Team spirit keeps Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans warm on West Division final game day
Fans wore parkas under jerseys as well as team toques and hats on chilly Winnipeg game day
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 take the Blue Bombers a step closer to bringing home the Grey Cup for the second season in a row.
The Bombers are facing off against the Saskatchewan 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 Hristovski attended 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.
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."
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 Elviss drove from Gull Lake, Sask., to Winnipeg to cheer on their team — which is surprisingly not the Roughriders — alongside Hristovski.
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.
Fellow Blue Bombers fan Dennis Giesbrecht arrived 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 for the 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."
With files from Sam Samson