Brendon LaBatte returns to practice with the Riders

During the Eastern Semi-final all Brendon LaBatte could do was sit on the sideline and hope for the best, so he’s hoping he can have a bigger impact this week against Toronto.

LaBatte went down with an undisclosed injury during the last game of the regular season against Toronto, he had to be carted off the sidelines and back into the locker rooms – never a good sign – but he said in the days that followed it turned out the injury wasn’t as bad as they originally feared.

“Nothing completely torn up or ruptured, so that’s good news,” LaBatte said after practice at Carleton University on Wednesday.

The Riders are practicing at Carleton all week as they opted to stay in Ottawa ahead of Sunday’s Eastern Final instead of flying back to Saskatchewan in between.

Despite being unable to play last weekend, LaBatte made the trip too and is thankful he may get a shot to play another game (or two) before the season is over.

“When you got to sit out in a win or go home game, you’re just hoping you can win to see another day to have another chance to come back. The boys played great out there.”

This season was a comeback one of sorts for LaBatte who suffered what was thought to be a concussion in 2016, but turned out to be an issue with a nerve in his neck.

After seeing an American specialist, he was given the all clear to suit up again and he played in all 18 of the regular season games.

In late October, LaBatte signed a four-year extension that would keep him in the green and white through 2022.

He’s hoping to be able to play in the Eastern Final on Sunday, but he said he and head coach Chris Jones are taking it one day at a time.

“We’ll see how tomorrow goes, (practice today is) the most I’ve been able to since this happened so I’ll see how I react and how I’m feeling in the morning,” he said.

“I just got to know that it’s gonna hold up and not go away on me throughout the game because that’s my biggest thing is: if you’re going to start something you got to finish. I’m not doing nobody any good to go out there and get myself into something I can’t finish.”

The Roughriders have closed practice to the public and the media on Thursday.