Tiger-Cats season ends after Eastern Final loss against Alouettes

Once again, we were so close. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost their chance at a Grey Cup this year in the dying seconds of last night’s Eastern Final.

The Montreal Alouettes took it 19-16 and will move on to challenge the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the league championship.

For many Ticats fans, this one hurt. But after Saturday’s loss to the Montreal Alouettes, no one is hurting more than Ticats’ wide receiver Kenny Lawler.

Fighting through the emotions, Lawler says, the reason why he still loves this game? The life lessons. “Sometimes in life you don’t get the result, so you know.”

East Division finalist for defensive lineman of the year, Julian Howsare remembers the common thread through this team: Ted Goveia.

“Ted, he…this team he built here…I mean, I’ve been up here 8 years, playing professional football for 11 best locker rooms I’ve ever been a part of,” says Howsare.

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“When you have 29 free agents, you’re rebuilding the team almost every year. I know most of the guys, if not all of the guys, really like the culture here.”

Ticats head coach and offensive coordinator, Scott Milanovich, says the next step for his team is to prioritize their free agents. Milanovich has already met with QB Bo Levi Mitchell. He says Mitchell can still play and wants him to stay a Ticat as long as his heart is in it.

Mitchell was last to the podium, moving with a little more energy than his teammates. Mitchell is feeling the loss, but sees the bigger picture.

“I’ve probably just been through it more. It’s so many hours of work put into it, to have something being taken away in seconds.”

The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Mitchell be back?

“I think we all have a mutual understanding of what we all want. I need to have those discussions with my wife and my girls to decide what’s best as a family and myself,” says Mitchell.

Head coach Scott Milanovich says he’ll be meeting with team decision makers to review their free agent list Monday morning. Then, how will the roster look after that? We’ll have to see.

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