Before Saturday’s BC Lions season opener, the last time North Vancouver’s Mitchell Barnett and Dominique Termansen played a meaningful football game together for the same team, they won a national championship.
Handsworth grad Barnett and Carson Graham grad Termansen were both members of the 2015 UBC Thunderbirds team that made a surprise run to the Vanier Cup at Telus Stadium in Quebec City. There in hostile territory they shocked the local favourite Montreal Carabins 26-23 to claim the Canadian title. On Saturday the pair reunited after two years apart, running out onto the BC Place turf together for their first games as BC Lions, joining the team they both grew up cheering for in a quest to win a different national title, the Grey Cup.
“It’s definitely a special feeling for me,” Termansen told the North Shore News. “I bring myself back to when I used to have season tickets to the Lions, way back, so to go from sitting and watching games to being on the field is something not a lot of people get to experience, so I feel very privileged.”
Barnett’s ties to the team are even tighter, as his father Bruce Barnett played a pair of seasons with the Lions back in the day.
“It was unbelievable,” Mitch Barnett said of suiting up for the Lions. “The energy was really good, obviously knowing that I had my family in the stands cheering me on.”
Both North Vancouver boys are third-year CFL players who joined the Lions this offseason as big domestic free agent signings, Termansen coming over from Montreal and Barnett from Hamilton. They have a history together that goes back a long way, back to their high school days and the famous annual Buchanan Bowl grudge match between Handsworth and Carson.
In 2010 Barnett was a cornerstone Grade 12 linebacker/running back for the Royals while Termansen was an exciting Grade 11 receiver/cornerback for the Eagles. Both remember game planning with their coaches to stop each other.
“He was someone who you had to scheme against,” Barnett said of Termansen. “We were definitely aware of each other’s presence when we played against each other.”
Barnett’s team came out on top that day, a fact that he won’t soon let Termansen forget.
“I won’t admit it to his face, but I’m pretty sure he’s beaten me every other time we played,” said Barnett with a laugh. “But my Grade 12 year we ended up winning against them by one point. That was a big win.”
Barnett ending up playing several seasons for Simon Fraser University before joining Termansen at UBC the year that the Thunderbirds went on their run to the Vanier Cup. Both were key cogs for the UBC defence, Barnett at middle linebacker with Termansen behind at cornerback. It was comforting to have a skilled player like Termansen behind him, said Barnett.
“He’s such an athletic guy and technically sound. Having someone like that behind you allows you to play the game a little bit more free knowing that maybe if you mess up a bit in coverage there’s someone back there who can help save you from some of your mistakes.”
Winning the Vanier Cup in front of more than 10,000 Quebecois fans, and celebrated in and amongst the same, left a big impression for both players.
“That was an experience that we as West Coast football players kind of dream of,” Termansen said of playing in a packed stadium. “Being out there celebrating with people that definitely spoke English as a second language, and the language barrier, it almost made it more fun. It was like we were in a foreign country, and we won a championship that nobody expected us to win. It was that much more special.”
Both players also said that they weighed their options in free agency this offseason and both came to the conclusion that coming home was the obvious, and easy, choice.
Termansen said he grew up following players like Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson – a fellow Carson grad – and wanted to follow in their footsteps. In fact, he literally wore the shoes of a BC Lions player back in his high school days. One of the Carson coaches was connected with the Lions and would bring lightly used cleats with him for the Eagles to use. Termansen remembers finding a good fit in a pair worn by Ian Smart.
“I used to have his practice cleats and be playing in those when I was in the 11th and 12th grades. That was pretty cool,” he said.
Both Barnett and Termansen started this season as special teams players while slotting in as backups on defence. Both say they are happy to help out wherever needed and are ready to jump in on defence at any time if called upon.
“Wherever the team sees a need for my attributes or my particular skillset is where I’ll be, and I have no problem playing anywhere. I just want to get on the field,” said Termansen, who has indicated that he wants to run a non-profit dedicated to the enhancement of youth sport in B.C. when his playing days are over. Before that, however, he has a lot of business left to do on the field, adding that he’s intent on becoming one of the best Canadian cornerbacks the league has ever seen.
“It’s been a really good ride,” he said of getting to this point in his career. “There’s definitely been times where the only people who really believed that I could be here were the people who were closest to me – my family, my friends – and I realize now that’s all you really need. … I hope that the journey doesn’t end here. I hope this isn’t the peak, that I can continue getting better at football and having a stronger voice for my community.”
As for Barnett, he’s working hard on his game and picturing a day when he and his friend can hoist another championship trophy together.
“I’m just trying to soak up as much as I can at (linebacker), so that if my name does get called any time in the season I’m ready to go,” he said. “Winning a Grey Cup is something that’s on all of our minds and we’re just taking it one game at a time and hopefully in November we wake up one day and we’re champions. That’s really the only goal that matters.”
