Not since 1937 has a team captured four consecutive Canada West football championships.
The Alberta Golden Bears do have their name on the trophy four straight years from 1962-65, but two of those were ‘shared’ championships where the teams were tied atop the standings at the end of the season. The last team to win four in a row outright was Saskatchewan — who captured four straight banners from 1934-37 — and the 2011 Calgary Dinos have a chance to make some history as they go for their fourth straight Hardy Cup title Friday night at McMahon Stadium against the UBC Thunderbirds.
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The last team to appear in four straight Canada West title games? UBC from 1996-99, with a record of 1-3.
The Dinos’ run of conference championships to this point has been impressive, with victories over Simon Fraser (2008), Saskatchewan (2009) and Alberta (2010). The Saskatchewan game in 2009 was an instant classic and a 39-38 Dinos victory; the Alberta game in 2010, where the final score was 56-3, not so much. Now, as the 75th edition of the Hardy Cup rolls into McMahon Stadium, the Dinos get set to take on their fourth opponent in as many years in the upstart UBC Thunderbirds, matching the top two offences in the conference head-to-head.
Kickoff for the 75th Hardy Cup goes at 6 p.m. on Remembrance Day Friday, live coast-to-coast on TSN and on QR77 radio (AM 770) from McMahon Stadium.
It’s the first time since 1999 the Dinos and T-Birds have hooked up in postseason action, even though UBC is the most common playoff opponent in the University of Calgary’s history. Friday night will be the eighth playoff game between the teams, with UBC holding a 4-3 edge in games. It’s also the first time Calgary and UBC have played a playoff game at McMahon Stadium since Greg Vavra led the Dinos to a 21-12 win in the 1983 Hardy Cup.
Regardless of the outcome, one team will put an end to a long streak of futility. UBC has not won a game of any kind at McMahon Stadium since all the way back in 2000 while Calgary last won a playoff contest with the Thunderbirds in 1992, a 26-24 overtime decision. Including last week’s semi-final win over Regina, Calgary is 15-2 all-time at home in the playoffs, with both losses coming to Regina in semi-final games in 2000 and 2002. The Dinos are a perfect 8-0 in Hardy Cup games at home including wins over UBC in 1977 (13-12) and 1983 (21-12).
With the game happening on 11/11/11, it’s fitting that both quarterbacks will wear No. 11 in the contest. Calgary’s Eric Dzwilewski has lost just two games as a starter in CIS, including this year’s regular season finale at UBC, while UBC’s Billy Greene is looking to give his team a shot at playing in the Vanier Cup in its own backyard as the Thunderbirds return to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and the Hardy Cup for the first time since 1999.
Since the playoff structure was instituted in 1977, the home team has won 25 of the 35 Hardy Cup games played. The winner of this one gets one more home game, with the Quebec champion visiting next week for a national semi-final.