REGINA — It would be hard for any follower of the Saskatchewan Roughriders to not feel for running back Thomas Bertrand-Hudon and how things went for him in the 2025 CFL campaign.
With starting ball carrier A.J. Ouellette going down with a minor concussion early in the season opener against the Ottawa Redblacks, Bertrand-Hudon stepped in and instantly became a fan favourite.
The 29-year-old Mount-Saint-Hilaire, Que. product went on to have 14 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown, helping the Riders to a 31-26 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks while showing off a hard-nosed running style that earned him the moniker ‘Thomas the Train’.
Two games later, it looked like his season was in jeopardy.
A leg injury in the Week 4 game against the B.C. Lions saw Bertrand-Hudon miss three months and 11 games of action, eventually returning in Week 18 against Ottawa. And while he’d go on to finish off the Grey-Cup winning campaign, there was a sense of what could have been.
Now, Bertrand-Hudon is as healthy as can be. And that has the fourth-year veteran hoping for a solid year whenever his number is called. He spoke with the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas at a recent practice and had nothing but good news with regards to his health after Saskatchewan’s 31-27 win over B.C. in their season opener this past Saturday.
“It feels good,” Bertrand-Hudon said. “We had that bye week, so it kind of allowed us to sleep a little bit, but the fact that now we're back into action and we're going for the next five or six weeks, being able to get the first W definitely helped us.”
The fact Bertrand-Hudon finished the season and played in the Grey Cup victory helped take some of the sting away from a what-if campaign.
“I mean it was kind of tough to overcome, but I dealt with it all throughout the season last year,” Bertrand-Hudon said. “This offseason was just switching my workout and making sure that I stay healthy for the entire season.”
To that end, it was a lot of hard and consistent work that Bertrand-Hudon feels has paid off to start the campaign.
“Coming in early, going to the gym, getting the body ready to start moving, never really taking a day off,” he said of his preparation plan. “Even on my day off, come in and still get the body moving, get the joints active and get the tendons firing up at least just so I can be able to perform and not get injured.”
Bertrand-Hudon slotted in behind Ouellette in the Week 2 win over B.C. and had a single carry for two yards. The win was more important in the bigger scheme of things, though, especially with how well the offence performed.
“It was great,” he said. “We had some big signings this offseason, especially bringing all the wide receivers back, so the fact that all three of them were about to turn up, and even A.J. on his side did good whenever he was in and he had the ball in his hand. So it was amazing to see the offence like that.”
Now, it’s a matter of keeping on and keeping on, especially as they travel to Calgary to face the Stampeders on Saturday for their first road game of the regular season.
“Keep our attention to where it was at, and keep our focus for the entire season,” Bertrand-Hudon said of the outlook the rest of the way.
The Rider Broadcast Network pre-game show will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder having the game call at kickoff at 5 p.m.
