John Hufnagel has plenty of experience with the Labour Day Classic, having participated in one of Canadian football’s greatest traditions as a player, as an offensive coordinator and, for the past six seasons, as a head coach and general manager.

It was a rough start in the series for Hufnagel — the Stamps were winless (0-3-1) from 1976-79 when Hufnagel was a Calgary quarterback and the Red and White also lost to the Eskimos in 1990 in Hufnagel’s first season as offensive coordinator.

Since then, however, business has picked up dramatically as the Stamps have posted an 8-3 record in the 11 most recent Labour Day Classics in which Huff has been involved.

For the veteran football man, this is a game to savour.

“I think it will be very exciting,” he says. “I know Stamps fans are always excited about the Labour Day Classic and I’m sure there’ll be quite a few green jerseys coming down also. I expect the type of game that you really enjoy playing — that type of environment.”

The fact this particular Labour Day Classic pits the 6-2 Stampeders against a 1-7 Eskimos squad doesn’t fool Hufnagel for one moment.

“It’s the Labour Day Classic,” he reminds everyone. “It’s your rival. Everybody knows they’re a better football team than their record (indicates) and my team understands that.

“What we need to do is make sure we’re ready to play in the heat because it’s an afternoon game and it’s going to be hot. We have to make sure we’re ready to play for 60 minutes because Edmonton is a good fourth-quarter team — they’ve scored the most points of anybody in the league in the fourth quarter and their defence has kept the (opposition) out of the end-zone in the fourth quarter.

“I think it’s going to be a heckuva football game.”