The CFL waited patiently to put a team back in the nation’s capital. If they were going to do it, they wanted to do it right.

Man, have they done it right.

With CFL expansion again in the air, this time possibly to Halifax , it’s worth noting the Redblacks stand as quite possibly the league’s most efficient and effective initiative in a very long time.

As of today, the Ottawa Redblacks, born in 2014, are the most dominant and successful three-down pro team in Eastern Canada. They’ve been relevant since the first game they ever played, they play in a gorgeous stadium, they’ve attracted a loyal fan base and are now headed to Edmonton for their third Grey Cup game in four years. They’ve even won the silverware once.

For that, well, folks who love this league should thank Mark Cohon, the former CFL commissioner who shepherded the expansion Ottawa franchise from an idea to reality and insisted on the “go slow” approach. Randy Ambrosie runs the league now, and he’ll have an enormous job on his hands to match the work done in Ottawa if the CFL attempts to place a team in Atlantic Canada for the first time ever.

This modern Ottawa gridiron outfit, quite simply, has been a blessing to this league, particularly in the east where Hamilton hasn’t won a Grey Cup in 20 years, the Argonauts don’t draw flies and were horrific this season and Montreal has lost ground ever since Anthony Calvillo retired.

The league may have trouble being noticed in the country’s largest three cities, but the Redblacks have, in their four seasons, delivered a blast of energy and enthusiasm that was noticed across the nation.

On Sunday, Ottawa pounded Hamilton 46-27 in a one-sided East Final, jumping ahead 27-6 early by intercepting two errant Jeremiah Masoli throws and turning them into touchdowns. By the time it was over, Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris had completed 29-of-32 passes to 10 different receivers and thrown a CFL-playoff record six touchdown passes in an extraordinary performance.

Think of all the great Ottawa quarterbacks. Russ Jackson. Tom Clements. Condredge Holloway. None ever did what Harris did on Sunday.

Next, Harris will face a much sturdier Calgary defence, which shut down the CFL’s highest-scoring offence from Winnipeg at home to make it to the Grey Cup game for the third straight year. The chances of Harris being able to slice and dice Calgary like he did Hamilton are slim. The Stampeders are the CFL’s standard of excellence right now, having averaged 14 wins for the last six seasons. But they’ve got only one set of championship rings from those years, and have lost the Grey Cup game the last two years, including a 2016 defeat to the Redblacks.