor hockey makes you care more. Even living in Winnipeg I still paid more attention to and went to more Wheaties games than Moose games. Hell I've watched the Wheaties play in Winnipeg more than I watched the Moose in Winnipeg (nothing against the Moose of course). And now being back in Westman means lots of game every winter. I think my gf is a bigger fan than I am, which is always nice. (never have to talk her into seeing a hockey game ) The price as mentioned is fantastic for the level of play you get to watch. Seen many a future NHL star live at the Keystone, even if they may have been schooiing my team that game. Also helps the entertainment factor that under Kelly McCrimmon the Wheat Kings play a very offensive minded style. Less defense more outscore the other guys style of play. Fun to watch but sadly doesn't win many championships. Oh well still love 'em! As for the league this year, Kelowna looks good in the west, although Portland did sweep them on the wknd. Haven't really seen Everett play but their imports are as good maybe better than Brandon's. In the east Calgary and Edmonton look good as always (although without Jarry the Oil Kings would be in trouble), Medicine Hat is good and SC has a tough D. Then there's the Wheat Kings, probably the scariest offense in the whole league with both speed and grit. The defense is ok but could be better in their own zone. Papirny the goalie is very underrated and his numbers tend to suffer a bit due the style the team plays. Their best goalie since Tyler Plante. But if Paps gets hurt the backup isn't so good. Fingers crossed here. I know there was talk of Winnipeg getting a WHL team again. Has that cooled off? I know Kootenay and Lethbridge were possibilites but it's been quiet for the past few months. Not that I want either of those places to lose their team but it would be nice to get a team back in Winnipeg and get a rivalry going with Brandon. Another excuse to come into Winnipeg!

Question for you Duressler, I know the Blades would be insane to do so unless it was the right sitch but what to you as a Blades fan would be a fair trade for Nogier? He would look great in Black and Gold .

My avatar says it all. And I'm outnumbered by Saskatchewan Dub fans so far . Here's a gripe.... I think TSN missed an opportunity when they didn't push to get CHL broadcast rights. When Sportsnet reupped with the exact same number of games (once a week, some of the playoffs) I was letdown bigtime. Considering how insane we go for the world juniors wouldn't it be nice to see a lot of these players play other than at christmas time and new years? Not to mention some of these junior teams could certainly use more exposure to help their viability in certain cities. I wonder if TSN had known that they were going to lose the NHL rights, would they have made a push for the CHL. I wish they had. Or even Sportsnet pick up more games. I realize there may not be ratings or the money for more CHL but hey, it's my gripe and I'd rather a good Dub or Q or OHL game than the world series of poker on a wednesday night. Just annoys me in a country that claims to be (and is for the most part) hockey mad we only seem to care if its NHL or World Juniors on the TV. There, rant complete.

You guys have endured a similar suffering to the Bombers in the last decade or so. It's a nice win for you guys and your fans. I may hate Kent Austin but it was good to see you and the Ticat fans get the win.Yeah, congratulations to the Ticats. I've met a lot of Ticat fans in other stadiums and they've always been good guys. Plus, best uniforms in the CFL (aside from our blue and golds). And that boat thing was years ago, time to move on from it.Definitely rooting for them next week. Love to see them slay the red giant. I will never forgive the boat incident! However their fanbase has known a lot of pain and misery in recent years (something we know all too well) so I congratulate them on their big win today and wish them luck next week. Except for Grigsby.

Haha, bring it on ! Go Blades go! 2 and 0 so far head to head this season . See how your boys do this tuesday. As a Jets pick I will cheer a bit for Nogier but otherwise... Go Wheaties Go!

D'oohhhh! Glad I didn't put money down on it. I now pick the Stamps to win it all. Calgary 38 Hamilton 24.

I caught most of the game. There's a few players on that U of Montreal team I'd be curious about come draft time, especially on their front 7. Their oline was very good too (or did we just have no push?). As for the Bison Demski was pretty meh but I did notice a few times he was shaking his hand after plays so I'm guessing he wasn't 100%. That #97, the kid from Nigeria? could be awesome with some more seasoning, just huge. And #88 seemed like a solid receiver, not the fastest but good hands and routes from what I saw. Loved Yantz, sad that he probably won't get a CFL shot but wouldn't it be nice? All in all sad for U of M but a damn good game, and more reason for one of our many sports channels to show more CIS football games.

As a Rider fan, Duressler seems to lack the ****** factor that certain others (cough, Migs, cough,) reek of. He doesn't bother me. But as a Blades fan you can go to hell Duressler!!!

I thought Fulton was their starting left tackle? At least that's what the Rider depth charts all say. Don't get me wrong I agree with you that if we could land Fulton it would be a definite upgrade to our internatonal OLiners. Just not sure Sask would give him up for a late round pick.

Why is it that when Messam changes uni's he looks great for awhile then disappears. I think we'd be better off sticking with Fitzgerald and bring him along. Fitzgerald is another wasted pick from Mack. Even his LS'ing is not good when the Bombers need replacement when Wild was injured. We need someone that D will respect when he has the ball. Messam might not be as explosive during his first year but how many times did he burn our D this year? Agreed. Fitzgerald is not a rookie and has not been for some time. He needs to come to training camp with the expectation that he will either show more than he has or be gone. He has shown a few flashes of promise,but after awhile that is not enough. How is he supposed to show more when the offense barely uses the TE/FBs on the roster? It might have something to do with the OC's and the QB's confidence in him too. Or how about the fact that offences in the CFL these days runs mostly a 1 back set and the FB/TE is only a situation position and used sparingly as a tendency breaker and nothing more. This is the answer I vote for. There's been sparse backfields in the CFL for years. FB has just a been position name you give for special teams specialists for a long time too. Still you want a greater talent regardless of position and between Messam and Fitzgerald, the edge is on Messam and it's not even close. Aside from when he played us, how much rushing yardage did Messam get this season? Answer, 160 yards. When he played us in 3 games he ran for 222 yards. This doesn't speak to how good Messam is, rather how he is only good against our shoddy run D. Along with this and the questionable attitude his only advantage is his passport, and I would wager Carl Volny could put up better numbers if we wanted to go National for our rb. Fitzgerald is more TE than FB. I'd like to see us use him more like that next season. That one time in the BC game when they actually threw to him led to a very nice play. And then they never did it again for whatever reason. Not Fitzgerald's fault if the plays are designed without an option to the FB/TE. I do agree that if he is the backup LS he could do a better job of being ready if needed.

Saw a Muamba jersey at the last Bomber game of the season. A Cauchy Muamba jersey, #3. I laughed at the time but considering he's still playing meaningful football and not stuck on the bench or on a couch at home I guess I should have kept my mouth shut. I've also seen a Shabazz jersey, but in Winnipeg itself.

Why would they have needed Nichols when they already had Sunseri and Doege all ready to go? Sorry I mean the 2015 MOP and 2016 MOP of the CFL respectively . I still wish the Burris trade had happened. The complete 180 Rider fans would have done would have been something to witness.

I wouldn't shed any tears if both Etch and MB were shown the door. I just have the feeling (nothing to back it up) that if there is a change in the coaching staff, it's only going to be one of the coordinators. And if I had to choose I would keep Etch over MB because I think the run D could be improved with better personnel and a firmer hand from O'Shea. I have no hope the offense will improve under MB, and I don't think Willy survives another season of it. I also think there are a few good options out there for replacing MB who might actually come here. I don't know offhand who would be available as a D Coordinator that would be a better option than Etch right now.

Joseph or Durant, Reilly or Nichols, matters somewhat. But it's probably going to come down to White vs Allen, which team runs better. With a fully stocked Edm Dline vs a good but banged up Sask Oline I think the Eskies have the edge. As long as Nichols plays mistake free it's there for the taking.

After allowing my emotions to cool after the end of the season I can live with Etch returning for another season, provided he adjusts his scheme to do a better job against the run and certain personnel are upgraded (Kuale, Peach to name a couple, maybe a couple of our NFL guys come up north?). I also accept that losing a guy like Anderson was a huge blow to our Dline along with Vega's injury issues which left him somewhat ineffective this year. It annoys me that it took so long to get Sears back in the lineup and to see what Unamba could bring to the D (although in all fairness earlier in the season I was complaining about his play, oops ). I certainly liked our improved secondary and how the D in general handled the passing game, so there's a plus. I can give one more year but if it's more of the same next season I would hope for a change. As for the offense I think MB should go back home to Ottawa and run their offense. He should be the coordinator that gets the pink slip. I don't like what he's doing with Willy and playing Grigsby for as long as we did was a huge error. And there were too many times our offense did nothing leaving our D to hold on as best they could. If your Oline isn't very good, as a coordinator you should plan around that (move the pocket, roll out your qb, whatever works) not stick to a plan that gets your qb killed. By the end we all saw how damaged Willy was, physically and mentally. No excuse for that. If a coordinator has to go let it be MB. My two cents.

Who votes on it, apparently. This article helped me when I asked the same question... https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/cfl-awards-notes--part-ii--cancon-on-ol--first-k-battle-since-2006--outstanding-non-all-stars-203851383.html

Why not? He's one of the best short yardage QB's I've seen. If you've got a good starter, then having Goltz on your team to do short yardage is a no brainer. Isn't Goltz basically taking the place of Pat White, the Eskies short yardage rushing QB that is hurt right now? Makes perfect sense to me.

I'm baffled by the January pick. He didn't look all that good this season, possibly due to nagging injuries or age. On the other hand Morley was solid at centre, something which was noticed by people around the league, not just here in Winnipeg. So why January? Did he win on name recognition alone? I know the Oline was shaky most of the season but I feel Morley should get some props for his play this year. Speaking of baffling Sask picked Picard as their outstanding Olineman. I can't claim to have paid close attention to the Rider Oline performance this year (except when they held errr I mean played us ) but isn't he acknowledged as their weakest Olineman, especially in pass protection?

When it comes to B.C. I think we simply need to stay healthy. We showed earlier in the year that we can beat them quite easily when we have a healthy ball club. Yes they did beat us twice but we had significant injuries in both games. It's a team that doesn't impress me in the least, even with Lulay likely back under centre next year, assuming he stays healthy. As for Saskatchewan, we need to get bigger up front, and Wild needs to be the full time middle linebacker. I'll take our secondary against ours, though whoever is against Bruce Johnson admittedly would concern me a bit. I don't dislike Bruce Johnson by any means, but I don't think he is necessarily as good as some have made him out to be. Gets beat deep a little too much for my liking, but I like him in the short/intermediate portion of the pass game. Hopefully we can add another receiver whether it be free agency, or a rookie find to further test their secondary. I agree with everything you said except concerning Wild. As great as he is I think he is better suited to the outside than the middle. A new middle LB (maybe Will Smith who I thought did well the short time we had him) capable in run D for 2015 is a must. We missed Muamba even more than we thought we would this season. Granted though Wild was our best option in the middle this season. I don't want Kuale back next season. Maybe give Kromah a longer look at training camp next year. But definitely bring in some new blood for a shot at MLB.