GLOBAL GAME PREVIEW | Elks vs Stampeders

Friday night’s game against the Calgary Stampeders at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium is the Edmonton Elks first home game of this year.

It’s also the final game of the 2022 CFL preseason.

So while this is just the beginning for the thousands of fans who spend the next several months packing the stadium to cheer on their heroes in Green and Gold, for dozens of those would-be heroes, Friday’s game represents the climax of weeks of preparation, months of training, a lifetime of dreaming.

There are only so many spots on a CFL roster, and Elks coach and general manager Chris Jones and his staff will have some difficult decisions to make. The aspiring Elks have been building to this moment, now it’s time to show what they’ve got.

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“It’s the culmination of all the hard work you put in in training camp and it’s your last chance to show not only your team but everybody in the league that you’re good enough to play at this level and you’re good enough to be on a CFL roster and hopefully for our guys it’s with our team,” says Elks quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who threw a pair of touchdown passes in Edmonton’s 30-20 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their first preseason game last week.

“We spend so much time building some relationships and bonds throughout the last three weeks and we never had to miss a practice, so we’ve had a lot of opportunities for our young guys to be able to make our roster, so hopefully for everybody out there they get a chance to put their best performance out there at the very end.”

Arbuckle can relate to what his younger or less tenured teammates are going through. While the veteran pivot has now established himself in the CFL, it was only four years ago that he was a rookie in camp with the Toronto Argonauts. Arbuckle was competing for the No. 2 spot on the Argos’ QB depth chart, and arrived at his make-it or break-it moment.

“I didn’t have a great first preseason game so really it all came down to that second one and I was able to have a really good performance,” he says. “I remember just going in being very stressed and nervous but also at the same time, you’ve just got to clear your head and focus on the things you can control and just let everything take care of itself.

“That’s the advice I give to everybody, just try to control what you control, don’t try to put yourself in the GM’s shoes or the coach’s shoes and try to cut yourself or sign yourself. Just try to be where you are and control what you can control and let everything take care of itself.”