MONTREAL - The Montreal Alouettes are sporting T-shirts this week with their slogan for this year's run at the Grey Cup -- This Is It.
"It just means that whatever we're doing at the time is the most important thing we're doing," coach Marc Trestman said Monday.
A day earlier, the job was to beat Toronto in the CFL East Division final and they put a 48-17 whipping on the Argonauts.
Next up are preparations for the Grey Cup against Saskatchewan at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Sunday.
"We took a moment this morning to congratulate ourselves one more time before we move on," Trestman said after a short team meeting. "Now we begin to plan for a new week."
The Alouettes are in their eighth championship game since 2000 and it will be three Grey Cup games in as many seasons since Trestman took over as head coach in 2008.
It will also be a second meeting in a row with the Roughriders, whom they edged 28-27 in the 2009 game on a last-second Damon Duval field goal that capped a bizarre finish to a tightly contested match-up.
They hope to become the first repeat champion since Toronto did it in 1996 and 1997.
But of course, Trestman's mantra since training camp has been that teams change from year to year, so it is impossible to repeat, even if the only new face of note this season is kick returner Tim Maypray.
"We can't repeat because we aren't the same team of players and coaches we were a year ago," added Trestman. "They aren't either.
"They have different coaches and (receiver) Weston Dressler is playing this week and he didn't play last year (because of an injury). This is an independent game and a new season. We don't look at ourselves as defending champs, we look at ourselves as a team that's trying to win a championship in 2010."
Saskatchewan struggled at times and finished with a 10-8 record, but their games against Montreal were tight as ever.
In the opening game of the season in Regina, an Andy Fantuz touchdown in the final minute forced overtime and the Riders won 54-51. On Aug. 6 in Montreal, a late Roughrider comeback fell just short as the Alouettes prevailed 30-26, despite Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant's 445 passing yards.
Dressler has been a particular menace, gaining 154 and 169 yards respectively through the air in the two games. He had a game with 179 receiving yards against Montreal in 2009 as well.
In Montreal, no one was surprised to see the Riders upset the 13-5 Stampeders in Calgary in the West final.
"They're the better team," said slotback Ben Cahoon. "Maybe Calgary had more superstars on their team, but Sakatchewan had better chemistry and more discipline and worked hard."
Added defensive end Anwar Stewart: "Those guys are resilient. The two times we played them, we were up and they came back. And I know they'll have their wave of green there again. I'm sure they're packing their cars and wagons and saddles and loading the horses up to go to Edmonton. We're excited about this."
Quarterback Anthony Calvillo has spoken of adding to a legacy that has seen the Alouettes dominate the East for most of the past 11 years but come up short in five of their seven trips to the Grey Cup game.
The first of their two wins in that span was in 2002 in Edmonton, when they beat the Eskimos 25-16. Calvillo, Cahoon, Stewart and guard Scott Flory played in that game and are still on the team.
"It was a beautiful week and then it got colder two days before the game and never thawed out," Cahoon recalled. "The field was an ice rink."
Commonwealth Stadium had grass in those days but now has an artificial surface that Cahoon hoped "will make a difference."
"That was a different time and we had a lot different team then," said Flory, a Regina native. "We were excited to be there.
"It's part of the culture of winning bred on this team over the last 10 or 12 years. The organization has done a great job of providing us with players. That was a fun time and who knows what will happen this week?"
The Alouettes will be without safety Matthieu Proulx, who suffered a suspected injury to the ACL ligament in his right knee against Toronto. He is to have further tests this week, but Trestman has ruled him out for the Grey Cup.
Proulx left in the second quarter after colliding with teammate Jerald Brown while both were tackling an Argos receiver.
"It's bad timing -- pretty sad at this point, but it's football and you have to live with it," said Proulx, who missed the 2006 Grey Cup game with a shoulder injury.
Etienne Boulay is to start in Proulx's place and will likely be backed up by Saskatchewan native Paul Waldu, who grew up playing junior and college football with some of the Riders, including receiver Chris Getzlaf.
"I don't know what the verdict is but I'm preparing to play the whole game," said Boulay, who normally slots into Proulx's spot at safety. "It wouldn't be my first time so it doesn't make me nervous."
Cornerback Mark Estelle left the East final in the fourth quarter with a bruised shin but is expected to be OK for the final.
