So the CFL final for the West Division will now undoubtedly go through Winnipeg, as was expected…their highly publicized win against the BC Lions proves as much, but perhaps all of that was already expected. The Bombers are having quite the year, and the 45 to 0 win over the Lions proves that their defense truly is a spectacular force equal only to the power of perhaps the Spartan army.

Willie Jefferson stated:

“That’s the type of ball that we want to put on display — three phases of football, giving it all we got for our fans and for the CFL to see…”

via bluebombers.com

As can be seen above, Jefferson not only did his part in defense, but kicked it into high gear for a touchdown of his own, seeing a hole and running for it, making the most out of opportunity. Willie intercepted a Michael Reilly pass, and took it 39 yards to complete only the 4th TD of his career thus far.

It was even in the rest of their offense, they stepped up their game, a portion of their team that has been struggling as of late, despite their constant wins, especially in the placekicking department. There was no sign of a struggle though, when Janarion Grant astonished all with a 63 yard punt return touchdown!

But the game against the Lions proves that something great can only get better with time, and their game and their unity on the field is getting stronger for sure.

RB Andrew Harris was missing after suffering his knee injury in the game against the Elks, but what blubombers.com called his “understudies” definitely did a good job at having his and the team’s massive backs. Brady Oliveira ended up rushing 17 times for 65 yards and he ended up landing his first career TD; Johnny Augustine put in the obvious work as well, he rushing 3 times for 69 yards, also recording a 55-yard run.

According to bluebombers.com, this will mark the very first time that the Bombers will host a division final, dating back to 2011. So historic certainly best describes the game that’ll be occurring for the West Division, no doubt.

Bombers head coach, Mike O’Shea said of the game and the win and the subsequent hosting of the West Division final:

“It’s important for the fans. It’s going to be good for them and therefore good for our team…Our players understand that playing in front of our home crowd is pretty special here. It’s important…In terms of us clinching, it’s not anything we really talked about or it was never really a goal from the beginning, it just adds up that way. When the players believe in and stick to the process and focus on the immediate task at hand every single day they have a good chance at success. So far this year that success has added up and it just adds up to these numbers being such that we’re in this position. It’s really about their attention to that daily grind, which is very pleasing, obviously…”

via bluebombers.com

Also according to the aforementioned piece, seeing that this is the eighth straight victory for Winnipeg—this is the first time that occurs since the 2002-2003 season.

Zack Collaros states that despite the guarantee, they’re still concerned about doing the work….not willing to sit on their laurels. He said:

“We’ve still got some football left to be played, obviously, and our goals are still ahead of us. It’s nothing we really set out to do or ever talked about in training camp or the weeks leading up to this. It’s just trusting our process in going 1-0 each week. It just so happens we were able to clinch it this week. It’s awesome. Guys are excited, but we’ve got a lot of football left to be played.”

via bluebombers.com

The Winnipeg Jets change home game time so as not to encroach on CFL West Division final

CBC News reports that the Winnipeg Jets have now changed the time for their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs set to go down on December 5^th. This change comes at the hands of a sports fan, requesting the change in time.

Details of the petition stated:

“The lack of co-ordination between the teams, leagues and television networks is a gross misreading of the local Manitoban sports market…We call on the Jets and Bombers to work together to make this change and to work together in the future to avoid conflicting home game start times.”

via CBC

Alon Weinberg, the fan in question, approached both the CFL and the NHL to hopefully change the time of the game. The hockey game was originally supposed to start at 6 PM which would of course overlap with the CFL West Division final. The Bombers were set to start at 3:30 PM.

The NHL and the Jets announced just this past Tuesdays that their game will now air at 7 PM CT, perhaps also due to the historic implication of the CFL game as well as other reasons specified. It’s a great time to be a Winnipeg sports fan, it would seem, dear readers.

NEXT: Andrew Harris Sidelined For 6 Games