REGINA — The Green Mile may have been the scene for the victory parade for the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders, but it was the Saskatchewan Legislature that was the high point of the festivities.
It was a soggy and cold November afternoon in Regina, but the rain had let up just enough to allow the victory parade to make its way south down Albert Street from 13th Avenue.
Members of the Riders were carried on open-top vehicles driven by members of the Armed Forces, which slowly but surely made their way down Albert Street to the Legislature grounds.
It was there where the emotions and elation, all of which had built up ever since Sunday night's 25-17 win over the Montreal Alouettes, finally boiled over for players and fans. On the steps, the Roughriders took turns addressing the thousands of delirious supporters who had made their way down the parade route to arrive at the Legislature.
"As a staff, when we first came to Saskatchewan, we knew it was going to be crazy, but this is something else," said Riders Head Coach Corey Mace.
Mace took turns thanking various members of the Roughriders organization, including the "hardest working coaching staff in the entire league, baby!"
It was also clear Mace was looking ahead to next year.
"They keep talking about how there was only four championships in Riders history. Hey, we got five right now, and we ain't willing to stop, baby!"
Mace then led the Riders fans in a chant: "go, Riders, go!" He also had one last word of advice for the fans: "You'd better get your damn season tickets right now, let's go!"
"Rider Nation, we did it, baby, let's go!" shouted running back A.J. Ouellette. "Since I got here you showed me love, and I appreciate everything… I love you Rider Nation! We're champions!"
Offensive linesman Logan Ferland donned what looked like the Speaker's hat when he addressed the crowd.
"Shoutout to Mr. Speaker, Todd Goudy, thank you for your hat, sir. We're Grey Cup champs forever, baby!" said Ferland.
Special moment for Trevor Harris
When quarterback and Grey Cup Most Valuable Player Trevor Harris addressed the fans, he was greeted with chants of "MVP" and "one more year."
"I appreciate it guys, thank you guys so much for making this moment special. This is your guys moment as well. We've always had the best fans in the league, and now we've got the best dang team in the league to match you guys," said Harris.
Harris also made a particularly notable comment when he said: "Something we've never done is go back to back. So let's go ahead and start talking about that! Let's run it back!"
In speaking to reporters later, Harris was asked if that comment suggested he had made a decision to come back to the Roughriders for another year.
"No, I just think any time you've got Corey Mace here and the leadership which we do with J.O. (Jeremy O'Day) and Kyle Carson and Larry Dean, you always have a chance at that," Harris said.
As for his own football future, Harris said he would sit down with O'Day at some point, probably this week, and then talk to his wife and "kind of just go from there." But it was "not a physical deterioration thing."
Harris said he has always said for a long time that a retirement "won't be because of a physical reason, but I'll kind of see how it goes. But this sure is awesome and it's really really breathtaking to see what this means to the city."
After addressing the fans, Riders players had taken turns posing for photographs, including with a number of MLAs who were on hand that afternoon, and they eventually made their way into the Legislature itself.
The players took turns standing on the balcony above the entrance, where they hoisted the Grey Cup and waved the champions' flag, with euphoric fans cheering from down below.
While upstairs at the Legislature, Harris was presented a painting that had just been painted that morning — one of himself hoisting the Grey Cup with confetti falling. It brought "tears to my eyes," Harris said.
Afterwards, when he emerged onto the balcony, it was noted by reporters he seemed to be taking in the moment.
"It's one of those things where I think a lot of times we just say we exist in the moment, but we forget to smell the roses a little bit," Harris said. "I just wanted to try and take a look at the people here and just for a second see what it means for the city… it was really, really truly something that I'll be able to remember."
For players, the victory parade and celebrations at the Legislature made a deep impression. Kian Schaffer-Baker said to reporters his expectations for the victory parade were "surpassed and beyond."
"We're just getting started," said Schaffer-Baker. "It's just a special group of guys, and top down everyone that came out to celebrate today, we're just so appreciative of that. And again, we're going to keep partying, I know this city's going to be up all night."
"Unstoppable," was how Ferland described the team to reporters. He said the parade "more than exceeded" expectations, "if that was possible."
As for how he got the Speaker's hat, he replied "I'm not sure."
