Volume 96, Issue 49
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
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All-Ontario affair in the Vanier Cup
By Ryan Hickman
Gazette Staff
 |
Beth
Kerim/Gazette |
| A PACK OF HAPPY HUSKIES. The St. Mary's Huskies captured their second straight Vanier Cup on Saturday, on the strength of a solid line up of Ontario-bred players. |
In the big city, under
the big lights, on the turf of the big dome in the biggest game in Canadian
university football, the Saint Mary's Huskies became only the third team
in CIS history to win back-to-back Vanier Cup Championships.
With a 33-21 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies, SMU won what people
were calling a battle of the "Western Huskies" and the "Eastern
Huskies."
But, is the team from Saint Mary's really that eastern?
Looking down Saskatchewan's roster, you see that everyone on the team
is from the province of Saskatchewan except for four players from Alberta
and British Columbia. The St. Mary's lineup is a collection of players
from Ontario – mainly Hamilton, Brampton and Toronto. There are 20
Ontario-bred players alone on SMU's 40-man dress roster and 36 all together
on the team.
With only nine high schools in the Maritimes participating in competitive
football, Ontario becomes the staple of any successful eastern university
football program.
"What I try to do is identify the best players in the country and
see if they are interested in leaving home and, if they are, I try to
give them the St. Mary's option," said St. Mary's coach Blake Nill
concerning his role in recruiting Ontario student-athletes. "Ontario
has so many kids that are well coached, I just have to convince them to
come out here."
Nill has done his job, attracting premier players to his school. His personality
and honesty are what attract players from Ontario.
"Coach Nill brought me out. I was close to going to another school,
but coach Nill came along and I was like, 'I believe this guy and he's
going to turn this thing around' and he did," said SMU wide receiver
Jason Currie, from Burlington, regarding his belief in Nill. Currie obviously
paid attention to his coach's words, as he was the Huskies' leading reciever
with 99 yards in the Vanier Cup.
"Coach Nill is a great man – he is the greatest man I have ever
met and he's turned this program around and raised the bar at the university
level and is continuously bringing guys in," Currie continued. "Why
not go to St. Mary's? We get to the Vanier Cup three out of five years."
Hamilton native Dave Stala joined Currie as the favourite target of Brampton
product and SMU starting quarterback Steve Panella. Panella was awarded
the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy as the game's Most Valuable Player, after
passing for 299 yards and scrambling around for another 105 yards on the
ground.
Stala, who also takes care of the kicking duties for the SMU Huskies and
was an Atlantic University Sport offensive all-star as a kicker, punter
and inside receiver, dismissed any claims that going out east is a detriment.
"People in Nova Scotia are great and we all try to hang out and stay
together," said Stala, who pulled down five catches for 92 yards,
about being in Halifax with other players from Ontario. "I know the
East is seen as a weak conference, but we have won [the Vanier Cup] the
past two years, so how can we be weak?"
On the defensive side of the ball, St. Mary's linebacker Joe Bonaventura,
who is from Hamilton, won the Bruce Coulter Award as the Outstanding Defensive
Player, after recording six tackles and one interception. Bonaventura's
interception against Saskatchewan came on the goal-line in the second
half and shut down any thoughts of the Western Huskies making a come back.
Bonaventura is together with Sean Mifflin, Jon Braddock, Andre Knights
and Cartier Shields as strong defensive contributors from Ontario on St.
Mary's.