Written by: Brendon Labatte
Hello and welcome back to my blog. With the season two thirds in the books we find ourselves at a respectable 8-4. After sprinting out to a 5-1 first third, the second leg seen us split at .500, and as we head down the stretch, we control our own destiny. There’s going to be some exciting football games to be played late in the season, which is a nice change for many of us who were around last year. The cliché “your next game always the biggest one” certainly holds true this week as we host Montreal for a round 2 in our fight for first place in the Eastern division. This game has been described as a six point game. Should we win, we would not only gain two points on the Als and move four up on them, we would also take the season series and force them to have to beat us by two in the standings in the last six games. This makes the stakes for this game extremely high. While our season is not going to be determined by the outcome of this week’s game, it will definitely have a huge impact on the remaining part of it. Due to the injuries to multiple star players we will employ some new faces on the roster, particularly on offence. With the Alex Brink at the controls, and Chris Garrett carrying the mail, the play of the offensive line will dictate the type of production we achieve as a unit. We need to put our new players in situations where they feel comfortable and can settle into the game quickly. We have no doubt that if they are allowed a chance to make the play that they will make it.
This week I had to attend morning treatment as did a good portion of the team. The game of football is so physical and is played with such intensity and speed that injuries are bound to happen. Last week in Toronto we unfortunately suffered an unusual amount in one game. One of the busiest people on the team this week was Al Couture the head athletic trainer. He and his crew of Avi Walker, and Jamie Evans treat everyone’s injuries and aches. Starting before the sun comes up, they manage to tape every player’s ankles in less then an hour and rehab the players coming off more serious injuries all before 9 A.M. Also added to the to do list this week was to get all the new players’ medicals done. Its a lot of managing and multi-tasking done by the trio to tend to each player’s health needs but without it we definitely aren’t where we are. They play such a critical role in getting players on the field each week and are often overlooked.
Well thanks for checking out the latest instalment of my blog. Looking forward to seeing and hearing you at the game on Friday and thank you for all your support to date. It is such a privilege to perform in front of such a loud, energetic crowd and it does a tremendous amount for the team.
Take care.
