‘I hope we get some snow days’: Argos, Bombers arrive in Regina

The first touchdowns for the two Grey Cup combatants have taken place.

The Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers arrived in Regina on Tuesday ahead of the CFL’s marquee game. The teams are to lock horns on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.

While the teams were greeted by some frigid winds as they exited their planes, Argos quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson was embracing the Regina weather.

“I hoped we were doing (the media availability) outside. I thought we could all hang out outside. I thought that would be better — more frost coming off the cameras. I thought it’d be picturesque,” the 34-year-old quarterback said inside a hangar at Regina’s airport.

He’s already excited about the fact head coach Ryan Dinwiddie has said the plan is to practise outside no matter what the weather may hold.

“Getting used to it, getting a feel for it, understanding what it’s going to feel like — the more throws I can get in the cold to prepare for it, the better. I enjoy it,” Bethel-Thompson said.

“I hope we get some snow days too. We can do some snow angels and have some fun out there. I enjoy playing in the snow.”

A team that doesn’t need any sort of acclimatization to the weather — or to a Grey Cup game — is Winnipeg. The Bombers are seeking a third straight CFL championship.

Quarterback Zach Collaros — who was named a CFL all-star Tuesday and is the West Division’s nominee for the award as the league’s most outstanding player — will be under more of a microscope than normal ahead of the big game.

The #Bombers have arrived in Regina and quarterback Zach Collaros exits the plane.

A lot of attention will be on him and his ankle ahead of the game. #yqr #GreyCup pic.twitter.com/7Wo65ZLgi5

— Britton Gray (@BrittonGray) November 16, 2022

The 34-year-old suffered an ankle injury late in the Bombers’ 28-20 West Division final win over the B.C. Lions that forced him from the game.

“I think he will be good,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “(His ankle) is pretty good. You’re not going to get much more than that. It’s that time of the year.”

Receiver Greg Ellingson provided some insight into how Collaros was feeling, albeit in a joking manner.

“I think Russell Wilson would be jealous of the workout I saw on that plane,” Ellingson said, referring to the Denver Broncos quarterback whose recent on-board workout went viral.

“I’m just kidding. (Collaros) got on the plane and I saw him walking around. He seemed fine to me.”

While the Bombers are chasing history — they’re trying to become the first team to win three in a row since the then-Edmonton Eskimos won five in a row from 1978 through ’82 — linebacker Adam Bighill says they aren’t focused on where this team will rank in the history of the game.

“We’re focused on what we always focus on — the details of playing the best game that we can, trying to play the perfect game. Those are the things that are going to allow us to be successful,” Bighill said.

“When the dust is settled after the last whistle, we can talk about what the aftermath may or may not be.”

It will be the Argos tasked with trying to shut down the machine that has been the Bombers over the past three seasons. In order to do that, Toronto will look to rely on a number of veterans who have played for the CFL’s biggest prize before.

Those include former Winnipeg star running back Andrew Harris and defensive end Ja’Gared Davis, who is appearing in a sixth Grey Cup in his sixth season in the league.

“The job’s not done. We’re content but we’re not satisfied. We’ve done what it takes to get here; that was our goal at the beginning of the season,” Davis said. “We have one more task at hand to check off the box.”