CALGARY – The Saskatchewan Huskies' mantra for the 2009 Canada West football season is 'Prove It,' but it might just be the Calgary Dinos that have something to prove when the teams hook up in their season opener Friday night at Griffiths Stadium.

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Flash back 53 weeks to Aug. 29, 2008 when the Dinos promptly gave up 24 points in the opening half in their season opener in Saskatoon en route to a 25-0 defeat. That loss spurred the Dinos on to seven wins in their next nine contests, their first playoff win in 13 years, and the school's 10th Canada West championship. But the Dinos have not faced the Huskies since that Friday night last August.

Much has changed in a year, of course, and this week's match-up has national implications when the No. 3 Dinos visit the No. 4 Huskies in a clash of the early favorites in Canada West. It's uncharted territory for the Dinos in several areas as the 2009 season opens – the program has shaken off a dozen-year playoff losing skid and is ranked higher than it has been since September 1996 when Calgary was reigning Vanier Cup champion.

And for the first time in school history, the Dinos will open the regular season with a national MVP in their lineup with quarterback Erik Glavic taking the controls as the starting pivot. Both of Calgary's Hec Crighton winners, Greg Vavra (1983) and Don Blair (1995), won it in their final – and Vanier Cup-winning – seasons, whereas Glavic still has two years of his CIS eligibility remaining. The Saint Mary's transfer moved the Calgary offence effectively in his one half of work last weekend in an exhibition contest against Montana State-Northern, and he is set to put in a full game's work for the first time since the 2007 Atlantic conference championship game.

Glavic will lead an offence full of holdovers from a year ago, most notably the reigning conference MVP in running back Matt Walter along with second team All-Canadian receiver Nathan Coehoorn. The offensive line has a new look with the departure of Dylan Steenbergen (CFL) and Lindsey Stevens (graduation), but Reed Alexander is back after suffering a back injury in the opening quarter the last time these teams hooked up while Kirby Fabien turned heads at the World Junior Championship in July, earning a tournament all-star nod as Canada won the silver medal.

The Calgary defence, especially the secondary, with have its hands full against the top-ranked offence in Canada West last season, led by quarterback Laurence Nixon. Three of five starting defensive backs have moved on, and younger players like Wyatt Getty, Chudi Nzekwu, and Tye Noble will get the chance to make their mark against the high-octane Huskies.

Both teams will be out to clean from their mouths the bitter taste of defeat suffered in their last respective meaningful games. Saskatchewan was sent to its second straight early exit in the playoffs by upstart Simon Fraser last season with a 40-30 home loss, while the conference champion Dinos were given a jolt back to earth in a 59-10 drubbing at Laval in the Uteck Bowl.

Other action around Canada West sees UBC (0-1) visiting Alberta (0-0), while Manitoba (0-0) heads west to Regina (0-0) as the rest of the league starts up. Simon Fraser (1-0) took a 26-7 victory over crosstown rival UBC last Saturday in the opening game of the CIS season, and the Clan has the bye this week.

Just a little under two months from now, four of those teams from Canada West will be heading into the post-season – and the winner of Friday's game at Griffiths might just be the top seed.

-UC-