Grey Cup dream about to come true for one Brandonite
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2014 (3948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
No matter what happens on Sunday, a player from Brandon will get the chance to hoist the Grey Cup.
Brandonites Landon Rice and Chris Bauman will be on opposite sidelines Sunday when the Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats clash in the 102nd Grey Cup game at BC Place Stadium and they are anxiously awaiting the CFL’s season finale.
“Yes, absolutely, I am looking forward to it,” said Rice, a 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive lineman in his second season with the Tiger-Cats.
“It’s very exciting, of course, but you can’t let that take over, so we are approaching it just like any other game, with the same detailed preparations throughout the week. And that’s really where the game is won, all the work you put in off the football field in the meetings and stuff. … Come Sunday, it’s just time to perform and to execute, and we feel really confident about that.”
It’s the second Grey Cup experience for both players. Rice was on the practice roster last year when the Tiger-Cats fell 45-23 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina, while Bauman was with the Stampeders when they lost 35-22 to the Toronto Argonauts in the 100th Grey Cup game in Toronto in 2012.
One will have a chance to become the first former Brandon high school football player to win the Grey Cup since offensive lineman Craig Hendrickson, a Neelin Spartans product, earned his ring in 2000 with the B.C. Lions.
Rice, a 26-year-old graduate of the Crocus Plainsmen program, has played in every game this season for the Tiger-Cats. In his sophomore CFL season, he’s earned a couple of starts and currently serves as a backup on the O-line and a regular on special teams.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Rice said. “I have been able to get the opportunity to start in a few games and I have dressed and played in every game we’ve had so far this year. And I’ve really enjoyed doing the heavy package, the tight end sort of stuff, that has been a lot of fun. … You need to know the offence as a whole and not just one position because you could literally be thrown in anywhere, so you have to learn at tackle, at centre, at guard and just prepare for any scenario. …
“So for me this year it has just all been about developing as a football player, and it’s been a great year for me.”
While he didn’t suit up in last year’s game, experiencing the spectacle of Grey Cup week has helped Rice prepare for this week’s distractions and focus on the task at hand.
“The experience we went through last year, for me it definitely helps you know what you are walking into,” said Rice, who will have his mother and father and sister in the stands on Sunday. “It’s a hectic week, there’s lots of media events and dinners and meetings. You are in a new environment, so we were prepared for all of that … and you can really just focus on the job that you have to do.
“I’m just excited for this game and I know the whole team is and we’re ready to change the outcome from what happened last year.”
For his part, Bauman isn’t sure if he will be in the lineup on Sunday after being brought back by the injury-riddled Stampeders last month to provide some depth on the roster for their playoff run. The 30-year-old former Vincent Massey Vikings star is currently on the Stamps’ practice roster, although there is a chance he could be activated if the team decides to dress a third Canadian receiver or suffers another injury.
“I am kind of like an insurance policy right now,” said Bauman, a 6-foot-4, 212-pound slotback who was picked first overall by the Tiger-Cats in the 2007 CFL draft. “They weren’t too sure how long those injuries (in the receiving corps) were going to last when they brought me in. …
“I know the coaches have full confidence in me with the full playbook and everything, so I just kind of need the right situation to happen and it is going to depend on the ratio situation, too. Last game we just played two Canadian receivers, but if they decide to play more, that kind of plays into it, too.”
The only healthy Canadian receiver on the Stamps’ practice roster, Bauman spent most of this year in Florida — where his wife is from — recovering from a knee injury while also starting to dabble in a new career selling real estate. The chance to be a part of this year’s Grey Cup has been an unexpected bonus.
“Definitely, especially since a month ago I was down in Florida selling houses, so just to be up here in this situation, I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Bauman said. “I may have a chance to play, and if not I hope I have done enough to get to (training) camp next year. … I feel good and if I am called on, I am ready.”