CALGARY - The 12 year wait is almost over. The UBC Thunderbirds football team will take the field on Friday night to play for the Canada West championship for the first time since 1999. Awaiting the T-Birds is the three-time defending Hardy Cup champions, the Calgary Dinos.
Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PST at McMahon Stadium. The game is being broadcast live on TSN and CiTR-FM.
The Thunderbirds earned the right to be here by beating Saskatchewan 27-22, recording the school's first playoff win since 1999.
Both teams are expecting key players to return from injury this afternoon.
UBC running back
Dave Boyd (5th, Duncan, BC) is back in the line up after missing three weeks with a quad injury.
He was leading UBC in rushing yards with 469 yards before he went down with the injury.
Chrid Dobko, who suffered the same ailment as Boyd, will likely play for the Dinos after sitting out last week's 16-4 playoff victory over Regina.
The Canada West All-Star led all players in the conference with 56 catches for 676 yards and eight touchdowns.
Tonight's game is the rubber match between the top two Canada West teams in the regular season.
UBC won the last meeting between the two teams on Oct. 29 by a score of 36-23 at Thunderbird Stadium, to complete a perfect regular season home record.
Billy Greene (4th, Surrey, BC) continued his assault on the UBC record books, completing 23 of 42 passes for 421 yards and four touchdown passes.
His favourite target in that game was Canada West All-Star
Jordan Grieve (4th, Salmon Arm, BC), who caught seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Adam Konar (1st, North Vancouver, BC) continued a stellar rookie campaign with nine tackles, eight of them solo.
The home win prevented the Dinos from recording a perfect season for the first time in school history.
It was also sweet redemption for a 30-25 loss on Sep. 9 in Calgary.
During the second week matchup, Canada West All-Star running back Steven Lumbala put up his best numbers of the year, running for 204 yards on 18 carries.
Greene, the Canada West MVP, had another solid performance, completing 29 of 43 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns.
The last time UBC met Calgary in the playoffs, the Thunderbirds booked a spot in the 1999 Hardy Cup with a 27-14 victory over the Dinos at Thunderbird Stadium.
But since then, the T-Birds have struggled against the Dinos, dropping the seven of the last ten games between the two squads.
To find the last time UBC won a game at McMahon Stadium, you'll have to flip the history books back to Sep. 9, 2000.
Calgary is looking to become the first team to win four Hardy Cups in a row since Saskatchewan did it in the mid-1930's.
