VANCOUVER — Where do you start?
The injuries?
The bizarre plays?
The made plays (yes, there were a few of them, too)?
The missed plays (lots and lots of them)?
No, the Stamps’ 34-32 win over the B.C. Lions here at Empire Field tonight was no work of art; far from it, in fact. But compelling? Oh, plenty compelling. Down to the wire stuff, the kind of game that makes the Canadian Football League so great.
And, in the end, the Stampeders wipe sweat from their brow thanks to a two-point win that some may argue they don’t deserve. But the fact of the matter is, they made more plays at crucial times than the B.C. Lions. They had more defensive stops, more big plays (on special teams especially) and, quite frankly more horses to cover their losses, such as the half-time departures of Daren Stone and Karl McCartney (both likely to hamstring injuries.
Rene Paredes couldn’t have had a better debut. His first kickoff produced his first special-teams tackle, and his first field-attempt produced his first made field goal — from 50 (!) yards, a kick that sent a palpable jolt through the Stampeder players on the sidelines.
Larry Taylor, too, was huge; my game story suggested that his 50-yard punt return at the end of the first half might have been the most crucial play of the game for the Stamps, as it finally generated some field position and momentum for the Stamps, who immediately turned it into the game’s first touchdown. And the Stamps, it should be noted, never trailed again.
Defensively, this was as clutch a performance as I’ve seen. The Stamps were missing two starters, lost another when McCartney pulled up lame, and then were burned badly when Milt Collins moved temporarily to cornerback for the injured Greg Fassitt and was immediately burned for an Akeem Foster touchdown.
But in the end, they got a crucial Keon Raymond interception in the last few minutes, and maybe got a bit of a break when Geroy Simon dropped the game-tying two-point conversion in the end zone.
Still, there’s work to do, particularly on offence. Henry Burris was picked off three times, with two of them on his shoulders (Johnny Forzani clearly should have caught the first one). He fumbled once. And he also mishandled the handoff to Joffrey Reynolds in the last minute, planting the ball high on Reynolds’ chest, and watching in horror as it bounced into the hands of Solomon Elimimian.
But a solid stand from the defence forced Paul McCallum to attempt a 57-yard field goal at the end. He was short, and the Stamps escaped with the victory.
There are injury issues. McCartney and Stone, for sure. Fassitt appeared to hurt his hand. And punter Burke Dales was limping all night with his hamstring problem.
That’ll all be sorted out Sunday and Monday. For now, the Stamps can celebrate. It took a while, but it was worth it in the end.

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