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Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

CHANGE COMING

After Sunday’s game, Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell said that between the CFL and CFLPA’s expiring collective bargaining agreement, a number of players likely to get NFL looks and two new leagues starting up in the U.S., there’s a good chance that the Grey Cup will mark the last time the Stampeders core all play together.

Mitchell himself is a free agent, as well as Alex Singleton, Micah Johnson and Ja’Gared Davis, among others — the full list will get released soon.

While there is sure to be change, Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson reminded reporters that it won’t be the first time his team has dealt with that.

“I felt like there were a tonne of new faces this year,” Dickenson said. “I’ve never seen so much turnover. It’s why it wasn’t hard to sell the idea that we’re a new team and a new year, because we didn’t have a lot of guys from the previous two years.

“We lost a big chunk of what I would consider the core vets last year, and I really was emotional last year because I knew we let one get away.”

Complicating the Stampeders off-season will be the collective bargaining negotiations, which figure to disrupt free agency and prevent teams from signing players.

“You can’t get everything accomplished that you want, but you’ve gotta have a plan and I’ve always felt like (Stamps president/GM John Hufnagel) is a step ahead anyways, so we’ll do our best,” Dickenson said. “We’re at the mercy of how it goes down, especially with how it goes down with the contract situations and who we can sign, but when it does go down, though, it’s just going to be like fast and furious and we’re going to be at the top of our game to hopefully get the guys we want.”

YES THEY DID

The Stampeders arrived back in Calgary around noon on Monday, and looked like a group of guys who had a lot of fun the night before.

Nobody can fault them for celebrating, and if it means they’re not getting much sleep, well, that’s OK.

“Thirty minutes, that’s it, 30 minutes on the bus,” said running back Don Jackson. “There’s no reason for us to sleep, we’ve gotta bask in it.”

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