Official Game Day Thread - Winnipeg @ Calgary, June 5, 2026

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I think ya'll getting way too emotional.

Adams was 17/27 for 239 yards.

They scored 21 points in the 2nd Q and that was it until the drive at the end.

We had 4 sacks.

In a win, this was an absolutely fine performance against a top offence that has perhaps the best rushing attack in the league.

Man you and JY got shares in something. Defense was terrible tonight outside of the 3rd quarter. You usually don't win games like that. And it's not the players. There's enough talent there. JYs whole outlook on football is to sit back and hope the other team makes mistakes. He runs into trouble when they don't. Ceresna helps big time. But we need to play a more assertive form of football on defense if we're going to win playoff and championship games.

The style will pummel Jake Maier into the dirt and allow VA and other real quarterbacks to have a field day. Every single time.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I think ya'll getting way too emotional.

Adams was 17/27 for 239 yards.

They scored 21 points in the 2nd Q and that was it until the drive at the end.

We had 4 sacks.

In a win, this was an absolutely fine performance against a top offence that has perhaps the best rushing attack in the league.

How many those completions were drops or fumbles by their receivers?

Darn right I'm emotional about it because of what I witnessed on that hundred+ yard drive

[Lincoln Locomotive]

A win in hostile territory against a good team....Adams and Zach were both good today...Pokey making a great catch in our last drive!  Sergio with a t clutch FG from the 38 against a tricky wind!!  Gold!! 
Overall our O looked great and our D didn't....but neither did Calgary's D. 

[TrueBlue75]

Vaval letting the ball roll out of the end zone was key for the win.

After game 1, my thoughts so far:

Ceresna is a massive upgrade to our D-line
Brady- wow!
Zach seemed to have more time in the pocket and I don't think we had one offensive hold??
Special teams, solid
Secondary is a weak spot
Few catchable balls dropped by receivers

Although they nearly blew it, I am optimistic for the season.

[LXTSN]

Not worried. If he really has a blown Achilles we'll probably bring back Ja'Kobe Clinton. It's not like we're hurting for will backer options.

Feel horrible for the guy. Watched the replay and he steps back to push off. I'd be praying it's not a torn achilles, but it's very likely the end of his season.

Easily our deepest position, but sucks for the kid.

[Blue In BC]

Not worried. If he really has a blown Achilles we'll probably bring back Ja'Kobe Clinton. It's not like we're hurting for will backer options.

Except that Woodbey does a lot of coverage assignments. It's tough to say that Clinton could do that as well.

[Jesse]

Man you and JY got shares in something. Defense was terrible tonight outside of the 3rd quarter. You usually don't win games like that. And it's not the players. There's enough talent there. JYs whole outlook on football is to sit back and hope the other team makes mistakes. He runs into trouble when they don't. Ceresna helps big time. But we need to play a more assertive form of football on defense if we're going to win playoff and championship games.

The style will pummel Jake Maier into the dirt and allow VA and other real quarterbacks to have a field day. Every single time.

But is 239 yards a "field day"?

In week one, with some first half troubles that were mostly corrected in the second half, was this really that terrible?

[LXTSN]

Our DBs struggled, but I think VAJ was just that good today. Most of the time there was no space to throw but he put it in the perfect place for the WR to make a play. A+ game from him despite solid pressure from our DL!

[Blue In BC]

Vaval letting the ball roll out of the end zone was key for the win.

After game 1, my thoughts so far:

Ceresna is a massive upgrade to our D-line
Brady- wow!
Zach seemed to have more time in the pocket and I don't think we had one offensive hold??
Special teams, solid
Secondary is a weak spot
Few catchable balls dropped by receivers

Although they nearly blew it, I am optimistic for the season.

Yeah, even if he gave up a point it still gave us the ball on the 40 yard line.  If he fielded the ball we don't know where he could have reached with a return. The ball did roll through the end zone so no point and no time off the clock.

I thought the offence wasted too much time on the last drive. Another 10 seconds could have gotten us a few yards closer. Kicking the FG was not a guarantee because of the wind problems.

[Blue In BC]

But is 239 yards a "field day"?

In week one, with some first half troubles that were mostly corrected in the second half, was this really that terrible?

Yes and no. We lost contain on VA too often. We drew a 48 yard PI that set up a TD. Calgary has a bunch of 2nd and long before the last drive and completed passes.

I'd like to think when a team is 2nd and 16 yards on the goal line we have a better than 50 / 50 chance to stop them.

Soft coverage last year and still this year. I don't know why Kelly ever sees the field in the secondary.

BTW: Ayers seemed to be on defence quite a bit in the 1st half. That was a surprise.

[Jesse]

Yes and no. We lost contain on VA too often. We drew a 48 yard PI that set up a TD. Calgary has a bunch of 2nd and long before the last drive and completed passes.

I'd like to think when a team is 2nd and 16 yards on the goal line we have a better than 50 / 50 chance to stop them.

Soft coverage last year and still this year. I don't know why Kelly ever sees the field in the secondary.

BTW: Ayers seemed to be on defence quite a bit in the 1st half. That was a surprise.

Saw a lot of Jake Kelly too and I can't figure why he should ever come in.

[kkc60]

Saw a lot of Jake Kelly too and I can't figure why he should ever come in.

Unfortunately with the 2 DI LB strategy, we have not DI HB/Safety. Meaning come injury or wanting an extra DB, we are actually in a tough spot. Either you play a canadian (Kelly/Hallett/Stuart) or you move Moxey or Williams in and put Vaval in. If either Dixon or Woodbey are out long-term, we could see Texada play some snaps.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Unfortunately with the 2 DI LB strategy, we have not DI HB/Safety. Meaning come injury or wanting an extra DB, we are actually in a tough spot. Either you play a canadian (Kelly/Hallett/Stuart) or you move Moxey or Williams in and put Vaval in. If either Dixon or Woodbey are out long-term, we could see Texada play some snaps.

Potentially, could also use Ayers and Smith to cover for Woodbey.  Did anyone notice if Smith or Shay took any reps?

[markf]

Our DBs struggled, but I think VAJ was just that good today. Most of the time there was no space to throw but he put it in the perfect place for the WR to make a play. A+ game from him despite solid pressure from our DL!

His pass on second and 16 from his endzone was very good... and fingertip from being deflected

[ModAdmin]

Game Recap | Wpg 30 Cal 28

Ed Tait

@EdTaitWFC

CALGARY — They may have flubbed a few lines and struggled a bit in the first couple acts, but the 2026 debut of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers deserves a couple of hearty thumbs up and bravos across the board.

The Blue Bombers' curtain raiser saw them waltz into southern Alberta and exit with a 30-28 last-play win over the Calgary Stampeders in front of 17,743 fans at McMahon Stadium.

So, considered all of these Week 1 goals as mission accomplished:

    Season opening win: check ✔.
    Road win: check✔. ✔.
    Season opening road win vs. a divisional opponent: ✔. ✔. ✔.

"We've got a resilient group, man, that will fight to the end. A scrappy, scrappy group," said running back Brady Oliveira, who was sensational with 113 yards rushing on 15 carries and a touchdown and an additional 24 yards on three receptions.

"In this league, in any league, it's extremely difficult to win. There's a lot of work that goes into every win. So, to get this against a divisional opponent — and look at what Calgary did last year, they're a good team, great defence and with Vernon Adams at the helm — you're going to see a lot of games in the West come down to the end just like that.

"And I love that our group will just fight to the end."

The dramatic win featured some last minute drama, as the Stampeders took the league 28-27 on an Adams, Jr. three-yard TD run with just over a minute remaining.

The Blue Bombers then got the ball with 64 seconds remaining with Zach Collaros connecting with Pokey Wilson for a 27-yard gain to the Calgary 23, followed by two Oliveira runs of 13 yards. That set up a game-winning 38-yard field goal by Sergio Castillo for the W.

"That never gets old, especially having my wife and two kids here," said Castillo inside a rambunctious Blue Bombers locker room. "They flew into Calgary because it was going to be 13 hours for them to fly to Winnipeg (with connections). So, for the same price, we flew to Calgary.

"To be able to do that with them here, amazing."

More on the Blue Bombers season opening win from our view in the press box...

INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

Some key takeaways to munch on in the immediate aftermath:

-Winnipeg cranked out 359 yards passing against one of the CFL's stingiest defences, including 233 yards passing by Zach Collaros (17-0f-28) and a TD to Tim White.

-Jake Ceresna's Blue Bomber debut was superb as he finished with five tackles and three sacks. Willie Jefferson was effective two with a sack and two pass knockdowns.

"I've got to get Osh (head coach Mike O'Shea) to never let me play in the preseason game again," said Ceresna, who didn't take a snap in the two preseason games, with a chuckle. "I was just glad we were able to come out with a team win.

"Sometimes they just fall you way and they were falling for me tonight."

-White led the team with five receptions for 60 yards in his debut.

-The Blue Bombers were gashed for 21 points and 120 yards rushing in the first half — including 95 yards by Dedrick Mills — but surrendered just seven points in the final 30 minutes while Mills was limited to just 117 yards in the second half.

"In the first half we just weren't on the same page," said Ceresna. "A lot of missed assignments... we have so much to clean up, even myself. I feel at times I wasn't playing good.

"In the second half were were most assignment sound. That drive at the end (by Calgary), we've got to be more assignment sound to not put our offence in that position, but I'm glad they bailed us out tonight and we got the 'W.'"

-And Oliveira's 113 yards allowed him to move past Gerry James into fifth spot on the franchise's all-time rushing list at 5,594. James finished his hall of fame career at 5,541 yards. Next on the list for Oliveira is Jim Washington in fourth place at 5,736.

"That was a wild game, a wild finish," said Collaros. "That's pure CFL football right there. It was pretty cool. The conditions were crazy — the wind was nuts pretty much the entire game. I thought we did a good job of handling that in all three phases. We've got to clean some stuff up for sure, but I'm just really proud of the effort that we played at.

"... It feels good to come into somebody's house and win games. First win of the season, you get the first win out of the way and Calgary is a great football team and a great organization, so this is good."

Let's not complicate things here — when a game is decided on a last play field goal, that's the key moment. And Castillo's 38-yarder as time expired was the perfect capper to an outstanding night.

Empty heading

Winnipeg was 0-3 against Calgary last year and just 4-6 against the West Division, so to come into Cowtown and get a W was mammoth. Critical was the in-game bounce back by the defence, which surrendered just the one TD in the final 30 minutes after getting crushed for three scores in the second quarter.

The Blue Bombers return to Winnipeg for next week's home opener vs. the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday, June 11th, with a 7:30 p.m. start. Of note: let's keep this rolling — the club is looking to extend its consecutive sellout streak to 15.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2026/06/06/game-recap-wpg-30-cal-28/