Don Landry
CFL.ca
A conversation with Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ offensive lineman Peter Dyakowski is an awful lot like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates.
Intelligent and amiable, Dyakowski also possesses a sharp sense of humour and a willingness to play along.
So, when he was asked by an interviewer to estimate the total weight of the Ticats’ roster, Dyakowski didn’t merely blurt out a wild guess. He closed one eye, cast the gaze of the other to the ceiling and started doing the calculations out loud. Number of players, average weight…he came up with an answer that was reasonably in the ball park.
“It’s always nice to figure something out,” was his reply when I asked him if he ever grows weary of total strangers looking to quiz the man who was named Canada’s Smartest Person in 2012. “I’m a naturally curious guy.”
A determined one, as well.
It was during last year’s Grey Cup Game that the 30-year-old native of Vancouver suffered a terrible knee injury, one that can end careers. For Dyakowski, it was a challenge to overcome, which he has, making his 2014 debut during last week’s Eastern Final win over Montreal.
The 2013 Grey Cup game was played on November 24th. The 2014 Eastern Final was played on November 23rd.
“They told me the rehab for a patellar tendon tear was one year. Well, I beat the odds,” smiled Dyakowski.
“I did it in only 364 days.”
And so it goes, with Dyakowski, who is happy to give you serious answers, but just as happy – if not happier – to give you light-hearted ones.
“I try to stay a little bit lighter,” he replied, when told his good friend and Calgary Stampeder running back Jon Cornish quoted a Chinese proverb this week. “Jon Cornish, he’s a very philosophical, thoughtful, guy and that really comes through. I try to look on the lighter side of life more often than not.”
Dyakowski will give you the deadly serious answers you’re looking for when it comes to the big game on Sunday and how he believes his Ticats are up to the challenge of knocking off the favoured Stampeders. Overwhelmed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in last year’s championship game, this season’s edition is a different breed of cat, he says.
“Last year we were so fired up just to win the East Final. It was a huge emotional game. It was a long time coming for the team. There was champagne in the locker room. This year, we didn’t even touch the (Eastern Champions) trophy.”
“Very different teams,” he continued. “We’ve matured a lot. We’ve come a long way, I think.”
The opposition has a little something to prove, as well, being denied a trip the Grey Cup Game in 2013 and losing to the Toronto Argonauts in the 100th edition of the Grey Cup in 2012. The Stampeders are as determined as the Ticats and Dyakowski gives them their due respect. Especially their defensive front four.
“They have a great front,” Dyakowski begins, turning the dial on his brain even more towards the analytical.
“They have a great defence. From the start of the season they’ve been the best team and their defence is a reflection of that. They’ve got a great, strong line, they do a lot of interesting things up front, scheme-wise. They’re very advanced. They have a very good handle on how an offensive line works and they can use their scheme to try to defeat offensive line blocking techniques.”
“And they’re physical while they’re doing it,” he adds. “They do have everything.”
Meaning the Ticats’ offensive line will need to be at its level best, on Sunday. Whatever part Dyakowski may play in that – he backed up Tim O’Neill on the depth chart for the Eastern Final – he professes that he is ready, having felt just fine a week ago when he jumped back into game action for the first time in a year. The entire unit is ready, he insists.
“If anybody can handle that, it’s us,” he says of the cerebral and physical challenges present in facing the Stampeders’ defence. “We’ve got a great O-line. We’ve got a group that’s gelled over the course of the year. They’ve only got better and better and better. They’re ready for it.”
In some ways, when you really think about it – which Dyakowski does – his own personal health may be the best it has been at this time of year since he started playing football as a teenager. “I’ve been in the weight room all season long. I’ve never felt this good in November since I was fifteen years old,” he said with a chuckle.
“The knee feels great,” he replies when asked if he’s a hundred per cent healthy. “All the work I’ve done to get me to this point has really succeeded in putting me in a position where I know that I can do whatever is asked of me.”
“I feel very fortunate that I’m able to play now, and that I’m able to be a part of it and contribute in some way, even if it’s only in a limited fashion.”
Whatever the fashion, Dyakowski will take up his position in the Grey Cup Game, just a year after that same game provided the backdrop for devastating personal pain and team disappointment.
That’s all past now, and he’s looking ahead with optimism. He’ll even entertain a hypothetical question about what he’d prefer to drink out of the old mug, should the Ticats emerge with a victory on Sunday.
“I would love to drink chocolate milk out of it. That’d be delicious, right after the game,” he said with a smile.
That’s Peter Dyakowski. You never know what you’re gonna get.
