By Nic Sgaggi
Stampeders.com

Stamps linebacker Yannick Carter thought he had played in his 100th Canadian Football League game against the BC Lions on Aug. 1.

He was wrong.

After realizing that the game against BC wasn’t actually No. 100, he geared up to play his 100th game against the Ottawa RedBlacks on Aug. 9.

Wrong again.

However, this time he’s 100 per cent certain he will take part in his 100th regular-season game this Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“Yeah, a little bit of a false alarm – two false alarms, actually,” Carter joked after being told the on-line listing of his game tally he had consulted was incorrect. “I thought it was the game against BC. We lost that game so I guess, in hindsight, it’s pretty good that that wasn’t my 100th game.

“You always want to come up with a win. After that game against BC, I thought the next one was my 100th game and that wasn’t it either. I’m glad to know that we’ve got that all sorted out – this is my 100th game. I can actually celebrate it and celebrate it right.”

Carter admits it’s hard to believe the milestone is at hand.

“It was actually a shock to me when I came to the realization that I was going to be hitting 100 games this year,” Carter said. “I just randomly stumbled upon it. I wasn’t keeping track at all throughout my career and it wasn’t something that I really thought about as I started playing through my career. I was sitting in the locker room and talking to some of the guys and I realized that it’s going to be my 100th game and it was quite a shock. But it’s an accomplishment.

“That’s a lot of games to play. A lot of running and a lot of beating up on the body but it’s something that I’m very happy that I’ve been able to reach.”

Coincidentally, Carter will enter his 100th game with exactly 100 special teams tackles in his career — a feat he achieved against the BC Lions. You know, in his 98th game.

“The personal milestones don’t really do us any good,” Carter said. “At the end of the day, the most important thing that you’re looking for is a win. That would be the best gift to get on your 100th game – a win. That’s all I could really ask for.”

He admits he’s starting to feel the effects of each passing game on his body but he doesn’t plan on calling it quits any time soon.

“I remember when I was a rookie,” he chuckled. “I used to be able to get on the practice field and I’d run around with no warm-up and I’d be perfectly fine. But at this old age of 30, I’ve at least got to get a two-hour (warm-up) before I work out for two hours on the practice field. I can definitely feel it in my body, but I’ve still got many years left in me.”

Carter spoke about his increasing role as a veteran and mentor to some of the younger players on the Stamps roster.

“Yeah, behind the scenes I do (consider myself a mentor),” he said. “I talk to some of the guys if I see some of the little things going on. I was mentored when I was a younger guy by Auggie Barrenechea. He taught me a lot of tricks of the trade, especially on special teams.

“No matter how long you’ve been playing in the league, you can still learn something new. It had been six years before I started playing here for the Stamps and I learned a whole new set of blocking techniques from Coach Kilam. That’s something that I really appreciate being able to take in as an older player and also pass on to some of the younger players who come in.”

The game may be of higher significance for the Pickering, Ont., native now that he knows he’ll be playing game No. 100 in Hamilton against his former team of four years.

“I think the biggest thing coming out of me playing this game in Hamilton is that I’ll be close to friends and family,” he said. “I guess my ticket count is going to go up for this week. I’ll have to do a little bit of work in addition to practice and get as many tickets as I can so I can have friends and family there to celebrate the momentous occasion with me. I’m really looking forward to it.

No doubt, it will be a special occasion for Carter but he still considers winning the only important thing.

“It’s just another game,” he said. “At the end of the day, the only important game is the next one. Whether it’s No. 100, 200, your first game or 10th game, all you want to do is come up with a win. If you come away with a loss and it’s your 100th game, it’s kind of forgotten about. You don’t want to remember it.

“Given that it’s 100 games and it’s a personal goal, it’s something that I’ll be able to brag about when I’m done playing,” he added. “But at the moment, I’m only worried about winning or losing.”