Ferguson: New-look Ticats eye setting the tone in opener

Marshall Ferguson

CFL.ca

@TSN_Marsh

Timelines have ceased to matter the last few years. In the midst of a pandemic, weeks felt like months, months felt like years and years felt like a Hamilton Tiger-Cats Grey Cup drought.

As the CFL transitioned from a non-season in 2020, to a shortened season in 2021 and a ‘normal’ length 21-week schedule in 2022, it’s easy to forget just how tumultuous the past three years have been, but a Week 1 matchup between Hamilton and Winnipeg has me feeling reflective about just how intertwined these two proud franchises have been through one of the craziest stretches in Canadian football history.

It was just two years ago when Hamilton travelled into Winnipeg for a Week 1 matchup to kick off the season against the defending (2019) Grey Cup Champion Bombers. That game, of course, won over Dane Evans and, who else, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In that game, Jeremiah Masoli took the field for what would be his final Week 1 as Hamilton’s leading man before a 2022 free agency shift to Ottawa. Brandon Banks was Hamilton’s leading receiver with eight catches for 77 yards while Jaelon Acklin added seven catches for 98 yards.

All three of Masoli, Acklin and Banks, of course, are no longer in Hamilton with the Jeremiah-Jaelon combination moving to Ottawa where they opened the 2022 season in Winnipeg again, while Banks moved down the QEW and won a Grey Cup before being left unsigned this off-season.

While turnover from that 2021 Ticats roster is prominent, continuity is the name of the game for the Bombers. Zach Collaros was 18/28 with two touchdowns as he began to prove the magical 2019 Grey Cup sprint wasn’t a fluke, but a sign of things to come. Names like Brady Oliveira, Nic Demski, Kenny Lawler and Rasheed Bailey all played a role on offence for the Bombers that June night. On defence the staples of Jackson Jeffcoat, Adams Bighill and co. all contributed to the Bombers tone-setting win.

Many members of that 2021 team will once again sit in the IG Field home locker room this Friday night and suit up in the same colours as two seasons ago. In the visitors room, the opposite could not be more true.

Running back James Butler, linebacker Jameer Thurman, offensive lineman Joel Figueroa, receiver Duke Williams, defensive lineman Casey Sayles, and some quarterback by the name of Bo Levi Mitchell will enter the fray of a blue and gold powder keg ready to explode as the Bombers have six months of lingering frustration from a 2022 Grey Cup loss to Toronto.

Just as in 2021, Hamilton will once agin host the Grey Cup this season. Two years ago the roster that took the field Week 1 in Winnipeg was tweaked. A piece here, an upgrade there, but not this year. In what is as close to a full sale turning over of personnel you’ll find in the CFL, Hamilton lost some names in free agency, replaced many with big names and released even more formerly well known names.

Bo Levi Mitchell and James Butler are two of many new names on the Ticats roster this season (Ticats.ca)

Make no mistake, however, all of this is done in a whole hearted attempt to finally, mercifully end the Grey Cup drought with an organization that knows their last chance to do it in spectacular fashion at home is this season.

After hosting two of the last three Grey Cups in Hamilton, following quite some time since harnessing Canada’s best week long party, the Tiger-Cats motivation this season is clearly to hit December with no regrets on what could have been and the further pain of acknowledging the game will take trips around the rest of Canada for the next handful of years before Hamilton becomes likely to host again. All season long, every dime will be spent up against the salary cap to ensure the greatest chance to raise the cup at home and to finish the job that a generation of fans have come so close to celebrating.

Standing in their way Week 1 is the team that knows most about overcoming that same pressure over the last five years. If Hamilton is going to challenge for the Grey Cup this season, it begins with the best test imaginable: on the road in Winnipeg, just like in 2021.

That season the Ticats and Bombers would finish with a classic at Tim Hortons Field. Is 2023 again destined for a final matchup the same as its first? Only time will tell, but I’ll have a hard time watching Friday night and not imagining these two teams on a windy November night six months from now at Tim Hortons Field with the ultimate prize on the line.

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