WINNIPEG — Corey Mace, who played in the NFL for Buffalo, is a natural fit for the home of the Bisons.
Good thing, too, because the Mace-coached Saskatchewan Roughriders will be using the University of Manitoba Bisons’ locker room throughout Grey Cup week.
The Montreal Alouettes, who have been designated as the home team for Sunday’s CFL championship game, will occupy the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ accustomed surroundings.
“I don’t know what the Bombers’ locker room looks like but, the Bisons, they’ve figured it out,” Mace said on Wednesday after his introductory perusal of the Roughriders’ temporary lodgings.
“It looks unbelievable. There’s tons of space. There’s an excellent facility for the guys to go get lifts in — and the coaches’ locker room has a bathroom, so I’m good.”
The Bisons’ home also received effusive reviews from Equipment Manager Gordon Gilroy and his dedicated cohorts — Ty Robinson, Mike MacNeil and Joe Baker.
“The facilities are awesome,” said Robinson, the Assistant Equipment Manager, “and it’s special to be here with friends like Gordie, Mike and Joe.
“The best way to describe it would be special, in every sense of the word. It’s something I’m trying to embrace as much as I can and being present in the moment, especially while working with the equipment.”
While amicably chatting, Robinson was tending to the jerseys the Green and White will wear on Sunday. The days are busy — that won’t change anytime soon — but the smiles are omnipresent.
“I’ve worked my whole life for the opportunity to be around the Grey Cup and win the Grey Cup,” Robinson said. “It’s pretty cool to be here.”
And to see this week’s home of the Roughriders take shape.
The expansive Bisons dressing room includes 90 stalls — sufficient to accommodate every Roughriders active-roster and practice-roster player, along with everyone who is injured but nonetheless part of a close-knit team.
It was important to the organization to bring everyone, but that can only be done in feasible fashion if there is enough space.
At first glance, that does not appear to be a problem. To the uninitiated, the Bisons’ area within Princess Auto Stadium could be passed off as the home team’s dressing room, without any raising of eyebrows.
But, for starters, the team had to get here.
On road trips to Winnipeg, Calgary or Edmonton, the equipment is transported by trailer as opposed to being loaded on to the team flight.
Baker, MacNeil and the Riders’ gear arrived in Winnipeg on Monday at 5:45 p.m. — shortly before the team’s flight landed at Richardson International Airport.
“I love driving,” Baker said. “The driving doesn’t bother me. For me, it’s about the fun and about the whole atmosphere. Gordie and Ty and everyone put in so much hard work during the year and, getting to see this, it’s memorable.”
Not to mention hectic.
Once the trailer and its pilots arrived at the stadium, the immediate priority was to unload the equipment and make the dressing room as Riderized as possible.
By early Tuesday afternoon, pretty much everything was in place. All the players’ equipment bags had been emptied, with the contents placed in the appropriate stalls.
Baker — “Volunteer Joe” — was busily affixing guardian caps to players’ helmets in advance of the first full practice, slated for Wednesday.
“I take holidays from my regular job so I can help out as much as I can,” Baker said.
The regular job: “I’m a lineman at SaskPower.”
Ergo, the Roughriders must be the only CFL team with a 190-pound lineman.
Or, as Robinson jokingly described himself, “an ninth-round draft pick.”
(The CFL Draft, by the way, lasts eight rounds.)
Robinson was a free agent, as it were, when he joined the Roughriders in 2021. This is his first Grey Cup appearance.
Gilroy, by contrast, is at his fifth Grey Cup as an employee of the team. He owns championship rings from 2007 (as an assistant to Norm Fong) and 2013.
That is an impressive history, but today’s imperatives are the sole focus as every effort is made to apply final touches.
Gilroy scoured the premises on Monday and Tuesday, looking for ideal spots to display Roughriders logos or other green-themed items.
Very soon, a banner signed by hundreds — perhaps thousands — of Roughriders fans will arrive in Winnipeg. It will assuredly occupy a very special place. But where? To be determined.
The décor will require refining right up until game time, considering the unfamiliarity of the surroundings and the tight time frame.
But, in many ways, it already looks like home.
Hanging in running back A.J. Ouellette’s stall, for example, is his trademark Thor hammer.
“He put the hammer in his travel bag,” said Gilroy, estimating that roughly 120 bags were unloaded on Monday.
There is, in every context, a lot to unpack.
GET ALL THE TOP STORIES FROM RIDERVILLE DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.
----------------------------------------------------------------