CALGARY – For the second year in a row, 11 players from the University of Calgary Dinos were named all-stars as Canada West announced its all-conference team Wednesday.

The Dinos will host Saturday's 78th Hardy Cup game at McMahon Stadium, with kickoff set for 2 p.m. MT. Calgary is looking for a seventh straight Canada West title, and they'll take on the Manitoba Bisons in a rematch of last year's conference championship game. Of the 30 all-stars, 19 will compete in Saturday's Hardy Cup with the Dinos and Bisons leading the way in selections.

With 11 players recognized in 2014, the Dinos' all-star total increases to a whopping 44 over the last four seasons, including a school-best 12 in the 2012 season.

The Regina Rams followed with four selections, Saskatchewan had three, and UBC and Alberta had two selections each.

Of the Dinos' 11 all-stars, six are repeat selections from 2013 as Andrew Buckley, Mercer Timmis, Sean McEwen, Sukh Chungh, Adam Laurensse, and Johnny Mark are returning all-stars from a year ago. For Mark, it's even more significant: he becomes the first player since Mike Pavelec (1988-91) to earn four consecutive Canada West all-star selections. McEwen, meanwhile, is a conference all-star for the third year in a row.

Calgary earned three of the five positions along the offensive line, with Chungh, McEwen, and Braden Schram receiving the honours. Buckley, who led the conference in touchdown passes and completion percentage while directing traffic for the most explosive offence in the nation, is the unanimous all-star quarterback in his own right after sharing the award with Manitoba's Jordan Yantz last year. Meanwhile Mercer Timmis, the 2013 conference MVP, makes a repeat all-star appearance after leading the conference in rushing and was also a unanimous selection. Slotback Brett Blaszko, the 2012 Canada West rookie of the year, led the league with 10 TD catches and averaged 93 receiving yards per game.

Defensively, sophomore end Connor McGough was a revelation for the Dinos this year, earning an all-star nod after switching from his running back position to the defensive line. Adam Konar was the anchor of Calgary's linebacker corps and key to stopping the run game, while Laurensse and Elie Bouka – both of whom had two interceptions in last week's game against Regina – earned the nod in the secondary.

Conference all-stars now move forward for All-Canadian consideration. Canada West will announce its 2014 football major award winners Thursday.

2014 CANADA WEST FOOTBALL ALL-STARS
*denotes unanimous selection

Offence
QB    Andrew Buckley, CALGARY*
RB    Mercer Timmis, CALGARY*
RB    Kienan LaFrance, Manitoba
WR    Addison Richards, Regina*
WR    TIE – Matt Sawyer, Mantioba and Kit Killis, Saskatchewan
IR    Brett Blaszko, CALGARY
IR    Nic Demski, Manitoba
C    Sean McEwen, CALGARY
T    David Beard, Alberta
T    Braden Schram, CALGARY
G    Sukh Chungh, CALGARY
G    TIE – Kevin Gamblin, Manitoba and Kyle Paterson, Regina

Defence
DT    Donovan Dale, UBC
DT    David Onyemata, Manitoba
DE    Connor McGough, CALGARY
DE    Evan Foster, Manitoba
LB    Connor Ralph, Alberta
LB    Adam Konar, CALGARY
SLB    Joey Dwyer, Regina
S    Mark Ingram, Saskatchewan
HB    Elie Bouka, CALGARY
HB    TIE – Jordan Linnen, Manitoba and Patrick MacDonald, Regina
CB    Adam Laurensse, CALGARY*
CB    Tremaine Apperley, Manitoba

Special Teams
P    Denton Kolodzinski, Saskatchewan
PK    Johnny Mark, CALGARY*
KR    Marcus Davis, UBC

-UC-