It’s Game Day in Calgary as the Stampeders play host to the Edmonton Eskimos. Kickoff at McMahon Stadium tonight is 8 p.m.
After the Canadian Football League schedule-maker kept the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos apart for the first two months of the 2012 season, the provincial rivals are seeing a lot of each other in September. The sequence started with the traditional Labour Day home-and-home series and concludes with tonight’s contest.
Calgary won both of the previous meetings with the Eskimos — 31-30 at McMahon on Labour Day and 20-18 in the rematch at Commonwealth Stadium on Sept. 7.
The Stamps saw their four-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday with a 30-25 setback in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders but they remain in sole possession of second place in the West Division with a 7-5 record.
The Eskimos, meanwhile, are 0-4 in September with the most recent loss coming by a score of 19-18 against the visiting BC Lions on Saturday. Three of the four Edmonton defeats during the slump have come by either one or two points. The Eskimos are 5-7 and currently occupy last place in the West.
Calgary is 4-2 at home this season while the Eskimos sport a 2-4 road record.
Stamps slotback Nik Lewis needs just five yards to move past Earl Winfield (10,119 yards) and into 14th place on the CFL’s all-time receiving list. Lewis has been achieving milestones on a weekly basis of late as last week he passed Rocky DiPietro to move into 10th place on the all-time CFL list for receptions while the week before he reached the 700-catch and 10,000-yard career marks.
Lewis will be honoured at halftime tonight for recently reaching a significant milestone. The tribute is to commemorate the slotback reaching 10,000 career receiving yards during the Sept. 14 home game against Winnipeg. On the same play, the nine-year veteran also reached the 700-catch milestone for his career.
The Stamps’ Store will be selling posters of No. 82. The pictures are only id=”mce_marker”0 and are in store while supplies last.
As you wait for kickoff, here are some links to get you prepare you for the game and to catch you up on Stamps news:
>> Full preview
>> Video: Pre-game comments
>> Photo gallery: The Grey Cup 100 Train comes to town
>> Standings
>> PDF download of official game notes
>> Depth chart
>> Maver shines in new role
>> Bennett finds a home in Stamps secondary
>> Rowells added to practice roster
>> Stamps add veteran o-lineman
>> High-school rankings for Week 2
>> Outriders Blog: Lighting the Night
>> Outriders Blog: The Train Tour