REGINA - The game Saturday between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats promises to bring back all the nostalgia in so many ways.
In particular, it harkens back to that November day 10 years earlier at old Mosaic Stadium — Taylor Field — when another group of Saskatchewan Roughriders had beaten the Tiger-Cats 45-23 to win the 2013 Grey Cup.
Members of that winning team were back in Saskatchewan this week for Plaza of Honour weekend, as they are inducted this week as is Wendy Kelly, a builder who was the first female member of the Roughriders board. The 2013 team will be honoured at halftime at the game, which will also see a tribute to the late George Reed prior to kickoff.
Headlining the group of 2013 returnees are quarterback Darian Durant who led that team, along with former head coach Corey Chamblin. They will be among the many players on hand for the ceremonies this weekend.
But the 2013 team was a star-studded group even beyond those two key members, and a few of those other vital cogs in that run were on hand to speak to the media Thursday about their return to Rider Nation.
“It’s wonderful to be back, I have to admit,” said Kory Sheets, the running back who was MVP of that Grey Cup game.
What Sheets said he misses the most, was “the times we had in the locker room.”
“We were so close, and after we stopped playing football, that’s the things you think about. It’s not the wins and losses is the time spent with the guys in the locker room on the bus travelling together. We cried together, fought together, all of that stuff.”
“It just seems like we saw each other yesterday, to be quite honest,” said kicker Chris Milo. “ Nothing has changed - we’ve got more grey hairs than we did before.”
“It’s funny because even though it’s been so long you just fall right back into it,” said Terrell Maze, defensive back on that 2013 team. “The same old jokes, the same feeling. These guys are seriously like brothers and especially the fact that we accomplished something together as brothers, that makes it so much sweeter.”
“It’s hard to explain in some ways because you’ve actually got to live it to actually get that full feeling of it,” said defensive back Tyron Brackenridge. “But it’s been great. It seems like we just pretty much picked up where we left off, going through what we went through as a team and to be able to come back now and just all the stories resurfacing and bringing that bond back together is an awesome feelings.
Both Maze and Brackenridge agreed there was a vibe about the team from the start, with off-season acquisitions and the team coming together.
Milo pointed to the minicamp down in Florida as starting that feeling and it carried into training camp, as the club mentally focused on the end goal of a Grey Cup.
“Everything was like a huge brainwashing if you will. We all bought in. There was no bickering. Everyone had their role, they did it to their specific what they had to do, and that was it… there was no cliques, everyone was hanging out with everybody. And even last night, we were all together.”
Overcoming the hurdles
There were some road bumps along the way to that Grey Cup, including a four game stretch when Sheets was out with an injury.
“And we got him back and we went out to BC to play BC and he lit it up, and that also initiated a spark and to keep us all together,” Brackenridge said.
Another major hurdle the Roughriders point to was the first round playoff game against BC.
It was a game played in bone chilling conditions and it was the one point in the season when the Roughriders truly had doubts about whether they would be able to achieve their goal of a Grey Cup.
“I think that was the moment in the postseason — to get past that hurdle and come together,” Maze said.
It was a game in which Darian Durant carried the team on his back in leading the team to a comeback victory.
“Thank you, Darian Durant,” said Brackenridge. “They couldn’t stop him.”
“I’ve never seen him run that fast,” said Milo, who had to come through in the clutch put through field goals late in that game to seal the comeback win.
“We put in so much work, there was no way someone was going to come into our house and beat us, not on that day.”
That set up a trip to Calgary for the West Division final. Looking back, the players pointed to the mindset the Roughriders had going into that game.
Maze said even during the warmups there was a “different level of focus, readiness, and you look over at their side and they’re just not going to mess with us tonight.”
“They thought they had it in the bag,” said Brackenridge.
Defensive back Tristan Jackson most remembers the team's walk though outside the day before. “It was a blizzard,” Jackson recalls.
Jackson said the reason they were outside was because head coach Chamblin wanted them to be ready for the conditions the next day. Meanwhile, he recalled, the Stampeders did their walk though inside.
“So the next day, it was all bundled-up freezing — we were ready to go,” said Jackson. “We knew they didn’t have a chance.”
After that dominant win in Calgary, the Roughriders went into the Grey Cup game feeling supremely confident up against the Tiger-Cats.
“We knew from there Hamilton had absolutely no chance,” Brackenridge said.
Grey Cup game a memorable day
The 2013 Grey Cup was the final Grey Cup to be held at old Taylor Field. The players sensed even before the game started how enthused the crowd was going to be that day.
“Crazy, crazy,” said Jackson. “I remember going out. We were one of the first to go out on special teams. I couldn’t believe how many people were there in warmup, and I was just like ‘man this is crazy.’ I go back inside and I always talk to my buddies, I‘m like: ‘man, it’s loud out there. I don’t think these guys have a chance today.’ It was amazing.”
What the Roughriders have the most vivid memory of was the player introductions. It was during those introductions when the team decided to break all of the Grey Cup “neutral site” protocols and run out onto the field, as they had done during Riders home game introductions all regular season long.
“We decided, you know, we’re going to storm the field like a normal home game,” said Brackenridge. “And for us to do that and do our own thing that was pretty memorable.”
“Standing in that tunnel there was a guy, he was like ‘you can’t run out there,’” said Sheets. “We all looked at him like ‘bro, you might like to move out of the way, because we’re running out this tunnel and there’s nothing you can do to stop us’…
“That’s my favorite memory, to be honest with you, standing in that tunnel and we all ran out, because it was like we were going to war. We’ve got a plan, we’re going to execute it. And we went out there and did it, together.”
“From that moment it was over,” Maze said.
When the game ended, all the emotions spilled over.
“I was happy Doubles (Durant) finally got one,” said Sheets. “He carried the team throughout the playoffs. So I remember running to him and (saying) ‘hey we did it, we finally got you one, man.’ It was a special moment. I still think about it today and it’s like wow, we did something together and it was great, you can’t change it.”
Milo said even after the game, “nobody left their seats. Everyone was there just waiting for us to come back out and celebrate again… it was really one of the nights we’ll never forget.”
Jackson said players realized even before they made it to the game how special a win would be for the province.
“We knew the last time they had won was 2007. They had only won three Grey Cups, so we knew we got a win it would be more than special, not only for us but the province as well.”
In the aftermath, the Roughriders went on a Grey Cup tour out of the province, taking the Cup to communities far and wide.
“That’s what made me understand how special this game was to the province,” said Sheets. "Because I didn't understand it at the time... One lady came up to me and said, do you understand that they will never be a Grey Cup played in that stadium ever again? And I sat back at the table and said wait a minute, damn, that's crazy. I didn't even think about it."
He said it made him realize why he was pulled out of the game late so that Charleston Hughes, who had grown up watching games in Saskatchewan, could get some carries -- and why that was so important. "Going on that Grey Cup tour, it put it in perspective for me."
The one major change for the former players returning to Regina this weekend is that the scene of so many of those memories, the old Taylor Field, is gone now. But the 2013 players take pride in what they see at the new Mosaic Stadium, which Sheets said "feels like the house we all built."
All in all, there are many fond memories of that 2013 team from the players, including one permanent reminder: the championship ring they wear from that year.
“To be able to have these on for the rest of our lives and our names etched on the Cup forever, that's, you know, the ultimate goal and that's the best part of it,” said Milo.
“You don’t realize how much you miss it until you’re around it again,” Maze said.
“The ten years, they flew by so fast,” said Sheets. “And you look up, and it feels like yesterday we were just out there playing the game.”
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