Hardy Cup rivalry renewed
For the third straight season, Dinos set to collide with UBC Thunderbirds
There’s no love lost between the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
The two teams have seen way too much of each other at this stage of the season over the last couple years to be anything but bitter rivals.
On Saturday, they’ll renew that rivalry when they play for the Hardy Cup — Canada West bragging rights — against one another for a third straight season, and even their alumni are getting in on the action.
Calgary Stampeders quarterback Andrew Buckley and receiver Anthony Parker will both be in the stands supporting the Dinos program that helped them grow into CFL players, and even the usually reserved Buckley admitted that a win over the Thunderbirds would be a little extra special.
“I love seeing UBC lose as much as I love seeing U of C win, so I’ll definitely be cheering,” Buckley said after the Stampeders’ Friday morning practice.
The No. 6-ranked Thunderbirds and No. 4-ranked Dinos have established themselves as the class of the CW conference over the past three years and have seen a once non-existent rivalry grow into something much more heated.
That likely started when Blake Nill defected from his job as the Dinos head coach and took a job running the Thunderbirds program prior to the 2015 season.
Many of the players on that Dinos team — including Buckley — had been recruited by Nill and were eager to get their revenge in the 2015 Hardy Cup, only for the Thunderbirds to score a major upset and knock off their hosts at McMahon Stadium en route to winning the Vanier Cup.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the Dinos avenged that loss last year by outlasting the T-Birds 46-43 in an instant classic.
Saturday’s Hardy Cup final at McMahon Stadium (1 p.m.) has all the makings of a grudge match, although none of the principle actors involved are willing to admit that’s the case.
“To be honest, I don’t see it like that at all,” Nill said. “Of course there’s a rivalry and of course we’re here to try and be successful on the field. We understand the quality of the opponent we’re facing and we understand the history of the program we’re facing, but I don’t see it as a trifecta.
“Don’t be surprised if the same two teams are here next year.”
In many ways, the Thunderbirds are the new kids on the block in this burgeoning rivalry.
The UBC program was in tatters prior to Nill’s arrival — which coincided with the recruitment of star quarterback Michael O’Connor — but the Dinos have been smashing teams up in Canada West for years now.
In fact, Saturday will mark the Dinos’ 10th consecutive appearance in the Hardy Cup, and they’ve hosted the conference final at McMahon Stadium in nine of those years.
They’ve been the best team in Canada West for a long, long time, and as much as the Thunderbirds might be the team’s hated rival, UBC’s emergence has been a good thing for Canada West.
In a conference that at times in the past felt like it was just the Dinos’ appetizer before the big challenge of chasing the Vanier Cup, there are no longer any guarantees.
That gets emotions running high, and that’s good for football.
The challenge for coaches on both sides, though, is harnessing that emotion.
“It’s an emotional game, and it has to be controlled emotion,” said Dinos head coach Wayne Harris, whose team beat the Thunderbirds 31-17 in their lone regular season matchup in 2017. “You want to be disciplined and not take penalties because of an emotional outburst, but definitely the way the game goes, a lot of it is carried by the emotions of the players.”