Excerpts of head coach/general manager John Hufnagel’s comments to media on Friday afternoon in Winnipeg.

On Winnipeg’s notoriously windy conditions:

We played Saskatchewan with an 85-km/h wind and we were able to manage it. It always makes it a little more difficult but we’re no stranger to wind out there in the Rocky Mountains.

On the Stampeders’ practice habits this week coming off the loss against BC:

I like the way we responded. I mean, we’ve lost other games before. Every game is important and it’s a tight race. We prepare hard and we need to.

On facing a team the Stampeders beat 44-3 on Sept. 14 at McMahon Stadium:

We’re facing a very good football team. I thought they were very good when we played them the first time, but sometimes a team has that type of game that they did against us that night. We expect a very, very different football team. We expect the type of football we thought would show up on Sept. 14. I think they know they’re a better football team than they were in McMahon Stadium and I expect a very, very close football game.

On how the Stamps can maintain focus with the playoff season around the corner:

It’s hard to say. We have such a young football team. We were one of the youngest teams going into training camp and after all the injuries that we’ve had, we’ve become a very, very young football team. They’re excited each and every game to play and to win. I don’t think we’re looking back, I don’t think we’re looking forward — I think we’re looking for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday. It’s going to be a heckuva game. We have to play good football.