The Hamilton Tiger-Cats open the season in three days and won’t have to wait to test the theory that to be the best, they’ll have to figure out how, finally, to beat the best.

The first test of the 2015 season for Kent Austin’s Grey Cup bridesmaids comes Friday in Calgary against the team that dashed their championship dreams last season.

“We owe them one. That left a bad taste in our mouth in the Grey Cup. Almost all the guys are back from that team and this is a game we are really taking seriously,” said defensive tackle Ted Laurent.

All but four of the Ticats from that disappointing 20-16 loss return to this year’s roster.

This is a team coming off back-to-back Grey Cup losses; a team that started 1-6 last season; a team with much to prove to itself and with a fan base living with huge expectations.

“We want to start the season 1-0. It doesn’t matter what the fans’ expectations are so much as that we have high expectations of ourselves,” said Laurent. “We have one of the best defences in the league. We have some great weapons on offence. And when you have so many guys coming back this is a team that has a lot of chemistry and trust in each other.

“I’m not taking anything away from Calgary. They won (last year’s Grey Cup) fair and square ... (but) we’ve got a lot of veterans back and we know what we’re capable of.”

He might not exactly be predicting a championship parade up Hamilton mountain, but it’s evident this is a team definitely thinking it.

While it is just Game One of a long schedule, this is a game that could be a telling point as to whether the Ticats can move from contenders to champions. McMahon Stadium has been kryptonite to anyone in black and gold for decades. Since 1988 Hamilton teams have just three wins in the killing ground that has been McMahon Stadium. They have also not won a game at Calgary in more than a decade — not since 2004.

If these trends are to be altered, much of the heavy lifting will have to come from defensive tackles Laurent and his sidekick Bryan Hall.

“Time for a change,” said Hall, who along with Laurent form one of the CFL’s best interior line tandems.

Laurent started 16 regular season games after signing as a free agent last year, recording a career-high nine quarterback sacks. He was nominated as the East Division’s most outstanding Canadian and was named a CFL all-star. Hall, also a free-agent arrival, already owns a Super Bowl ring from his days with the Ravens of the NFL.

Friday, job one is stopping Calgary’s ground attack. “They have a run-first mentality and as a line our focus starts with (running back) Jon Cornish,” said Laurent. With the Ticats owning one of the CFL’s premier run defences, this becomes a battle of the unstoppable object against an immovable force.

“We all know who No. 9 is. We all know what Jon Cornish can do. They have a great running game but we have a pretty good running defence ourselves,” said Hall.

Touching the ball 157 times from scrimmage last season — 139 carries and 18 receptions — Cornish amassed 1,215 yards, which equates to a dominant 7.7 yards per touch.

Even if the Ticats are able to limit Cornish, both Hall and Laurent say the front four, including Justin Hickman and Sam Scott, need to force hurried throws. “First priority is to stop the run, then we need to get some pressure on the quarterback. We do that it’ll be a happy day,” said Hall.

Scott starts Friday after being cut last Saturday and was getting ready for the sad drive back home to Delaware.

Instead, after a phone call Monday, he ended up parking his U-Haul in the team parking lot when he was re-signed after starting defensive end Eric Norwood suffered a cut leg and was placed on the disabled list. “It’s a crazy situation but I’m grateful for the opportunity,” said Scott.

Norwood led the team in sacks a year ago with 13, tied for the second-highest total in the league, and was a lock to start up front again alongside Hall, Laurent and Hickman.

For a team that has been beset by injuries this preseason, it’s no problem, said Laurent. “We’ll miss Eric. But Sam knows the system and he’s going to be able to step right in.”

The injuries will challenge the Ticats’ depth but they’ve not dented any of the confidence. “Coming into this season it was about how much work we could get in at training camp,” said Hall. “Well, everyone has done a great job. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do ... so yes we have expectations. We expect to be very good.”

Starting Friday, the rest of the CFL will begin to see how good.

HURTIN' BUNCH

Receiver Luke Tasker, running back C.J. Gable, offensive tackle Joel Figueroa and halfback Rico Murray are on the one-game injured list and won’t play in the Week 1 matchup in Calgary.

Head coach Kent Austin seems to believe Tasker, the team’s leading receiver last season, should be back shortly. “I don’t think it’s going to be a super long-term scenario.”

With the departure of all-star corner Delvin Breaux to the NFL and the injury to Murray, the Ticats are missing two starters from last season’s defensive backfield. Newly-signed Johnny Sears, who sat out last week due to injury, is practicing and could fill one of those spots.