By Geoff Crane
Stampeders.com

It’s wait-and-see time for the Calgary Stampeders as they look forward to finding out who they will face in the Western Final on Nov. 23 at McMahon Stadium.

Despite a successful regular season that saw the Horsemen gallop to a league best record of 15-3, the bitter sting of last season’s Western Final defeat to the eventual Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders has not been forgotten.

“Three teams from the Calgary Stampeders have been 15-3 and none has won the Grey Cup,” says seven-year defensive veteran Keon Raymond. “We want to make sure that we entrench our name as one of the best teams to ever play. (The regular season) doesn’t matter if we don’t come out and play the way we need to win on Western Final Sunday.”

Remarkably, Calgary had three straight 15-3 seasons under former head coach Wally Buono, only to lose twice in the West final — once to Edmonton and the other to BC — and the Grey Cup to the Baltimore Stallions in 1995.

This year’s squad is hoping to achieve what no other 15-3 Stampeders team has in the past and not only make it to the Grey Cup, but lay claim to the CFL championship.

But first things first — the Stamps must win the Western Final to punch their ticket to Vancouver and standing in their way will be the winner of the Western Semi-Final between the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Deron Mayo, who has quietly put together a solid season for the Stamps at outside linebacker alongside Juwan Simpson, insists it doesn’t matter who comes out of the semi-final as both teams present a difficult challenge.

“Both of those teams have great defences,” says Mayo. “Really, they are all-around teams, not just good defensive or offensive teams. They play well together.”

Calgary has had its share of playoff tilts with both the Eskimos and Riders in recent years, the most recent that sticks in the memory of Stamps fans was a crushing defeat in last year’s frigid Western Final at the hands of Saskatchewan. The Stamps gave up seven turnovers to bring an impressive 14-4 season to an unceremonious end.

“I would say last year, I don’t think we were as focused as we are this year,” says Mayo, who mentions the extra meetings and practices his teammates have done during Calgary’s first cold snap of the year. “We’ve had a few practices and guys have been flying around and getting their bodies right and people are getting a lot more healthy.”

Receiver Joe West agrees — this team is not looking past next week’s final.

“We’re just focused on getting the job done the way the coach wants it done,” says West.

“The team has been through so much this season in terms of adversity,” says West who lost a brother tragically during the season. “Players were getting challenged off the field but I feel like we’ve gelled together. We feel good about this. We’re excited about the game and about the cold weather. We’re ready to play in it.”

Cold weather is not a surprise in Calgary, it takes place in November after all.

Out of the 18 West finals the Stampeders have participated in since the CFL moved to a one-game elimination format, 11 of them have taken place at McMahon. In those matches, Calgary holds a 4-7 record.

Of those 11 games, six have been against the Eskimos and the series is split 3-3. The Riders have been to McMahon twice, taking victories in both games.

Overall, Calgary has faced Edmonton 10 times in the West final, sporting a .500 record. Saskatchewan is a different story with the Stamps losing all three matches so far.

Keon Raymond isn’t worried about the stats and he wants his teammates to feel the same way.

“My thing that I tell them is we still haven’t accomplished anything yet,” he says. He’s been talking to his teammates all week – especially the younger ones – to make sure they are prepared to “leave everything out there on that field because it’s do or go home right now and guys have to understand no matter who has been the best team all year, one game is going to decide who is going to the Grey Cup and we have to make sure we are ready.”