To qualify for another Gray Cup final, safety Tunde Adeleke and his Hamilton Tiger-Cats teammates will need to transform into “road warriors.”
On Sunday, the Tiger-Cats (8-10) will visit the Montreal Alouettes (9-9) at Percival Molson Stadium in the Canadian Football League (CFL) East Division Semi-Final. The winners will then travel to Toronto to face the Argonauts (11-7) in the Eastern final on November 13.
Three years ago, Adeleke and the Tiger-Cats needed to win just one game, at home, to advance to the Gray Cup Finals after placing first in the East.
Last year, they took advantage of the home field advantage in the Eastern semi-finals, which they won 23-12 against the Alouettes, after finishing second in the standings.
They then defeated the Argonauts 27-19 at BMO Field to secure their place in the CFL Grand Final for the second year in a row.
The Tiger-Cats have lost both Gray Cup Finals to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, including a heartbreaking 33-25 overtime loss last year at Tim Hortons Stadium.
Now, after completing the schedule in third place in the East this season, the Tiger-Cats will begin the playoffs in front of a loud and hostile crowd at Percival-Molson Stadium.
“When we’re at home, we have Ticats fans who are some of the best in the league. To have them behind you and know they’ll be loud at the right time is one of the biggest benefits of playing on home soil,” remarked Adeleke.
“But we are all professional football players and we play half of our games abroad. Yeah, it’s different, they’re going to have their fans, but it’s playoff football. »
As part of their preparation this week, the Tiger-Cats have focused on reacting to a crowd that will likely be rowdy.
“It is certain that their supporters will be a factor. (Percival-Molson Stadium) is always a tough place to play,” Tiger-Cats head coach Orlando Steinauer said.
“It’s an element that we can’t control, but for sure if you score points and are able to dictate the pace of a football match, it usually helps to blur it. . But even there, they’re going to support their football team no matter how the game looks. »
The Tiger-Cats finished the season with a 2-7 road record, but those two wins came on their two most recent trips away from Tim Hortons Stadium.
In fact, the Tiger-Cats have been in “playoff mode” for a month, for all intents and purposes, and they responded by finishing the season with four straight wins.
“I believe that what is really important in the CFL […] it’s how you end up. You need to know your greatest hits at the right time. And right now we are playing good football and we haven’t even reached our maximum level of play,” mentioned Adeleke.
“There were years when we had great success all season and we had a bad moment in the diet, to continue Adeleke. Probably 90% of the team has been through that, and that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish. »
The Alouettes have won two of the three games between the two clubs in 2022, and each time the team playing at home has emerged victorious. Also, the Montreal team comes to the playoffs having won seven of its last 10 games.
“We’ve lost our last two games to them, so we’ll have to play our best football,” Adeleke said. What happened in the past has nothing to do with this year. »