Without taking anything away from Calgary, as they emerged as the champions from another tough conference, it's still hard to accept that they would have been nearly as tough an opponent as Laval was after they lost by a margin of 49 points on Saturday. Now I know just as well as anyone how tough it is to play in Peps Stadium, especially how tough it is to respond once Laval gets rolling, and the crowd is pumped, and Calgary was not prepared to play in that environment, and wasn't able to adjust to the difficult circumstances that they faced early on in the game.
We love our fans, and all those that come out to support us; Calgary wouldn't have been facing the same disadvantages though, had they been playing on our field. Still, after seeing the effort that they put forth, I think our team would have been well prepared to succeed against them. I realize that certain teams match up differently against each other and it is possible that Calgary is much better suited to play our team than they are to play Laval. Maybe it's arrogance then that makes me think this way, and the best team doesn't win on every occasion, but I really believe that we would have beaten Calgary. So the same scenario has repeated itself three years in a row now, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating; we have always felt that advancing past the Dunsmore Cup is the greatest obstacle to overcome in our quest to advance to a Vanier Cup final, and it seems true again this year. Good luck to Laval and Western this coming Saturday, I will watch and enjoy the game regardless of which team wins. The only thing that will upset me will be if Western gets trounced as easily as Calgary was. This would only add to the disappointment of knowing that 2008 could have been Concordia's year-- it was there for the taking.
