Calgary may be out of Grey Cup contention, but the city could still bring home a championship this weekend.
The University of Calgary Dinos are playing in the 55th Vanier Cup against the Montreal Carabins — a title the team hasn’t captured since 1995.
A handful of players are still with the team after their last trip to the championship in 2016.
For star quarterback Adam Sinagra, his university career starts and ends with the Vanier Cup on the line.
He was a rookie in 2016 when he was called in to relieve injured starter, Jimmy Underdahl.
The Dinos would drop a 31-26 game to the Laval Rouge et Or.
“We’re not the same team we were back then,” Sinagra said. “Even then, the guys in the locker room, all the fifth years, they were like, ‘We went in our first year and thought we’d be back every year,’ but it doesn’t happen that way.”
Now in his fifth and final year, Sinagra has solidified his place in Dinos history.
He’s set records, won numerous awards, including the prestigious Hec Crighton Award for Canadian university football MVP, and earned CFL attention.
There’s just one thing left on the list.
“It’s the only thing you work towards,” Sinagra told Global News from Quebec. “Everything else is a cherry on top.
“If you win games good things happen. All that’s left is to win a Vanier Cup.”
The rest of the Dinos agree.
This year’s squad is very different from the last one to make it this far for a number of reasons.
“We’ve got great players but we’re not full of a bunch of stars,” head coach Wayne Harris Jr. said. “The last time I believe we had 11 All-Canadians that we played here and we lost the game.
“This year we don’t have as many and we’re going to have to play as a team in order to win this game.”
With six wins and two losses through the regular season, the Dinos actually posted one of their worst records in a decade.
But the young group has repeatedly shown they have what it takes to battle back in the big moments.
“There are only two teams left in the country and we’re just happy to be one of them,” defensive back Nick Statz said.
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between two powerhouse programs in the Dinos and Montreal Carabins.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Sinagra added. “Number1 defence versus Number 1 defence, in my opinion.
“We think we have a pretty special team right here. I think we’re really ready to go.”
The Vanier Cup kicks off at 11:00 a.m. MT at TELUS-Université Laval Stadium in Quebec City.
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