Touchdown Atlantic is a neutral site game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday.
For Riders kicker Brett Lauther it will truly be a home game.
The Truro, Nova Scotia product will be competing in his home province when the CFL resumes Touchdown Atlantic in Wolfville.
Leading up to the game, the Riders will practice at Lauther’s alma mater, St. Mary’s University.
Moncton was the site of the last Touchdown Atlantic matchup between the Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes in 2019.
Saskatchewan and Toronto were originally scheduled to meet in the 2020 edition of Touchdown Atlantic but the game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This will be Lauther’s second time competing in Touchdown Atlantic, he was apart of the 2013 Hamilton Ti-Cats team who defeated the Montreal Alouettes in a game played in Moncton.
In the 2022 season, Lauther has made 15 field goals out of 18 attempts with the Riders. He matched a career long field goal of 57 yards against Montreal earlier this month.
The kicker is looking forward to having a lot of friends and family at the game this weekend.
“I’m trying to get everyone there who hasn’t seen a game before live.” Lauther added “It’s going to be a pretty cool unique setting, all the temporary stands, down in Wolfville it’s a cool little college town, so I’m excited for everyone to see it.”
It is shaping to be a very busy week for Lauther. He says he will be taking part in a couple of local announcements with the league along with some football clinics.
Even with the busy schedule, the Riders kicker is enthusiastic about returning to his home province.
“I’m just trying to be the ambassador make sure everyone has a good time on our side has a good time, team, family, friends, making sure everyone is taken care of.”
Besides the game itself, Lauther says he is really looking forward to eating some real seafood once again.
Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo is trying to relish the moment of playing in the unique nature of Touchdown Atlantic on Saturday.
“You want to enjoy it, you don’t want it to be a distraction or you lose sight of your preparation.” He added “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I like I tell you guys all the time, I wouldn’t be exploring these beautiful things that Canada has to offer if I wasn’t playing football up here, I wouldn’t be in Canada.”
There have been discussions about the CFL expanding to a tenth city for many years with the Maritimes being at the middle of those talks. Lauther is hopeful one day, the east coast of Canada will be home to a CFL team.
“I think it completes the coast to coast ten team league, it’s what the CFL needs.”
The Riders will practice on Wednesday before departing for Halifax later in the day.
620 CKRM will have full coverage of Touchdown Atlantic, beginning with Countdown to Kickoff at 9:00, opening kickoff is 12:00.
