Posted on March 8, 2012 by tjfreebo

Stags Update on 7s

Alumni – first off I need to let everyone know that the March 9/12 Silent Auction has been called off as the boys just have not had the time to pull everything together. With classes and the 7s tournament going on, all their energies have been focused on those so we will have to reschedule the auction, likely into the fall season.

As for the 7s tournament the boys played very well considering all their practices were in a gym and they have not had physical contact since November. They were 4 wins and 2 losses, but as is the case in 7s the losses were at the wrong time in the draw. The Dinos made it to the Bowl final (5th/6th) and we lost to Mount Royal University putting us in 6th place as final ranking. One thing we can hang our hat on was we tied the ultimate Cup winner, Western Ontario, 10 – 10 in our pool game. The boys were disappointed but I still think it was a successful result and adds credibility to our program.

We also had some alumni support on the sidelines, the Stag jerseys were hard to see however as it was cold and rainy. The weather of course did not limit the beer sales however and we all had a great time. I am a bit disappointed in the number of west coast Stags who came out and going forward will work hard to make this a must event for all to put in their calendars. There was one Stag who made an appearance that was exciting for those present, our club Captain from ’67-’68, Rusty Morgan. Hard to believe it is 42 years since some of us played together and in this case last saw each other!! Rusty looks fit as ever, wish we could have had more time to catch up.

Gord Dunkley & Rick Farrally by the railing, Phil Linder in the middle, Brian Kittleson & Dave Lougheed in front.

I missed getting Grady Kittleson & Rusty Morgan in the pictures as well as some of the more recent alumni, Rob Dorran (he actually coached Mt Royal), Rayner Hart and Todd Freeborn both of whom coached the Dinos.

We are now going into the club’s off season as summer & club rugby approaches but please watch for some important updates coming out soon…..we are hoping to set a date for the annual alumni game and we are going to try and run an alumni bar-b-que on the same day, all at the Calgary Rugby Park.

Cheers,
Dean

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Posted on March 7, 2012 by tjfreebo

National 7′s Wrapup

UCRFC 2012 National University 7's Squad

Congratulations to all the boys in their 6th place finish at the 2012 National University 7′s! The boys represented themselves well during all their games and while many players had great performances it was Carl Pocock who emerged as the most outstanding player of the tournament. Leading the team in tries and assists Carl’s experience and talent were evident throughout the entire series with standout performances all-around.

Filed in 7's | Comment Now
Posted on March 5, 2012 by tjfreebo

2012 National University 7′s

Calgary vs. Regina (Pool Game)

Calgary vs. Western (Pool Game)

Calgary vs. Humber (Pool Game)

Calgary vs. McMaster (Cup Quarter Finals)

Calgary vs. Humber (Bowl SemiFinals)

Calgary vs. Mount Royal (Bowl Finals)

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Posted on March 2, 2012 by tjfreebo

Pool Day Highlights

Elliot Berenger against the University of Regina

Carl Pocock on his way to putting one between the posts.

Elliot Berenger and Elliot Clease taking advantage of the overlap.

Elliot Berenger delivering a huge blow to Western.

Andrew Cho dancing in the rain.

Friday night lights.

Carl Pocock on his way to another try against Humber College.

Filed in 7's | Comment Now
Posted on February 3, 2012 by tjfreebo

2012 National University 7′s Team

Congratulations to the following players who have been selected to represent the Dinos at the 2012 National University 7′s tournament to be held in Victoria, B.C., the weekend of March 2nd and 3rd.

Traveling
Schlebach, Josh
Clease,Elliot
Woloschuk,Josh
Cho, Andrew
Berenger,Elliot
Pocock,Carl
Chung,Simon
Anderson,Alex
Berg,Anders
Driscoll,Heath
Nordstrom-Young,Tanner
Wilson,Malcolm

Non-traveling Reserves
Cosulich, Blair
Grobbelaar,Johan
Mills,Marc
Minor,Colin
Morrill, Aaron
Plant,Jacob
Teal, Mark

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Posted on January 29, 2012 by tjfreebo

2011 Awards Banquet

Congratulations to all the winners at this years Awards Banquet and thanks to everyone, from both the Men’s and Women’s teams, for making it out and making it out.  This year was especially special in that we got to award Dean Kittleson for his outstanding contribution to the club as the President since 2001 and for the attendance by the Collins family.

Harry Willis accepting the award for 2011 Red Squad Player of the Year from Rayner Hart.

Tanner Nordstrom-Young (on behalf of Grant Gilmour) and Wes Lee accepting the award for 2011 Men's Rookie of the Year from Todd Freeborn and Kelcey Leavitt accepting the award for 2011 Women's Rookie of the Year from Dave Lee.

Sammy Crandell and Alex Anderson accepting their awards as 2011 Men's and Women's MVPs, respectively.

Alana McEvoy accepting the 2011 Valkyries award for an oustanding graduating player from Simon Chi.

Jovita Byzitter and Matt Whalley (on behalf of Andrew Cho) accepted the 2011 Brian-Joah Memorial Award from the Collins' family.

Dean Kittleson receiving his gift for outstanding contributions to the club during his terms as president from Rayner Hart and Todd Freeborn.

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Posted on November 7, 2011 by tjfreebo

2011 AGM

Mark off in your calenders that next week, Thursday, November 17th, is going to be the Annual General Meeting (AGM). It will be held in KNB 126 @ 6:30 PM.

It’s here that we elect the years executive and vote on the player awards given at the Banquet. This meeting is not optional, as members of the club you have a responsibility to be involved in the future direction of your club.

The awards voted on by the players are:
Most Valuable Player

  • Awarded to the most valuable player as voted by their respective teammates. Awarded to the player receiving the greatest number of eligible votes from members of the mens and womens teams. All first year members are eligible.

Rookie of the Year Award

  • Awarded to the outstanding first year player as voted by their respective teammates. Awarded to the player receiving the greatest number of eligible votes. The players must be full time university students.

Stags Award

  • Awarded to the graduating player(s) for their contribution to the success of the Club both on and off the field of play. There shall be no limit to the number of players who may be awarded this honour but the player(s) must receive at least 75% of the eligible votes as voted by their respective teammates.

The constitution to review before the meeting can be found below:

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Posted on November 3, 2011 by tjfreebo

Season Wrap-up

Stags – this update covers off on all Dinos games to the end of October 2011.  We had a very busy day of rugby on October 22 at the university field.  The day started off early at 10am with a game between our Gold squad (3rds) and Mt Royal.  Alumni were welcome to strap on their boots and have a run.  Due to the high number of Gold Squad players a few alumni wore the Mt Royal colours on the day, Rob Dorran (he also coaches Mt Royal), Ian Huston, Todd McBride (ex Dino coach & honorary Stag) and myself played for the MRU team…..the first half was all Dinos however in the second half experience took over and MRU came away with a victory on a last play try.  The next game at 1pm was the annual Brian Collins Memorial Game between the Dinos Red Squad (2nds) and the Saracens, the 2 teams Brian played for.  The purpose of this game has always been to remember Brian’s love of the game, the friendships and of course competition…..the teams played in that vain with Red Squad losing on the day to a much more experienced team.  The final game of the day was our Black Squad vs a Calgary Barbarian team with players coming from all the Calgary club sides.  Dinos coach Ricky Coombe wanted this game to be a warm up for our month end trip to Kelowna for the Hindson Cup.  The game was played in true ‘Barbarian’ style with lots of open and expansive play.  Once again experience won the day but the Calgary select side knew they had been in a game.

Now it was one more week of preparation for our trip to play for the inaugural Hindson Cup.  The tournament plans set up by UBC Okanagan took a major hit with Simon Fraser backing out with lack of players through injury and classes and then U of A backed out citing similar issues.  We had our own issues with injuries as well as mid-terms and ultimately went with a combined Black / Red squad and a short reserves bench.  I said last year I would never take a bus trip again…..never say never….the Kelowna trip was much shorter and a whole lot easier to take than the Vancouver trip!  We did have snow through Rogers Pass but temperature was mild so no ice.  The game was scheduled for 2:30 in the Apple Bowl near downtown Kelowna, weather at KO was clear and about 10 degrees, perfect weather for rugby.  The Dinos took to the field and put the pressure on UBC Ok right from the get go.  Our defense played well allowing only penalty goals in the 1st half while we scored a couple of tries.  The Dinos continued to play hard all game and with little time left on the clock UBC managed to put a converted try in pulling out a heartbreaking 21 – 17 win.  It was not the way we wanted to end the season, but to a player they can’t wait until next year!  Later in the evening and dressed up in the best Halloween costumes Walmart sells the boys maintained a Stags tradition by convincingly winning the inevitable boat race!

Looking forward the club has its annual AGM on November 17, our awards banquet at the end of January and then March 2 – 3, 2012 we will be sending a team to Victoria for the 2nd Annual University 7s Championships.  Let this be a heads up to all west coast alumni that I am going to be pestering you all to set the weekend aside so that we can have a bit of a reunion during the tournament……I’m sure there will be a beer garden close to the action where we can all congregate in our Stag jerseys and cheer the Dinos on!!!

Cheers,
Dean

Filed in President | Comment Now
Posted on October 22, 2011 by tjfreebo

2011 Memorial Game

Thanks to the Saracen’s for joining us in our annual Memorial match to remember Brian Collins and Joah Atkinson, two members tragically lost in 2003.

The Saracen’s were the winners of the day, with the energy and youth of the university team not up to the task to best their experience and old man strength. Looking forward to seeing them on the pitch again in 2013!

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Filed in Games, Memorial, Saracens | Comment Now
Posted on October 17, 2011 by tjfreebo

2011 CanWests

Captain Andrew Cho accepting the CanWest trophy from Dino's president Dean Kittleson after the final.

Congratulations to the Black squad who were victorious in defending our title as the CanWests champions! The boys were successful in both their semi-final and final matches. With wins against the University of Lethbridge (41 – 0) in the semi’s and against the University of Alberta (50 – 11).

Congratulations to both Carl Pocock and Simon Chung, named Man of the Match for the Semi’s and Final’s, respectively, both making huge impacts on the field.

With 1st and 2nd place finishes for the UofC and UofA, both teams will be going to Kelowna October 28 to compete against Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia-Oakanagan.

CANWEST SCORES:
University of Alberta (28) vs. Mount Royal University (12)
University of Calgary (41) vs. University of Lethbridge (0)
Mount Royal University (22) vs. University of Lethbridge (19)
University of Calgary (50) vs. University of Alberta (11)

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