A REMARKABLE RUN FOR THE ORIGINAL REDBLACKS
Beating Hamilton would give Ottawa third Grey Cup trip since entering league in 2014
Only five players from the original Redblacks team are still with the club and you bet they can feel the pain of that 2-16 first season. Of course, they also know the glory that has come since. Namely, being one win away from going to their third Grey Cup game in four years. Now, the CFL is a nine-team league, but the success the Redblacks have already had in the first half-decade of their existence is unheard of in pro sports. “I think in 50 years from now it’s going to be looked at as one of the greatest starts of a football program,” defensive back Antoine Pruneau said Thursday. “I hope I stay here for 10 years and we can win a whole lot of Grey Cups.” Pruneau and offensive guard Nolan MacMillan — both of whom are coming off the injured list just in time for Sunday’s Eastern Final against the Hamilton Ticats — are three of the five original Redblacks. The others are offensive lineman Jon Gott, defensive lineman Andrew Marshall and defensive lineman/ special teams ace Nigel Romick. MacMillan, you may recall, became the first Redblack when he was the ninth overall pick of the 2013 CFL draft — one year before Ottawa took the field. Not really the nostalgic type, the 27-year old Arnprior native is more excited about returning to the roster after missing the last nine games. “I’ve played five seasons, so fortunately I’m going to get some of the first-time jitters out of the way early,” said the joking six-foot-six, 294-pounder, who brings the size of Ottawa’s starting O-line (which includes SirVincent Rogers, Evan Johnson, Alex Mateas and Josue Matias) to 31 feet, nine inches and 1,506 pounds. “We’re all big guys and we’re all kind of similar in our approach to the game. As a unit, we mesh really well. This is our time to shine. Cold-weather game. It’s going to be which line is tougher out there, really.” Pruneau, who returns after a five-game absence, is kind of hoping for frigid temperatures Sunday. Dealing with the cold, he said, is just a mindset. The field is going to be harder and it’s going to be tough to brake. It changes the way both defensive backs and receivers cut. It can change the play calling. But Pruneau also thinks the Redblacks thrive under such conditions. “You’ve got to be conscious of what the weather is, but you cannot let it affect your intensity and your effort,” Pruneau said. “I don’t know what happens, but whenever it gets cold, it feels like there’s more energy. Even if it’s snowing. I remember that East final against Edmonton (in 2015), just the spirit ... I could tell from the start we were going to win that game. “Most of the time coming out of the locker-room you can tell if we’re going to win that game or not. If the weather affected us, it was in a good way. “And the game against Hamilton two weeks ago, I was just there as an observer, I saw pre-game, all out guys were out on the field and it was raining and cold and nobody seemed to care what the weather was. They knew we had to go get the ‘W’ and clinch first place. It was great to see.” Pruneau, selected fourth overall in the 2014 draft, is the straw that stirs the drink for the Redblacks. Along with improving the team with his tenacity and talents, he has become an inspirational leader — something he started developing as a rookie. “I think I was the type of player they wanted here,” he said. “After that, I tried to influence people to do it a little bit my way. “A lot of it I learned from Henry Burris. A lot of it started with him. The way he was, the way he acted here with this organization, but also in the community here in Ottawa. “I didn’t know him before I came here. But after two days here I realized I had a very special individual in front of me. I talked to my family. I talked about Henry Burris and the way he was acting ... my father told me, ‘You’ve got to learn from that.’ That’s exactly what I think I did. It helped a lot.” Pruneau said it was a “privilege” to play with Burris, just as it has been to be with the Redblacks from scratch. “The way (general manager) Marcel (Desjardins) is, this whole team is built up around the way he thinks,” Pruneau said. “The guys that are under him are trying to emulate that. “It’s great to see from the inside and it gives a good result from the outside, too.”
I think ... it’s going to be looked at as one of the greatest starts of a football program. I hope I stay here for 10 years and we can win a whole lot of Grey Cups.