CALGARY - While the wounds of a 33-31 loss to Queen's in the Vanier Cup last weekend are still fresh, the focus of the University of Calgary's Dinos football team is beginning to shift to preparation for 2010 and another run at a national championship.

The 2009 season was a 15-week odyssey that opened with training camp on Aug. 21, encompassed 13 games and more than 13,000 kilometres of travel, and culminated with an epic 13-night road trip through Halifax and Quebec City for the Uteck Bowl and the Vanier Cup. Excluding an exhibition game in Medicine Hat, the team posted a 10-2 record, with the two losses coming by a total of three points: a 34-33 overtime defeat in Week 1 at Saskatchewan, and the heartbreaking two-point Vanier Cup loss.

In between the two losses that bookended the season, the team reeled off 10 straight wins including a classic 39-38 victory over Saskatchewan to win a second straight Hardy Cup and a 38-14 drubbing of the Saint Mary's Huskies in the Uteck Bowl in Halifax to earn a trip to the national title game for the first time since 1995.

“This year, we won 10 games and lost two by a total of three points,” head coach Blake Nill told the Calgary Herald. “The games we lost were to highly ranked teams. I thought we took another step.

“We're a young program. We have to learn from the mistakes we make as coaches and as players so that we can have an opportunity like this in the future.”

The future is indeed bright for a program that is in the midst of a renaissance since Nill took over in 2006. After a complete housecleaning in his first season when the team finished 2-6, the Dinos have made three consecutive playoff appearances, won two Canada West titles, and made a Vanier Cup appearance, posting improved records in each successive season.

All of which leads to optimism for 2010, with spring camp set for early May—just five months away. The Dinos return with every starter on a record-setting offence, led by two-time Hec Crighton trophy winner, quarterback Erik Glavic. First-team All-Canadians Matt Walter and Nathan Coehoorn are back for their fourth seasons in 2010, as is second team All-Canadian Anthony Parker.

The young Calgary offensive line returns as a unit with another year of experience and weight room training under its belt, while one of the top athletes in the program—All-Canadian running back/receiver Anthony Woodson—will be back after missing most of the past two seasons with various injuries.

While the Vanier Cup loss was certainly a blow, players have already indicated that it will provide all kinds of motivation heading into a new season in 2010.

“The way I look at it, I'll only have five shots at this and I've already blown three,” said Walter, who was the 2008 Canada West MVP. “We have two more shots at it, and then that might be it for me in football. It's just so important that we get this school and this city a championship. In my mind, we still really haven't done anything until we hold that cup and go down in history as the 2010 Vanier Cup champions.”

“Just seeing those guys holding up that trophy makes us want it that much more,” adds Coehoorn. “We're going to come out next year fired up.”

“There hadn't been a lot of winning experience and not a lot of playoff experience (when I took over),” said Nill. “Since then, our third-year players have been in the playoffs every year. We are starting to be noticed, even by the university itself, and I'm impressed with that.”

The Vanier Cup run in 2009 saw significant pick-up from the University of Calgary community, with thousands of students sending good luck messages to the team in Quebec City. More than one million viewers watched the second half of the Vanier Cup game on TSN and Radio-Canada—a record for a CIS event—and the university received significant exposure from two consecutive weekends of national television coverage.

“There was an infectious enthusiasm on campus throughout the entire playoff run with students, faculty and staff excited about the games and cheering on the team," says Ann Tierney, vice-provost (students). “Varsity athletics bring a great deal of pride and profile to our university. We're fortunate to have such gifted, young athletes who perform so well on the field and act as strong ambassadors for the university."

While optimism reigns for 2010, four players donned the red, gold and black for the final time last Saturday at PEPS Stadium. Deke Junior, Andrew Obrecht, Chase Moore, and Matt Grohn each completed their five years of CIS eligibility without that elusive national title, but all four played significant roles in the rebirth of Dinos football.

“To lose a lead like that (in the Vanier Cup) as a fifth-year guy, it's terrible,” said Grohn. “It's something the team's going to learn from. Unfortunately, I won't be with them, but these guys are going to grow from this and I wish them all the best in the future.”

The four graduating players become the newest members of the Fifth Quarter, which has established itself as arguably the strongest alumni group in Canadian university sport. The association has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the football program, supporting scholarships for student-athletes and assisting with operating expenses for the team.

“There are two things that give us an edge: our alumni support and the talent of southern Alberta football players,” said Nill. “Hopefully, trips to the Vanier Cup will become the norm for this program.”

-UC-