McMaster University Marauders' head coach Stefan Ptaszek, left, and University of Laval Rouge et Or head coach Glen Constantin pose for photographs with the Vanier Cup during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday November 22, 2011. The McMaster University Marauders and University of Laval Rouge et Or will play in the Vanier Cup CIS Canadian university football championship in Vancouver Friday.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
McMaster Marauders head coach Stefan Ptaszek didn't take Glen Constantin's pre-season prediction all that seriously.
Ptaszek's club visited Constantin's Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City for a controlled scrimmage in August, and Constantin told his counterpart afterwards they would see each other again in the Vanier Cup.
Three months later, Constantin's forecast has come to pass as the two school's will battle it out Friday for Canadian university football's top prize.
"It was a good weekend — except for the hurricane," Constantin said Tuesday, recalling Laval and McMaster's time together.
A day after the controlled scrimmage under sunny skies, the two teams faced each other in a pre-season game as hurricane Irene struck.
"You couldn't pass the ball in the second half," said Constantin. "It was raining sideways. It was a bad one. I thought we might just call it quits at halftime, but we played through it. (The crowd) was 8,000, ... not bad for a hurricane."
The crowd — and the stakes — will be much bigger this time around. Constantin is seeking a record sixth Vanier Cup as a coach and Laval is going for a record seventh title overall and third in four years.
Ptaszek, meanwhile, is attempting to get his first as a coach and bring McMaster its first championship 44 years after losing its only other Vanier Cup appearance, 10-9 to Alberta.
"We feel fortunate to be here and able to get this rematch," said Ptaszek, playing the underdog card early and often during an introductory news conference at BC Place Stadium.
After Laval prevailed 24-10 in the stormy pre-season game, the Rouge et Or compiled an 11-1 record in the regular season and playoffs while McMaster went 10-1. Laval qualified by thumping the University of Calgary 41-6 in the Mitchell Bowl last Friday, while McMaster defeated Acadia 45-21 in the Uteck Bowl.
While the teams have similar records, the two coaches took different paths to get here.
Ptaszek, a Burlington, Ont., native, played briefly in the CFL as a receiver with B.C., Hamilton and Toronto in the early 1990s after helping Wilfred Laurier claim the 1991 Vanier Cup. He then served as an assistant at UBC and Laurier before joining McMaster as head coach six years ago.
Constantin, a Quebec City native, played on the defensive line at Champlain College in Lennoxville, Que., and the University of Ottawa before becoming an assistant coach with Bishop's University.
After four seasons as defensive co-ordinator at Bishop's, he accepted another assistant post in 1995 at the University of Houston. But Quebec City businessman and sports entrepreneur Jacques Tanguay soon lured him back home to work at Laval.
Despite his success, Constantin has no desire to seek a CFL job.
"I respect the CFL, but it's a different business," Constantin said. "In the CFL, you have a salary cap, one first-round pick. Here, if you recruit properly, you can have 10 and you can control more stuff. I've seen great coaches, such as coach Greg Marshall from Western (a former Hamilton Tiger-Cats coach) go from being the coach of the year one year to being out the next.
"I have a great program. I control pretty well all aspects of my program, and in the CFL, you don't always control everything. You're on the hot seat, and I'm looking for continuity."
Like the coaches, Laval's and McMaster's football programs are studies in contrasts. Laval, unlike many Canadian university sports programs, is financially self-sufficient, regularly attracts crowds of 16,000 and has five full-time coaches.
Ptaszek estimates that his program's budget is 25 to 30 per cent of what Constantin has to work with. His budget funds a full-time salary for himself and part-time salaries for his assistants, who put in many hours.
"But Laval is not a big bully that walks away with the trophy every year and doesn't support the entire league," Ptaszek said. "They're tremendously supportive of all of us."
Describing Constantin as a mentor, he notes Laval regularly pays the way for other clubs across Canada to visit its campus in the pre-season as a means of improving the quality of university football. This will mark the third time in six years that Laval has met its pre-season opponent for the Canadian crown.
"We just thought that they were the team to beat in Ontario," said Constantin. "Since we would be playing against Ontario in this game, it was important for us to bring in an Ontario team."
But now that Constantin's prediction had come true, both coaches refused to touch the Vanier Cup as they posed for pictures beside it.
"I'm not touching it," Ptaszek said. "It's bad luck."
Despite all of his success, Constantin was equally superstitious.
"I've never touched the Cup," he said. "I've never worn the rings, either. The next conquest is the best — and the nicest ring is the next one."
Notes: Constantin is among several coaches who favour a CIS super-conference for more talented teams. If that can't be accomplished because universities have different philosophies on their preferred competition level, he said, schedules should allow for non-conference games during the season. ... More than 21,000 tickets have been sold. About 7,400 of those were acquired by Grey Cup ticket purchasers who had the option of receiving a free Vanier Cup ticket, said event director Jim Mullin.