Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

There wasn’t any need to electronically enhance the noise that supporters of the Saskatchewan Roughriders were making Sunday at the intersection of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue.

The din created by the honking car horns and the cheering fans was loud enough to be heard all the way to Toronto. The fans who gathered at the street corners had every reason to celebrate. The Roughriders earned a trip to the 95th Grey Cup game Sunday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a 26-17 victory over the B.C. Lions in Vancouver on Sunday.

“We’re rolling now,” one Roughriders fan bellowed after joining the impromptu celebration. “We’re ready to party!”

The crowd started with approximately 20 fans wearing Riders’ jersey while waving flags and green-and-white pom poms. It quickly swelled to more than 60 as fans poured out of the honking cars.

They were loud and proud of their Roughriders. They danced and cheered while waiting for the lights to change. Then they would rush over to the other side of the street. They just kept going around and around, stopping only to exchange high fives with passing cars.

“Can it get any better than this?” one fan wondered when asked about the celebration. “We only need some rich guy to buy us Grey Cup tickets.”

Joel Drever doesn’t have that problem. Drever’s friend, Aaron Young, won tickets to the Grey Cup through a local radio promotion.

“He’s a really, really, really good friend,” Drever said after approximately 600 jubilant fans had filed out of the Casino Regina Show Lounge. “I’m going to be there in the front row and I’m going to be cheering them on. We’re going to be walking in green for four days and yelling, ‘Go Riders!’ ”

The Show Lounge could have substituted for Mosaic Stadium on Sunday. The fans were outfitted in green-and-white jerseys, slamming the Thundersticks that they received at the West semifinal on Nov. 11 and cheering every great play that involved the Roughriders.

“The best part was how many times we sacked B.C.,” said Russ Rodman, whose green-and-white striped face was complemented by a green-and-white wig. “It’s always nice to see the Lions being knocked down. It’s a trend that I like to see.”

The fans on Albert and Victoria encompassed all ages. The Show Lounge was older but just as vibrant. Some fans like 83-year-old Gertrude Gottinger enjoyed all aspects of the season. Gottinger has been a season-ticket holder since 1953.

“There are times when I said I wouldn’t renew my season tickets but I always bought them,” Gottinger said. “I know that we can beat Winnipeg but did you ever think that Saskatchewan and Winnipeg would meet in the Grey Cup game?”

Joan Mead was dressed in a green-and-white outfit that was topped with a cap from the 1989 Grey Cup, the last time the Roughriders won the league championship.

“It brought us a lot of luck,” Mead said. “It was so exciting in 1989 when we went but it was a long time ago.”

Joan Coult said she is optimistic about the outcome for what she said is the wrong reason.

“After what happened to (injured Blue Bombers) quarterback Kevin Glenn, I said that whoever won today would win the Grey Cup,” Coult said. “It doesn’t matter who plays the Blue Bombers, they are going to have troubles. I would have loved to see a replay of the Labour Day Classic. Now that won’t happen.”

The fans were well-behaved, according to the Regina Police Service. Most of the crowd at Victoria and Albert had dispersed by 9 p.m. There weren’t any disturbances reported and the watch commander at the RPS said they weren’t expecting any.