Hage has nothing but kind words for Hamilton

by Drew Edwards

After one of the most difficult days of his professional career, Marwan Hage spent the evening doing nice things for somebody else.

After 10 years as a Hamilton Ticat, Hage was taken by the Ottawa RedBlacks in the Canadian Football League expansion draft Monday afternoon, forced against his will to leave the only professional team he has ever played for.

But Dec. 16 is also his wife's birthday — she'll give birth to their first child in February — and so, just hours after getting the news, Hage was in the kitchen making one of her favourite meals.

"I often like to spend time in the kitchen when I have something on my mind, so it's good timing," he said, laughing. "I am cooking dinner, I got her a cake. I'm just trying to be a good husband right now."

Hage was taken in the third round of the expansion draft, meaning the Ticats protected 12 other Canadian players instead of the centre they took with the 14th pick overall in 2004.

He has been an excellent player, earning CFL all-star honours in 2010 as well as an East Division nod in 2007 to go along with five CFLPA selections, the most recent in 2013. He was named to the Ticats' all-time team in 2012.

But he has been an even bigger presence in the community, establishing Hage's Heroes program that welcomed thousands of kids to Ticat games and fed more than 10,000 families through food shares in Hamilton, Guelph, Moncton and Hage's hometown of Montreal. He also travelled to El Salvador in the 2012 offseason to do humanitarian work in that impoverished Central American country.

"I've bled black and gold for 10 years and have the scars to prove it. I don't regret any of it," he said. "It's a shocking day, but I have to be grateful. It's unfair to say anything else."

Hage said he is particularly appreciative of Ticat owner Bob Young and CEO Scott Mitchell for giving him the opportunity to grow as a player and a person.

"Obviously, it's a shock, but it's OK," Hage said. "I came here as a young boy but I'm leaving here as an accomplished man."

At 32, Hage will provide RedBlacks general manager Marcel Desjardins — a former Ticats GM — with veteran leadership for what is likely to be a young, inexperienced team. On Monday night, just hours after receiving the news, Hage stopped short of committing to Ottawa, however.

"It's registered in my head but I have to let it sink in," Hage said. "But, as I said after the Grey Cup, it's a privilege to play this game and I still believe that."

Hage said he's been inundated by calls from former teammates and friends from around the league, his Twitter account bombarded by fans expressing anger at his departure or appreciation for his time with the team.

"I've been here so long, I feel like the fans do — sadness, disappointment," he said. "Their support means a lot to me. I'm very proud to have been a Ticat."

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Austin looks to the future after losing Hage in expansion draft

By Drew Edwards

As the Hamilton Ticats head coach, Kent Austin needs to win now. As the general manager, he must also build for the future.

Monday's Canadian Football League expansion draft was about the latter.

Austin left veteran centre Marwan Hage off the list of 12 Canadian players he could protect as Ottawa made its third round of selections from rosters across the league and saw the RedBlacks scoop up the 32-year-old who has played his entire career in Hamilton.

"We're pretty high on our young players and we have a few that we believe are going to be very good players for us," Austin said. "It's time to build into those young players."

The Ticats also lost running back Chevon Walker and fullback John Delahunt in the draft's first two rounds.

Walker had 148 carries for 849 yards and five touchdowns as well as 41 catches for 426 yards and four touchdowns in 20 games over two seasons with the Ticats but played in just six contests this year as C.J. Gable emerged as the team's primary back. Delahunt, an Ottawa native, played in eight games, catching nine passes and scoring two touchdowns. His rookie season was interrupted by a knee injury he suffered in August.

"It was a difficult process," Austin said. "Good players and guys that we hate to see go but we wish them well, in particular Marwan who has been a great player for us, a great ambassador for this team."

Ottawa RedBlacks general manager Marcel Desjardins, a former Ticats GM, said he was surprised to see that Hage was available in the final round.

"He's still a significant contributor to his team and will be with our team," Desjardins. "I did not think he would be there."

Desjardins said Hage's community work and media savvy — he speaks several languages, including French — will be valuable, along with his leadership skills.

"In addition to his abilities — and he may not be the player he was a few years ago but he's still a very good player — we drafted a number of younger Canadian offensive linemen and Marwan will be the leader of that group," Desjardins said.

If Hage returns to Hamilton, it won't be anytime soon. Players taken in the expansion draft can't be traded directly back to their old teams until they've played two games with Ottawa.

The Ticats are deep at running back, where they have both Lindsey Lamar and Tavoy Moore to back up Gable and contribute in the return game, an area where Walker was limited. But Walker, who showed blazing speed in both his seasons with the Ticats, should get an opportunity to be a feature back in Ottawa.

"Can't explain the amazing feeling of starting my new chapter in life," Walker said via Twitter.

Delahunt went undrafted but the Ticats took the unusual step of putting him on their negotiation list — something that is normally the domain of import players — during his senior season at the University of Connecticut.

The Ticats still have veteran Dahrran Diedrick and Austin said the team may pursue converting linebacker C.O. Prime to fullback, a position he played in college.

Replacing Hage may prove to be more difficult. The team has veteran Tim O'Neill, who was the team's sixth offensive lineman for much of last season but played extensively at centre when Hage was injured in 2012. They also have youngsters Carson Rockhill, Landon Rice, Joel Reindeers, Mike Filer and Cody Husband in development: Filer took reps at centre during practice this season but has yet to start a CFL game.

The Ticats drafted a centre — the University of Connecticut's Moe Petrus — in 2011 but he's been out of football for two seasons and is reportedly happy living and working in California. Austin described the odds of Petrus replacing Hage as "very low."

The team is also expected to be without Canadian guard Peter Dyakowski for at least a portion of next season after he suffered a knee injury in the Grey Cup.

Hage's significant contributions to the community make his departure even harder, Austin said.

"It makes it difficult, I'm not going to lie. I'm very fond of Marwan, as are others in this organization," Austin said. "That being said, I have a responsibility to build this team according to what we believe as a staff is the right thing to do."

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Hage a tough loss for Ticats and fans

By Steve Milton

How do you say goodbye to Marwan Hage?

It's like asking how you tell water how much it has meant to the oasis. There is no answer that can come close to being enough.

Ten years a Ticat. No, 10 years the Ticat. Others — Jesse Lumsden, Casey Printers, Jason Maas, Marcus Thigpen, Chris Williams among them — had their day, some luminously, but none shone so consistently bright as the centre who wanted to play all of his days in black and gold.

Hage, of Lebanon and Montreal, became more Hamilton than most people who have grandparents here. He was the people's player. The fans felt like he knew their names as well as they knew his.

He spoke for this team, he sang of this city, and he was rarely, if ever, out of key. He put his money, and his time, where his mouth was. The charity work, the exhausting media and public appearances, the union commitment, the team captaincy, the revolving door of bosses, the endless relay of quarterbacks, Hage embraced them all with equanimity and a megawatt smile.

He played during the worst era in Tiger-Cat history yet in that dark he was always a light, athletically and personality-wise. He calmed fans, made them think it would all be all right, even if it took some time, which it certainly did. And less than a month after he finally makes the first Grey Cup appearance of his distinguished career … he is whisked out of town by the Ottawa RedBlacks. The RedBlacks are unlikely to reach the Grey Cup game soon so, unless they trade Hage, he has been there and done that. Only once.

Actually, if we're being honest here, the RedBlacks didn't whisk him out of town, the Ticats did. There were a dozen Canadians — five more than are required to start in any game — that the Cats preferred to protect ahead of Marwan Hage.

Losing Hage in the first non-import round of the expansion draft would have been one thing and an understandable one. Chalked up to a gamble that was made, and lost.

But that he was still available in the second round was no gamble, and sent a very clear message. Hage's time was done here; he was not in the plans for anything beyond the very near horizon.

Kent Austin emphasized Monday that he likes the potential of his offensive line, even without injured Peter Dyakowski, perhaps for most of the season. Hage and Dyakowski. Who else has there been, really?

It's likely that, in draft considerations, Hage caused the biggest gulf between Kent Austin the coach and Kent Austin the general manager. The former would have wanted him around to give the coach a better chance to complete unfinished business in 2014. The latter was looking well down the road, even though there is no immediately apparent replacement for Hage.

Tim O'Neill, who has done a marvellous job across three or four positions since arriving here two years ago, is now the centre of record and the Cats will be grooming either a draft choice, or the likes of returnee Mike Filer, to take over.

Pro sport is a business, and that was never more apparent than it was mid-afternoon Monday. And, in business, memory plays almost no role. Sentiment plays even less of one. Hage did not chase free agency when it, and the hometown Montreal Alouettes, beckoned. But, when it was time for the shoe to go on the other foot, Hage sure must have felt like Cinderella's sisters.

And Kevin Glenn has to be a happy man today. He's got a new start, with no quarterbacking controversy, and, assuming that Hage reports to his new team, Glenn will be very familiar with the butt he'll be reaching under a hundred times a week. As Spectator beat writer Drew Edwards points out, the RedBlacks went for experience down the middle: at quarterback, centre, linebacker and safety. With Hage and Glenn and Jason Pottinger, they're already looking at a "good room."

Since Glenn left just two years ago, Hage had already snapped to four other quarterbacks. The three Ticat quarterbacks when he began here were Danny McManus, Marcus Brady and Ben Sankey and there have been a dozen more in between.

But only one Marwan Hage.

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Here's Scott Radlley's interview with Ottawa RedBlacks GM Marcel Desjardins

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Here's a cute video of former Ticats quarterback Kevin Glenn watching the expansion draft with his family. Watch his reaction to the RedBlacks drafting Chevon Walker.