By Vicki Hall
Calgary Herald

No one could blame Corey Mace for calling in sick June 28 when the Calgary Stampeders open the 2014 Canadian Football League season against the Montreal Alouettes.

Or, at the very least, no one could fault the hulking defensive tackle for stroking a lucky rabbit’s foot or conducting a 24-hour prayer session prior to his first contest in a calendar year.

Once bitten, twice bitten … “It’s all good man,” Mace said Wednesday with football in the air thanks to (rare) springlike conditions in Calgary. “Really, I couldn’t even think of missing any games. I’m just so excited to get back after it.”

In 2011, Mace ripped his Achilles tendon in Week 1 and sat out the rest of the season.

In 2013, the valuable Canadian tore the labrum in his left shoulder in Week 1.

As promised, Mace still contributed where he could – even with his arm in a sling – as an unofficial tutor to the new faces on the defensive line.

“The fact I had experience with it made it a little bit easier to handle,” Mace said of the prolonged time in sick bay.

“The first time it happened, I had my head in the dirt for probably half the season.

“You can put your head in the dirt and cry about it all season, but I didn’t want to do that this time. I just wanted to be part of the team in any way I could.”

On Wednesday, the 28-year-old starter said he is fit and ready to make up for lost time (provided, of course, the league and the players hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement in time for training camp to start June 1.)

“It’s been so long,” Mace said wistfully. “It feels like even longer than a year. My body is all rested up, and the shoulder, it’s been healed for a long time.

“I’ve just been having a really good off-season and I’m just getting bigger and stronger.”

An athletic specimen and ratio changer, Mace started all 18 games in the sandwich season of 2012, collecting 25 tackles, one sack, one pass knock-down and two forced fumbles.

Should the 6-foot-3, 285-pounder stay healthy, incoming defensive coordinator Rich Stubler has a potent weapon at his disposal.

Stubler also has incredible depth up front thanks, in no small part, to the number of players with quality starting time in 2013.

“It was unfortunate for me to be injured,” Mace said. “But with injuries, you get other guys to go in there and get a lot more playing experience.

Guys like Micah Johnson stepped up big time, going from linebacker to defensive tackle.

He’s an amazing athlete, and of course, Demonte’ Bolden just held it down. And Junior Turner is always coming into it, and he can fill in anywhere on the line from outside to inside.

“We’re all capable players.”

The more than capable CFL sack leader, Charleston Hughes, is back to create havoc off the edge, but his bookend, Cordarro Law, signed this winter with the San Diego Chargers. But farewells are part of the business. As such, Mace said goodbye to his longtime roommate at the beginning of April.

Safety Eric Fraser left for Ottawa to join the expansion Redblacks, leaving Mace without his good buddy and diet coach.

Seriously. Mace depended on Fraser to help him count calories and make wise choices in the kitchen.

“He left at the beginning of the month, and I think the first two weeks, I gained five or six pounds,” Mace quipped. “So I’ve got to put myself in check.

“My girlfriend said I need to take a look at my mid-section and slow down.”

Slowing down at the dinner table is one thing. Slowing down on the field is quite another.

And while Mace has reason to fear the season opener, he’s not about to gear down for a second in hopes of ensuring history doesn’t repeat itself a third time.

“I’ve never been a one to worry,” he said. “If it happens, it happens.

There’s nothing you can really do. All I can do is the rehab to get back “I hope nothing happens. But it doesn’t change anything. I’m going to go 100 miles an hour, regardless.”