Team spirit keeps Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans warm on West Division final game day

Thousands of fans packed IG Field for a game many hope will taketheBlue Bombers a step closer to bringing home the Grey Cup for the second season in a row. Some fans were so dedicated, they showed up hours before the West Division final game started to show their team pride.

Fans wore parkas under jerseys as well as team toques and hats on chilly Winnipeg game day

Rachel Bergen CBC News Posted: Dec 05, 2021 6:56 PM EST | Last Updated: December 5, 2021

Lisa Hristovski (left) attended the tailgate party on Sunday with Cindy Girdat and Vanessa Elviss, her friends from Gull Lake, Sask. (Sam Samson/CBC)

Sub-zero temperatures and strong gusts of wind couldn't deter Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans on Sunday.

Thousands of fans packed IG Field for a game many hope will taketheBlue Bombers a step closer to bringing home the Grey Cup for the second season in a row.

The Bombers are facing off against theSaskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL's West Division final.

Some fans were so dedicated, they showed up hours before the West Division final game started to show their team pride.

Lisa Hristovskiattended the tailgate party with some friends and showed up in style, decked out in a Blue Bombers bobble football hair band as well as a Bombers jersey, cape and mitts.

This family was one of many who dressed warmly but festively for the West Division final game on Sunday. (Patrick Foucault/CBC)

On top of that, she wore a blue wig and blue eyelashes.

"It's all about the blue," she said, adding that she's wearing a number of layers to keep out the cold on the windy 10 C day.

"We're Manitobans! We can do this."

Mother and son Viola Adams-Smith and Dennis Adams drove their decked out trailer to the tailgate party on Sunday. They bring it to every Bombers game they attend. (Sam Samson/CBC)

Hristovski is hoping for a win.

"It'd be the best. We went to Grey Cup in Calgary and had the best time of our lives. We said, besides our wedding day it was the best day of our lives,winning the Grey Cup."

Cindy Girdat and Vanessa Elvissdrove from Gull Lake, Sask., to Winnipeg to cheer on their team which is surprisingly not the Roughridersalongside Hristovski.

'We light that place up': Winnipeg fan gearing up for Bombers, Roughriders match in West Division final

They're hoping for a big win today.

"I don't want to go to back to Saskatchewan without one," Girdat said.

"We're coming back with the win, with the 'W'," Elviss added.

Longtime Blue Bombers fan Dennis Giesbrecht brought his granddaughter Danika Giesbrecht to the tailgate party before the game on Sunday. (Sam Samson/CBC)

Fellow Blue Bombers fan Dennis Giesbrechtarrived at the tailgate party at 8 a.m. and says the weather is nothing, "just a day in Winnipeg."

Although it got chillier as the day progressed,that didn't matter to him.

"We're here forthe football game, it's going to be a great game., he said.

"We're going to trash the Riders. They're going to want to leave, and yeah, it's a good day."

Winnipeg fans ecstatic as the Blue Bombers head to the Grey Cup

3 years ago

2:25

Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans are over the moon the CFL team are now heading to the Grey Cup for the second time in three years after defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division final Sunday.

With files from Sam Samson

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