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The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are back from a well-deserved week off of rest & relaxation; and while many used the time to connect with family and friends, everyone still had the eastern final on their minds.
The Ticats were glad to be back at work and very glad to be practicing indoors – especially defensive end Bryan Hall. “Most definitely, most definitely. I’m from Kentucky so it gets a little cold, but I woke up and it was 14 this morning, and it was 70 on the bye week, so I don’t know.”
After having played 11 straight weeks without a bye, the entire team was given last week off. Coach/GM Kent Austin says several players were so banged-up they wouldn’t have been able to practice. Some took the time to heal, while Hall “went to Chick-fil-A. You don’t have any in Canada.”
However quarterback Zach Collaros was getting itchy. “I know by the third day at home I was anxious to get back up here and get to work.”
As for coach Austin: “yeah, I took the first day or so, I think…” He spent the rest of of the week watching film, and perhaps, planning for a fourth straight game without the services of Andy Fantuz.
“Andy was out today, just an extra day, so we’re gonna’ take this week, be cautious, let him continue to strengthen, see how it goes.”
Meanwhile, in Montreal, the Alouettes are feeling pretty confident; going so far as to say they’ll kick the Ticats’ “you-know-where”, that they’re going to win “this one”, and that they’re going to be tough to stop.
Coming off a 50-to-17 drubbing of the B.C. Lions in the Eastern semi-final, that kind of cockiness might be expected, but Zach Collaros is taking the trash-talk in stride.
“I gotta admire the confidence and if there’s one thing I respect about them is they have an identity, especially defensively.”