The Bow Valley Grizzlies men’s rugby club has awoken from it’s winter hibernation in search of a meatier meal.
So Grizzlies are sharpening their claws for Calgary Rugby Union (CRU) Division 2 play in 2015.
Having won all but one Div. 3 men’s fixture last season (the league final), Grizzlies decided stepping up to Div. 2 was the next step in the evolution of the Cochrane-based rugby club’s first 15.
“We’re starting to gear up for the season,” said Grizzlies player/coach Ty Hawes. “We’re going Div. 2 this year.”
Taking the team’s top 15 players to Div. 2 will leave Bow Valley’s Div. 3 group somewhat thin, so Grizzlies are joining forces with Okotoks to field a Div. 3 men’s team – the Babas (short for Barbarians). The Div. 3 team will split home fixtures between Okotoks and Cochrane.
“We’re trying to put together a combined third division team with Okotoks. I think we will have this other team. It’s just a matter of how many guys from Bow Valley are going to be playing on it.
“I’m pretty excited to see how it goes, actually.”
The Div. 2 Grizzlies will feature all the skill, speed and athleticism players like “Sockless” Dave Evans, James Patterson, Mack Tivendale and Ian Ames brought to Div. 3 Grizzlies last season. But they’ll be entertaining CRU Div. 2 visitors at their home ground starting in May. The competition will be fierce.
“We’re just steadily growing. It’s going to be a better level, a little big more competitive this year,” Hawes said of Div. 2 competition. “It’ll be pretty exciting to see how we get on.
“We’re going Division 2 so the guys can stick around Cochrane and not go into the city to go to a higher level. There’s a lot of excitement around it, for sure.”
The team is currently training once a week and will go to two-a-week sessions as the May regular-season opening approaches.
“Definitely. There wasn’t a whole lot else to prove in 3rd Division for these guys, and they need to step up in order to take their game to the next level. They’re all ready for it and excited for it. They definitely won’t be out of place. They’ll show well in 2nd Division and we’ll see how it goes.”
