Courtesy Calgary Herald:

Anthony Gargiulo says some day he may forgive — he hasn’t yet — but he’ll never forget the play, or the player, that could have ended his football career.

But the Calgary Stampeders defensive end, whose rookie season came to a shattering end in the regular-season finale last November when his left leg was broken after a controversial block from B.C. Lions offensive lineman Jason Jimenez, insists he’s on schedule to return to the team in time for training camp in a month.

“I free pretty well considering how far away from running I was just two months ago,” said the 23-year-old Dartmouth grad on Friday, from his home in Neshanic Station, N.J. “I’m getting exponentially better as the days go by. I’m feeling optimistic about it.

“I obviously don’t think that’s going to be the case (that the injury could cost him his career), but I’m not going to be unrealistic and say that it’s not possible. But in my mind, it’s not going to be an option for me.”

Jimenez was initially suspended for one game for an illegal block, but an arbitrator overturned the suspension after an April 10 hearing in Calgary. That ruling was released on Thursday, and it left Gargiulo disappointed.

Video evidence of the play, from the Nov. 3 game at B.C. Place Stadium, was inconclusive, and the play was finally ruled “accidental.”

“There’s a clip of him falling into the back of my leg, but the two seconds leading up to it is off-camera,” said Gargiulo, who played 10 games in 2007, making 21 tackles and five sacks. “Therein lies the problem, I guess, that you can’t prove (intent).

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