It's one for two for Manitoba so far this weekend, as the University of Manitoba Bisons collected their first Vanier Cup in 37 years, with a convincing 28-14 championship run at Rogers Skydome on Friday night.
The Bisons who last ran into the St. Mary's Huskies in 2001, would not make the same mistakes as they did on that occasion when they allowed the Maritimers to claim the national title. From the midway point of the first quarter, through to the final gun, the Bisons never appeared to be at risk of letting this championship escape their clutches.
St. Mary's problems began with untimely turnovers, which the Bisons capitalized on Huskies miscues to build up a sizable lead and keep the Halifax university team in the rear view mirror for the entire game.
Defensive back Mike Howard, proved to be a one man collection agency, as he hauled in three interceptions on the course of the night. St. Mary's backup quarterback Ted Abraham was handed the ball at the start of the game after the Huskies starting quarterback was injured in last weeks Uteck Bowl. Erik Glavic suffered tears in his knee ligaments and was lost for the championship game and while Abraham gave it all he had, the unfortunate picks proved to be the undoing of the Huskies dream of another CIS championship.
Manitoba quarterback John Makie controlled the play through the final three quarters of the game, leading his Bisons downfield to victory as he has 22 of his 23 CIS games in his university career.
When he wasn't directing the attack he was resting on the sidelines as the Bisons defence, one of the best in the university game in Canada held the Huskies out of the end zone. St. Mary's scored the first touchdown of the game early on in the first, but that would be the last they would see of the zone for a long time as the Bisons clamped down and limited the Huskies to field goals on offence for the remainder of the night.
The game was marred by a horrific injury to Manitoba's Matt Henry, who left the game on a stretcher with what was diagnosed later on as a broken femur. The only dark moment on an otherwise shiny moment for Manitoba football. A game that rewarded Manitoba head coach Brian Dobie, who took the oldest university football team into battle at the start of the season and ran the field for a perfect 12 and 0 record.
The Vanier Cup became part of the official Grey cup weekend festivities this year, tied in with Sunday's Grey Cup and with that affiliation came a respectable crowd for the championship game. Over 26,000 fans watched the game at Rogers Skydome, that from a reported 39,000 that bought tickets as part of a Grey Cup ticket package. The attendance on Friday was the best the game had attracted in the last 12 years.
The game was broadcast across Canada on The Score, which produced a fairly high quality football package for the home viewer, perhaps introducing more than a few new arrivals to the quality of play of the Canadian university game.
The game was also played on a Friday night, change from the traditional Saturday afternoon schedule, but a wise choice, providing it with its own stand alone night at the weekend festival of football. The night after the CFL awards and two days before the Grey Cup. Also Canadians are conditioned to watching football on Friday's thanks to TSN"s Friday Night Football during the regular CFL season, so it just seemed like a natural night to celebrate the university games championship moment.
Next years Grey Cup is in Montreal, so it would seem to make sense to continue the practice of including the Vanier Cup as part of the celebration of football at the end of November. With any luck the University of Montreal, Bishops, McGill, Concordia, Sherbrooke or Laval Rouge er Or may become the home side representative. Football has taken off in Quebec, as can be seen by the success of the University programs of the province, put one of their teams in next years Vanier Cup and attendance records could be at peril.
Full credit to the CFL for involving the University game in the week long festival that has become Grey Cup week, it's the grass roots for many Canadian players who one day aspire to join a CFL team.
The CIS's involvement this week has added to what was already an iconic moment of Canadianna, Friday night was their moment in the spotlight and for Manitoba it was the beginning of what that provinces football fans hope will be a football sweep!
Winnipeg Free Press--U of M Bisons win Vanier Cup
Canadian Press--Manitoba Bisons win the Vanier Cup
Winnipeg Sun--Bisons win Grey Cup
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