Stampeders, Elks sq. off in annual vacation affair with tight standings including to intrigue of CFL recreation
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One is aware of about success on Labour Day.
The opposite has but to style victory within the huge recreation.
Now as Calgary Stampeders teammates, Reggie Begelton hopes to assist Adam Konar expertise the precise facet of the annual Labour Day Basic.
“I’m excited,” stated Konar, whose LDC resumé consists solely of losses — six whole — throughout two excursions of responsibility with the workforce from up north in Edmonton. “It’s at all times an thrilling recreation to play. However it’ll be enjoyable to be on the house facet for the primary time — get a bit totally different really feel to it.
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“And I’m excited to play towards these guys and see some previous associates on the sphere and go to battle towards them.”
Certainly, Konar hopes Monday’s battle between the host Stampeders (4-6) and the Edmonton Elks (3-8) at McMahon Stadium (4 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary) marks his first LDC victory.
The veteran CFL linebacker signed with the Crimson and White within the low season.
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“I performed Konar in numerous video games when he was in Edmonton and I used to be right here,” stated receiver Begelton, additionally a CFL veteran however on the profitable facet for 5 of six Labour Day tilts since his arrival in Calgary. “And it’s good to have Adam on our workforce now. He’s a baller. We’re going to assist him get on that different facet within the profitable column.”
That’s actually been the factor for the Stamps within the LDC.
They’ve prevailed in 10 of the final 11 Labour Day conferences with their Alberta rivals since 2012.
Total, the groups have performed 58 instances on Labour Day since 1959, and the Stamps lead the sequence 31-26-1.
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Konar, who returns to the lineup after sitting out final recreation with a hamstring damage, desires to be on the precise facet of that success …
Lastly.
“Calgary has at all times been a troublesome place to return and get a win, particularly on Labour Day, when there’s that rather more to the sport,” stated Konar, whose time with Edmonton was damaged up by two years with the BC Lions, throughout which the Inexperienced and Gold received the LDC in 2021.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been a bad-luck appeal,” continued Konar, with a chuckle. “I might say Calgary’s finished job of holding down the house fort. I simply wish to preserve that going.”
So, too, does Begelton, who nonetheless remembers his first Labour Day Basic, though he didn’t get to decorate for it in his rookie 12 months again in 2017.
“I at all times wished to put on that black jersey in my very first Labour Day recreation,” Begelton stated. “I didn’t get to. However later within the 12 months, I bought to put on the black jersey within the final house recreation. However it’s not the identical. It’s not fairly the identical.
“However being on that sideline, with the jets flying overhead and every part, standing there for the primary time, the adrenaline and the joy was nonetheless there. Simply being on that sideline and being on this workforce in that ambiance is a blessing.”
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Since 1982 and for all however two seasons since 1969, the Stampeders have confronted their provincial rivals at McMahon on the primary Monday of September.
It was in 1949 that the now-familiar Calgary-Edmonton Labour Day matchup was born, because the Alberta groups performed 5 straight years in Edmonton earlier than the sequence was briefly deserted. Then, in 1959, the rivalry was renewed with Calgary serving as hosts. And with only some exceptions, it’s on this kind the custom continues to exist.
However typically that custom — as it’s so far for Konar — is remembered for the incorrect causes.
“It’s humorous — I at all times bear in mind the losses greater than the wins,” stated Stamps GM/head coach Dave Dickenson. “My greatest reminiscence was a sizzling, sizzling day — we had the previous turf, and it was sizzling. And we went into time beyond regulation, and we bought down on third-and-one after we had been down by three factors. We put Mike McCoy in for the sneak, and he bought into the endzone.
“However in some way they claimed they referred to as a time-out proper earlier than the play. So we run it once more and lose. That one stands out for me.”
That was 1999 in a 33-30 OT victory for the workforce from up north.
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And that was again within the days — “loopy” ones, stated Dickenson — when the groups rotated and rematched within the Labour Day Replay in Edmonton on simply three days relaxation.
Now, there are 4 days between the video games, with the replay slated for Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium (5 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary).
“These tales are humorous,” stated Begelton, when requested about listening to tales of the incredulous three-day break between video games within the annual sequence. “However I simply have a look at what the duties are forward and I don’t fear.
“It’s a totally different day, although, particularly this 12 months being that the West Division is so shut that each recreation any more — particularly towards West opponents — issues. You wish to win the sequence. We play Edmonton thrice, and that is the beginning of profitable that sequence. We want win primary.
“So precedence primary is to win,” continued Begelton. “You don’t wish to go to Edmonton, attempting to claw again and attempt to get a win after a loss. You wish to win each of them, and the West is on the road. And Monday is the beginning of catching that blessing.”
Certainly, only one win separates the arch-rivals — and simply two Ws differentiate the highest and backside groups within the West standings — which fuels the fireplace much more.
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“It’s that point of 12 months that the CFL will get a bit extra intense,” Konar stated. “You type of get into that playoff ambiance.”
There’s hope the followers will assist that alongside, too.
The Stamps are asking for a followers to fill McMahon wearing black — to match the gamers’ jerseys, in fact — as a part of the Stampeders’ Labour Day Blackout occasion.
“I do know we’re going to have crowd,” added Dickenson, whose personal regular-season success towards Edmonton is 14-of-18 — as sideline boss, relationship again to 2016 — and 32-of-40 — as a Stamps coach relationship again to 2009. “I’m studying that sections are offered out, and I’m enthusiastic about that. I felt like Labour Day again within the ’90s that you just knew it was going to be a promote out, you understand the jets had been coming, you knew you had been going to have a battle …
“And you then throw in that Labour Day black, which I really like, and it’s truthfully an incredible day of soccer.”
SHORT YARDAGE
A second of silence and pre-game salute is being deliberate forward to recollect Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau forward of Monday’s recreation at McMahon … OL Bryce Bell (calf) is a game-time resolution for the Stampeders … One other key cog becoming a member of Konar in returning to the lineup after lacking the loss to the Ottawa Redblacks is offensive lineman Sean McEwen (hand). Additionally in are WR Tyson Middlemost (hamstring), OL Eric Smith, DB Bailey Devine-Scott, DL Kail Dava and DL Charles Wiley … These Stamps popping out of the lineup are RB Ron Tiavaasue, WR Rysen John, OL D’Antne Demery (hand), DL George Idoko, DL Elliot Graham, DL Kwadwo Boahen (again) and DB Kenyon Reed.
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