In Week 1 of the pre-season, under a soggy Calgary sky, Rene Paredes was forced to watch his BC counterpart kick a game-winning field goal that clanked off the crossbar and went through.

Thursday night in Regina provided some poetic justice as Paredes found himself in a similar position, kicking the game-winning field goal in the hostile confines of Mosaic Stadium.

“It felt good to just get my confidence up for the regular season, and for the next game,” says Paredes in the sweltering visitors’ locker room.

Paredes kicked a flawless three-for-three on the night, his longest field goal of 37 yards coming in the first quarter.

The muggy — and, at times, wet — conditions caused by the erratic prairie weather did little to intimidate the kicker known affectionately by his teammates as El Matador, no doubt due to his confidence with the game on the line.

“We had been practising in this kind of weather all training camp,” says Paredes. “It was the same thing as practice, so I wasn’t really worried about it.”

Those veins must run ice cold.

Even though the fate of the game against a bitter western rival hung in the balance, Paredes says his approach never changed.

“I just have the same mindset whether it’s an extra point or a 50-yarder,” says Paredes. “It’s just the same approach.”

Going into the regular season, Parades — or “Paradise” as fellow kicker Rob Maver refers to him — is feeling good and raring to go.

“I mean I went five-for-five (during the pre-season) so I’m pretty happy with what I did,” says the Venezuelan-born, Canadian-raised Paredes.

That’s what you call a stone-cold kicker.