Past failures have shaped the current path of the Université de Montréal Carabins and the UBC Thunderbirds, who will attempt to get their hands on the Holy Grail of Canadian university football on Saturday in Kingston for the 58th editione Edition of the Vanier Cup.
The Carabins suffered painful losses in the 2021 Uteck Cup against the Saskatchewan Huskies, who scored the winning touchdown seconds before the end of the game, and in last year’s Dunsmore Cup, when Laval University’s Rouge et Or escaped with the victory with a red on the last play of the game of the game.
“You win or you learn,” said head coach Marco Iadeluca. Because of these heavy defeats, we have a hungry and well-coordinated team. Since we went back to work in January, the goal has been to rewrite the scenario of the last two years. The boys are motivated to win together.”
As for the Thunberdirds, they’ll be in the finals for the first time since 2015 and haven’t reached the Final Four since that dramatic last-game win over the Blues.
In his 31st season as a varsity coach and his 10th Vanier Cup appearance, Blake Nill began to tire of his inability to win the Hardy Cup, awarded to the Western champions. His first participation in the Vanier Cup came in 1996 when he was defensive coordinator of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men.
“We lost in the final by 1 point in 2017, by 3 in 2016 and in double overtime in 2018,” he recalled. To win in the West you have to give your best. The players of the current edition were not present, but this strengthened the resilience of the coaches. We shared our experiences with the players. There are many similarities between the two programs that have suffered heartbreaking defeats.
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A defeat that has not been forgotten
Even though it was eight years ago, the 26:23 defeat against UBC in the 2015 Vanier Cup has not been forgotten around the Carabins. “Even if we can’t talk about revenge because the defeat was a long time ago, the defeat is not forgotten,” said Iadeluca, who held the position of offensive coordinator. This was the last game for our offensive coordinator Gabriel Cousineau and Rémi Giguère was also part of the lineup. There’s an added element of motivation.”
Iadeluca will experience his first Vanier Cup as head coach. “When you come into a successful program as a head coach, the goal is always to win, but I was just as committed as a coordinator. However, it is the players who are the heroes and it is their work that gets us here. In my case, this is my fourth Vanier Cup and the third where I face Blake Nill.
Everyone had a win. As offensive coordinator for the Rouge et Or, Iadeluca defeated the Dinos 29-2 in the 2010 Vanier Cup.
The T-Birds have been on site since Monday
To reduce the effects of jet lag, the Thunderbirds landed in Toronto late Monday afternoon and headed to Kingston, where they have been training since. Nill wanted to avoid reliving the bad experience of 2008, although there are advantages to arriving later.
“We just arrived in Quebec on Wednesday in anticipation of the Uteck Cup and Laval beat us by 60 points [59-10], recalled Nill, who was managing the Calgary Dinos at the time. If you come from the West, the journey is very difficult to manage. Staying at home means you can count on all the players to help you prepare, but since we arrived everything has been going well and the strategy seems to be working well.
After a final training session at CEPSUM, the Carabins headed to Kingston on Wednesday evening.