The Vanier Cup is a post season university football championship game, used to determine the national champion in U Sports football. The game is the final for the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. In turn, the participating teams are determined by the winners of 4 bowl games: the Loney Bowl (AUS), Hardy Cup, Dunsmore Cup (RSEQ), and Yates Cup (OUA).
Mark Nohra is a former running back and fullback with the Canadian Football League (CFL)'s B.C. Lions.
Erik Glavic is a former Canadian football quarterback who played CIS football for both the Calgary Dinos and the Saint Mary's Huskies. Glavic is the only CIS football player to have won the Hec Crighton Trophy with two different teams. His brother Sasha Glavic is a former defensive back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.
The 2008 CIS football season began on August 23, 2008, and concluded with the 44th Vanier Cup national championship on November 22 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, with the Laval Rouge et Or winning their fifth championship. Twenty-seven universities across Canada compete in CIS football, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
The 2009 CIS football season began on August 29, 2009, and concluded its campaign with the 45th Vanier Cup national championship on November 28 at PEPS stadium in Quebec City, Quebec. Twenty-seven universities across Canada compete in CIS football, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). The Queen's Golden Gaels defeated the Calgary Dinos 33-31 in the Vanier Cup to claim the 2009 national championship and their fourth in school history.
The 2010 CIS football season began on August 31, 2010, with the Windsor Lancers hosting the Ottawa Gee-Gees and the defending Vanier Cup champion Queen's Golden Gaels visiting the McMaster Marauders. The season concluded on November 27 at the PEPS stadium in Quebec City, Quebec with the Laval Rouge et Or winning the 46th Vanier Cup, a record tying sixth championship for the school. In this year, 25 university teams in Canada played CIS football, the highest level of amateur Canadian football.
The 44th Vanier Cup was played on November 22, 2008, at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, and decided the CIS Football champion for the 2008 season. The Laval Rouge et Or dominated the Western Mustangs to win the championship 44-21, en route to a perfect 12-0 season. The win gave Laval its fifth Vanier Cup in school history and its fourth in the last six years.
The 2011 CIS football season began on September 1, 2011, with the Montreal Carabins hosting the McGill Redmen at CEPSUM Stadium. The season concluded on November 25 at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia with the 47th Vanier Cup championship. This year, 26 university teams in Canada played CIS football, the highest level of amateur Canadian football.
Blake Nill is a former Canadian football defensive lineman and the current head coach for the University of British Columbia's football team, the UBC Thunderbirds. He is a three-time Vanier Cup champion as a head coach and was awarded the Frank Tindall Trophy in 1999.
The Shrum Bowl was a university rivalry game played between the gridiron football teams of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds and the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Red Leafs. The game was named after Gordon Shrum who was a professor and later a dean at UBC from 1925 to 1961 and served as the first chancellor of SFU from 1964 to 1968. It was a cross-town rivalry with UBC being located in the University Endowment Lands just west of Vancouver, British Columbia, and SFU located approximately 30 kilometres away in Burnaby, British Columbia.
The 2002 CIS football season began on August 27, 2002, and concluded with the 38th Vanier Cup national championship on November 23 at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, with the Saint Mary's Huskies winning their second consecutive championship and third overall. Twenty-six universities across Canada competed in CIS football this season, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
Greg Vavra is a Canadian former professional football quarterback who played five seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Calgary Stampeders, BC Lions and Edmonton Eskimos. He played CIAU football for the Calgary Dinosaurs and won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 1983.
The SFU Red Leafs football or Simon Fraser Red Leafs football team represented Simon Fraser University since the athletic department's inception in 1965 until 2022. The team played by American rules while they competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics from 1965 to 2001 against other American teams. Along with other SFU teams, the football program transferred to Canadian Interuniversity Sport and thereby switched to playing Canadian football against Canadian University teams in 2002. While playing in the CIS, SFU won its first and only Hardy Trophy conference championship in 2003 while qualifying for the playoffs twice. After playing eight seasons in the Canada West Conference of the CIS, the football team began competing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference of NCAA Division II in 2010, and have played the American format of football again since. Kristie Elliott became the first Canadian woman to play, and to score, in an NCAA football game, on September 11, 2021, as a kicker for the team. After the GNAC dropped football after the 2021 season, SFU and the other two GNAC members that still sponsored the sport became football-only members of the Lone Star Conference. After the 2022 season, it was announced on April 4, 2023, that football would be dropped from the school after it was previously announced the Lone Star Conference was ending its affiliation with Simon Fraser after the 2023–24 season.
The Laval Rouge et Or football team represents Laval University in Quebec City in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The program began its first regular season in 1996 and has quickly become one of the most successful programs in Canadian university football history. The Rouge et Or have won a record 11 Vanier Cup championships and their most recent victory occurred at the 57th Vanier Cup in 2022. They are also the only program to have played in four straight Vanier Cups and have a record of 11–2 in Vanier Cup games. The Rouge et Or have also won the Dunsmore Cup 16 times since 1999, demonstrating their historical dominance in their conference.
The Calgary Dinos football team represents the University of Calgary in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The Dinos program has been in operation since 1964, winning the Vanier Cup national championship five times, the most out of any of the Canada West teams. The Dinos have also won the Hardy Trophy conference championship 18 times, including six consecutive wins from 2008 to 2013. The team appeared in the 2013 and 2016 Vanier Cup, but lost both years to the Laval Rouge et Or.
The Saint Mary's Huskies football team represents Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The Huskies have been the most successful in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference of U Sports football, reaching the Vanier Cup championship game nine times and winning three times, both marks being the highest in the AUS. The program also has the most Jewett Trophy conference championships, winning 24 times in 32 appearances.
The Alberta Golden Bears football team represents the University of Alberta in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The Golden Bears have been in competition since 1910 and the team has won three Vanier Cup national championships, in 1967, 1972, and most recently in 1980. The Golden Bears have also won 18 Hardy Cup conference titles, second only to the Saskatchewan Huskies who have won 19 of them. The Golden Bears have also had three players win the Hec Crighton Trophy, with Mel Smith winning in 1971, Brian Fryer winning in 1975, and most recently Ed Ilnicki winning the award in 2017.
The Montreal Carabins football team represents the University of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The Carabins program has been in operation since its resurrection in the 2002 football season and has established itself as a provincial and national powerhouse with five RSEQ conference championships and two national championships, in 2014 and 2023.
Adam Sinagra is a former Canadian football quarterback. He played for the Calgary Dinos of the Canada West conference of U Sports. He is a Vanier Cup champion after winning the 2019 and was named the game's MVP. He also won the Hec Crighton Trophy in 2018 as U Sports football's most outstanding player. After his college career Sinagra went undrafted in the CFL draft.
Stavros Anastasios Katsantonis, nicknamed "the Bakersfield Bandit", is a Canadian-American professional football defensive back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played U Sports football for the UBC Thunderbirds. In college he developed a reputation for forcing turnovers, setting school records, as well as cracking the conference and national record books earning 20 career interceptions as well as a total of 10 forced/recovered fumbles. In his first collegiate season, he garnered national attention with six interceptions and a total of four forced and recovered fumbles in seven games. In his true freshman season, he would go on to be proven as an integral part of the 2015 Vanier Cup Champion T-Birds, and received the Bruce Coulter Award as the Vanier Cup's Defensive MVP. Katsantonis would go on to be a 3× first team All-Canadian at the safety position during his collegiate tenure.
