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Indoors or outdoors, in cold weather or worse, Rick Ray comes through. Just tell him its playoff time and the Edmonton Eskimos' quarterback delivers — a regular Mr. November.

Armed with a stellar 6-1 postseason record in his CFL career, including three Grey Cup appearances, Ray led the Eskimos into Canad Inns Stadium today to face the hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The weather was biting (minus 3 C at kickoff with gusting winds); the field was slick. But with Ray in command the Eskimos carved out a 29-21 win in the East Division semi-final.

It marked the first time in the history of the league's cross-over playoff format that a Western team had won and advanced to the East Division final. The Eskimos will now face the Alouettes next week at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

Although the Eskimos had a better regular-season record than Winnipeg, the Blue Bombers had finished with a 6-2 record sparked by their running backs Joe Smith and Fred Reid. One of those late-season wins was against Edmonton.

But the Eskimos executed a precise, postseason game plan both offensively and defensively. Ray kept the Winnipeg defence on edge with his short passes to running backs A.J. Harris and Calvin McCarty. Ray also got key catches from receivers Kelly Campbell and Maurice Mann. Altogether, that gave Edmonton a significant advantage in field position and time of possession.

"We tried to do a little more ball control against the wind," said Ray, who completed 27 of 37 passes for 303 yards. "It was key to use the clock and not turn the football over. We didn't force anything."

Defensively, the Eskimos believed if they shut down the Winnipeg ground game that would put all the pressure on Winnipeg passer Kevin Glenn to win by passing the ball.

"We knew if we didn't stop the run we didn't have a chance," said Edmonton head coach Dan Maciocia.

Glenn, who experienced severe highs and lows during the season, had some success early against Edmonton but was forced into a critical miscue.

Just minutes after Jason Armstead brought the 27,493 Winnipeg fans to their feet with an explosive 93-yard punt return for a touchdown, Glenn goofed. His pass was knocked down by Edmonton defensive end Fred Perry, who then made the interception and returned it 31 yards for a shocker of a touchdown.

The score gave Edmonton a 20-15 advantage.

"I knocked the ball down and ran it in," Perry said. "We all played hard. We knocked down balls, we got sacks. We all played as a team."

The Blue Bombers staged a fourth-quarter rally aided by the wind. Kicker Alexis Serna booted a pair of field goals (38, 43 yards) to pull Winnipeg to within eight points.

On the Blue Bombers' first offensive possession of the afternoon, they tried to get the ball deep to receiver Romby Bryant. Glenn had Bryant open in the Edmonton end zone but overthrew him. Winnipeg settled for a single point on a missed Serna field goal.

On their very next offensive play, the Blue Bombers went back to Bryant, who blew past Edmonton defensive back Jason Goss and eluded safety Siddeeq Shabazz for a 78-yard touchdown pass and run that put Winnipeg ahead 8-0.

The Eskimos rebounded with a field goal then were able to get untracked in the second quarter with the wind at their back. A short Edmonton punt and a 25-yard return by Tristan Jackson, set up Edmonton at the Blue Bombers' 32-yard line. Five players later on a third and goal from the one-yard line, Harris ran outside and into the end zone to give the Eskimos their first lead, 10-8.

Harris added a second-half touchdown on a three-yard run.

"Everybody had a say in the outcome of that football game," said Maciocia, who told his players after the game how proud he was of them. "This is a special group for many different reasons. Our young guys are slowly buying into what we're trying to do."

Armstead's punt return was the longest in Blue Bombers' history.