Why does the Labour Day Classic matter so much to the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Well, it depends on who you ask. The reasons are wide-ranging and go beyond the importance of emerging victorious in a single football game.<\/p>\n
Why does the Labour Day Classic matter so much to the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Well, it depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n
The reasons are wide-ranging and go beyond the importance of emerging victorious in a single football game.<\/p>\n
Defensive lineman James Vaughters considers Sunday\u2019s matchup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers pivotal for positional reasons.<\/p>\n
The Roughriders are 7-4 and two points ahead of the Blue Bombers, who are 6-5. They\u2019re second and third, respectively, in the West Division. They\u2019re both trying to hunt down the Edmonton Elks (8-3) for the top spot.<\/p>\n
This is the first meeting of the season between the Riders and Bombers. The second and final matchup goes next Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just comes at a time in the season where it\u2019s important to be winning,\u201d Vaughters told Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas. \u201cWest opponent, rivalry \u2026 it\u2019s just always a big game, a game that you need to win as far as division goes and as far as standings going into the back half of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s also the importance of the team trying to hit its stride heading down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Labour Day is a signpost in the CFL calendar. It\u2019s when things start getting real. After Sunday, the Riders will be two-thirds of the way through the campaign with just six games remaining before the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Time is running out to work out the kinks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season standings usually start getting tighter and tighter around this time,\u201d Riders coach Corey Mace said. \u201cYou want to be hitting in stride once we\u2019re about this far in the season. Everybody should understand what we\u2019re trying to do in the system. You\u2019re just looking for progression.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably right where we\u2019re supposed to be. Definitely room to grow with the remainder of the season. We need to see it each week.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the sheer magnitude of game itself.<\/p>\n
Labour Day weekend means the Riders welcome the team that\u2019s widely considered to be their biggest rival. There are bragging rights at stake. The atmosphere in Regina\u00a0is always electric.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best game that you can play in the entire CFL outside of the final one,\u201d running back Thomas Bertrand-Hudon said. \u201cIt\u2019s the best energy. The fans are going to be hyped up. Everybody\u2019s excited about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just have to let everything out. It\u2019s a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether you place more weight on divisional positioning, finding overall team improvement, or trying to get the edge in an old-fashioned rivalry, there are plenty of options to choose from.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder this game\u2019s considered a massive one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why does the Labour Day Classic matter so much to the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Well, it depends on who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-197463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}