It’s a fine balance being part of the biggest Canadian football event of the year while staying focused on the Xs and Os. Mark Kilam and his coaching staff began preparing for the Grey Cup championship shortly after the Edmonton Elks defeated the visiting B.C. Lions in Saturday’s West final, balancing the high of victory with the challenge ahead: beating the East champion Montreal Alouettes next Sunday in Calgary. “You’ve got to be flexible,” said Kilam, the second-year Elks head coach who attended several Grey Cups during his long tenure with the Calgary Stampeders. “You have to embrace the uniqueness of the schedule.” That schedule, especially at the start of Grey Cup week in Calgary, will be packed with meetings, media commitments and practices. “It’s definitely something that we have to adjust to, but it’s about managing the distractions and still preparing yourself to play winning football,” Kilam told reporters Tuesday before boarding a team bus at Commonwealth Stadium for the trip south. The Elks are seeking their 15th Canadian Football League championship and first since 2015, getting there after finishing first in their division with a 13-5 record and finishing off the Lions 28-16 in a closely played West final at home before 40,128 loud fans. The Alouettes, who topped the CFL standings with a 14-4 record, beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 33-23 in the East Division final. For veteran Elks quarterback Cody Fajardo, who won the Grey Cup with the Alouettes three years ago and earned MVP honours, the challenge is balancing preparation with taking in the experience. The 34-year-old said he sought advice from former teammates who had won Grey Cups before leading Montreal to the title in 2023. “You’ve got to walk this fine line between being prepared and also enjoying the week,” Fajardo said Tuesday. “I reached out to Ricky Ray and Travis Lulay – (2023) was my first Grey Cup as a starter – and I asked them, ‘Hey, what am I expecting?’ They’re like, ‘You’re going to get pulled in so many different directions. A lot of media. There’s going to be a lot more people focused on you. You’ve got to find a way to stay in your routine as best you can, but also, you can’t just be focused on football 24/7.’” On paper, the matchup pits the CFL’s highest-scoring team in the Alouettes against the league’s top-ranked defence in Edmonton. But Fajardo said Montreal’s offence has also found ways to put up points and win games. “This team prepares better than any team I’ve ever been around, and that’s what’s helped us win a lot of football games,” Fajardo said. “We’re going to prepare really hard, and we’re going to enjoy the week.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell
