This weekend sports in Ottawa will feel different. Vans Old Skool Sale . Both when the CFL’s Redblacks host the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night - just a few short minutes from where an armed gunman rained chaos on the city Wednesday - and then again when the NHL’s Senators host the New Jersey Devils in suburban Kanata. It’s not the games themselves that are going to feel different. It will be the aura around them, the feel in the stands as they begin to fill up, the singing of “O Canada”, which will be sung with a little more belief, conviction and pride. There are of course the first sporting events since the attacks this week, when the National War Memorial became a crime scene and the Parliament Buildings the subject of terrorist-minded attack. As Jeff Hunt the president of the Ottawa Redblacks said earlier this week, hosting a game Friday night gives his organization, the honour, the power and the responsibility to help lead the healing process. An assault on such symbolic places, in a city that often feels more like a large village, cuts deep. Virtually everyone in Ottawa would know somebody who was in the parliament buildings, or nearby when the chaos erupted. Virtually everyone will be in some way affected. There aren’t a lot of ways to find comfort by sharing that pain, or ways to begin the healing process alongside others similarly affected, which is why sports will play an important role in the return to normalcy for people in Ottawa. Not because it can allow people to take their minds off of what’s occurred, but because it gives them a chance to band together in a unified voice, to express their determination to remain united in the face of threat. It’s also a way to remind ourselves that the world is still mostly a safe place; that it’s okay to be among crowds without feeling threatened by the thought about who might be lurking among us with the worst of intentions. Ask anyone who attending the first week of NFL games after 9/11 about what that felt like. Or anyone who attended a sporting event in Boston after that city was hit by a terrorist threat at the Marathon. Some people wondered if the city would ever feel the same, if going to sporting events would feel like it used to, a place to laugh and cheer and lose yourself in the magnificent distraction of it all. What the Bruins’ run to the Stanley Cup final and the Red Sox road to the World Series title proved was that people were in fact not afraid to gather in public, that standing as one behind your team as a community had a cathartic quality to it. That’s what the people in Ottawa will experience Friday and Saturday night - strengthened by the opportunity to share with each other their determination to remain strong. Watch the Alouettes vs. Redblacks live tonight on TSN1, TSN4 and TSN5 starting at 6:30pm et/3:30pm pt. Vans Shoes Clearance Sale . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Vans Old Skool Black . - Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que.TORONTO - Fresh off of a season-saving win, Raptors guard Greivis Vasquez stood behind a podium on the third level of the Air Canada Centre and impersonated one of his teammates most identifiable moves. As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier. "I love it, he goes like this," he exclaimed without hesitation, busting out his interpretation of what has been dubbed "the DeRozan face". To his credit, it was dead on. DeRozans signature celebration has become a welcomed sight for Vasquez and the rest of the Raptors players. "Its something I can only do in a game after shots or a dunk or something," DeRozan said. "Its just me being intense." After draining an 18-foot fadeaway jumper, his second straight bucket, with just over two minutes left in Tuesdays 100-95 Game 2 win over the Nets, the Raptors all-star guard strutted up the court doing the DeRozan face. "I told him before the game," Vasquez noted. "I said, Youre going to have a great game, I want that face. I get fired up when he starts doing that and he makes that face." "I think you see it in all of us," DeRozan fired back. "Even with Greivis, what he does when he makes a big shot, when he looks up in the air. Im like, ‘whatchu looking at, G? Everyone has their own gestures and we feed off one another when we see somebody else doing that and it just gets us going." Can you do the DeRozan face, Dwane Casey was asked. "I dont know what youre taking about," said the Raptors coach, immediately turning away. So, not everyone was playing along. This was the lighthearted scene following practice on Wednesday afternoon, just two hours before the Raptors shipped off to Brooklyn for Games 3 and 4. Naturally, the conversation turned to the immeasurable chemistry that has held this team together throughout a tumultuous season, the chemistry they feel will work to their advantage as they enter enemy territory this coming weekend. "Its going to be a new frontier," Casey said, preparing his team to face the Nets at Barclays Center with their opening round series tied at a game apiece. "Weve been a good road team in hostile situations, hostile gyyms. Cheap Vans Sk8 Hi Shoes. Our guys have responded." That they have. Their 22 road wins are a franchise record and theyre just one of four teams to knock off the Nets in Brooklyn in 2014. Throughout the season, they have cited their togetherness, a camaraderie on and off the court, as the primary reason for their unexpected success - being a young team - away from home. Both DeRozan and Kyle Lowry referred back to a conversation they shared after Tuesday nights win. Torontos two leading scorers were in full agreement that this is the most harmonious team theyve ever been apart of. "Its just great to have a group of guys who just really get along," Lowry said. "Youd never think a group like that, with so many different personalities, that everyone really just feeds off each other and everyone genuinely likes each other. We really are like a band of brothers. Its cool. Its like, were able to hold each other accountable and we know its not out of spite, its because we want to be better. Its constructive criticism." Chemistry and winning seem to go hand in hand. Youre unlikely to enjoy a sustainable measure of one without the other. Chemistry is a valuable commodity in professional sports, but its fragile and almost impossible to quantify. "Chemistry is a funny thing," Casey admits. "You know it when you got it, but its so easy to lose. Its hard to put your finger on it. I think we have good chemistry, the right pieces, the right guys, the right personalities in the locker room." That togetherness, like defence - Caseys other fixation - tends to travel well. The Raptors have harnessed an us versus the world mentality in the unfamiliar surroundings of the road and will need it more than ever if they hope to take control of this series on foreign soil. The Nets own a record of 22-4 at home since Jan. 1, tops in the NBA over that span. "The reason were here right now in the playoffs is just because we got one of the most healthy locker rooms," Vasquez said. "No egos at all. Everybodys just happy if anybody does well. We care about each other on and off the court and when we go on the road, we get each others back."  "The reason we became a good team, [are] on our way to becoming a great team, is just because we care. Chemistry is such a big factor on any team, and we have it. We do have it." ' ' '