Only seven of today's Edmonton Eskimos remember the sensation of a three-game winning streak.
Is it that long ago? Or has there been that much change since it last happened?
Ricky Ray, Jason Maas, Patrick Kabongo, Andrew Nowacki, Mathieu Bertrand, Joe McGrath and Taylor Inglis go back to 2005 and the last time the Double E won three.
Suddenly, with back-to-back ultra credible wins to their credit, the Eskimos can consider the possibility of getting a run going like they haven't had since they strung three Ws together three times in 2005.
One of those streaks was the West semifinal, the West final and the Grey Cup -- all on the road.
"It would be a good feeling if we could finally do it again. We haven't accomplished anything yet, but it would be nice to do that on the way to accomplishing something," said Kabongo.
Funny how things work in football.
When the Eskimos were losing 22-0 in Saskatchewan after a 50-16 loss in Montreal and a 40-22 loss to provide the B.C. Lions their only win of the season, fans who had so much optimism in the preseason were suddenly wondering if the club might be 2-8 after the Labour Day double dip.
But the back-to-back wins in Saskatchewan and against Montreal will send the Eskimos to Hamilton on Saturday in a much different mindset.
"We felt coming out of training camp that this was a team built to win," said Maas.
"Edmonton is used to winning. We've shown in these last two games like we're on the verge of doing that again. Winning feeds winning. Going on streaks is part of that.
"It's important for us to play at a higher level. That's more important than anything. This last game was the first time we played 60 minutes. We have to concentrate on doing that and the streaks and everything else we want will come."
Nowacki said the Eskimos have known over the past three seasons what it's like to go on losing skids, so it would be nice to get something going in the other direction.
"Momentum is huge for us right now," he said of a team which has gone through so much change that players are still introducing themselves to each other.
"It breeds confidence. The more everybody is playing with confidence, the more the wins start coming together."
Ray says the Eskimos haven't dealt well with the successes they've had in the three seasons since they last won the Grey Cup.
"We've been such an inconsistent team. I was afraid coming off such a big win in Saskatchewan we'd relax a little bit," he said.
"It's seemed like that's what we did all last year. We'd win a game or two then wait 'til our backs were against the wall, then we'd resurface again. Once we had a big win, we'd think we'd accomplished something -- and that's when you lose."
To Ray, that's what winning three in a row for the first time since 2005 would mean. It would say they're getting past that.
Onward and upward, says rookie head coach Richie Hall.
"We're getting things into a nice groove now. The challenge is to get better next week. That was the challenge coming out of Saskatchewan going against the Alouettes. We met and exceeded it."
Hall would love his team to make it three in a row for reasons beyond the standings.
Right now it's about developing a group with some glue, a group less afraid to fail and a lineup full of players having fun playing the game.
"Look at Ricky Ray in that last game. He had fun out there. I saw Ricky smile. It's important to see them smile. If Ricky was smiling, can you imagine what Dario Romano was doing?" said Hall.
Losing isn't fun. Nobody smiles.
"When you're struggling you start thinking 'Here we go again.' You want to be thinking 'Here we go again.' the other way," added the coach.
"To believe it and make it part of who you are. If you believe you can, that's half the battle right there."
The first three-game winning streak since 2005 would go a long way toward that.
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
