If you want to stay among the elite when you are hit with losses — on the scoreboard and the roster — it's important to storm right back with a positive. Make that plural: positives.

Obviously, the most important positive the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, whose 5-2 record is nothing to sneeze at (or even have a runny nose about), seek is to beat the B.C. Lions on Saturday night at Tim Hortons Field after losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last Thursday. The Ticats would want to beat the Lions even if they'd won in Regina because no professional athlete ever believes it's OK to lose, whether it's at football or Go Fish. Particularly to a team which seems to have lots of talent but hasn't yet been able to sculpt it into more than one win in seven outings.

That kind of positive can't be achieved until the actual game, but another kind arrived this week with the return of Simoni Lawrence to practice with the A defence. He's finished his two-game suspension and the Ticats survived the absence of both Lawrence and Jeremiah Masoli with a 1-1 record; a tough-it-out win over Winnipeg and narrow loss to the Roughriders in which they also didn't have impact receiver Brandon Banks, starting guard Darius Ciraco and defensive end Adrian Tracy from the beginning and lost powerful rookie running back Maleek Irons before the audience was seated.

Masoli is gone for the season and that's just the way it is, but Banks is back for Saturday and so is Tracy, and you don't have to watch practice this week to know Lawrence is taking meaningful reps again and is going to start against B.C.: you just have to hear it.

"Simoni's personality is infectious," says head coach Orlondo Steinauer, who was speaking in general terms but his observation also applies to this week, where the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations could be the soundtrack.

"What people don't realize — they just see the three hours we're playing — is that he's that way at practice. As much as he may talk and have some fun, he's serious about his business and really works on his craft. He's a true professional."

While Lawrence's return is buoying, a hidden plus of his absence was the revelation to a larger audience what the Ticats themselves already knew internally. Nick Shortill can flat out play this game.

In two games subbing straight up for Lawrence at weak side linebacker, the former McMaster Marauder recorded 18 tackles. Take our word for it, that's an impressive sum.

Shortill's a quiet guy who has let his work, mostly on special teams in his three years here, do the talking. But on Tuesday both Lawrence and Steinauer spoke for, and about, him.

"Shorty did what he's supposed to do," Lawrence said. "He doesn't have to be me, he's a great ballplayer. If he was anywhere else, he would probably be the starter. And he's a great teammate. He helps me a lot. I come off the field and say, 'You see anything?' It's fresh eyes, and they're looking at the same kind of stuff I'm looking at. They're trained the same way you're trained. If you can have someone like that on your side, it's amazing."

Steinauer added: "We didn't ask him to fill Simoni's shoes, we asked him to play the position that Simoni was in. He did it like a professional. He played it at times like an all-pro. Not just in the tackles; he was pretty assignment-sound. I was proud of him, but I would be lying if I said I was surprised. He's one of the best teammates you can have, meaning that he accepts his role on the football team. But he's always itching to start and he made the most of his opportunity."

But he'll be back on special teams where he also excels because Lawrence is, well, Lawrence was off to one of the best starts of his career before his long-delayed suspension was finally implemented.

When Saturday's game kicks off, it will be 28 days since Lawrence last played, and it would be reasonable to anticipate that he'd come out like a colt bursting from the barn. He understands the assumption that he might be overrevved, but counters that he'll be in control.

"No, we have a great staff here. We have people who understand and know me as a player and I listen to them," he said. "They help me stay calm. I know how I am and I haven't played football in a while. I'm not overexcited, I'm not trying to kill anyone. But we do play an aggressive game called football."

Notes: American running back Cameron Marshall, who played for Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, comes off the replacement roster to replace Maleek Irons. ... The Ticats have re-signed Canadian receiver Brian Jones, who played two earlier games but was released, as a big-body type to replace Nikola Kalinic, who's gone to the six-game injury list with a foot injury. ... Tuesday's practice was delayed for more than half an hour by lightning in the vicinity.

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