Huskies and Rams ready to battle to final whistle in Hardy Cup

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Regina Rams are set to face off in the first all-Saskatchewan Hardy Cup final since 2002.

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.

According to the standings, this game between the two provincial rivals wasn’t supposed to happen — but both found ways to upset the Manitoba Bisons and University of British Columbia Thunderbirds last week in the Canada West semifinal to earn a spot into western Canada’s biggest collegiate football game.

Read more:

• Huskies and Rams alumni relive the 2002 Hardy Cup final
• Riders look to end Winnipeg blues in CFL West final

Rams head coach Mark McConkey is ecstatic his team gets to play in the game against its provincial rival.

“It means a lot. It’s been a while since the Rams have won a playoff game. The last time was when I was a player in 2012,” McConkey said.

“It means a lot to the program, alumni, our current players and the coaches. It’s an all-Sask match-up and hopefully it’s a predictor of future Hardy Cups between the Rams and Huskies.”

The turnaround for the Rams over the past year has been impressive. It was only a season ago the Rams finished 1-7 and were dead last in the Canada West football standings.

So what changed?

“Canada West is so open this year and we were a little young in some key spots last year. This year we are a little more of a veteran group and we went out and had a bit of a junior recruiting trail and got some guys who could compete right away and that’s really changed everything,” McConkey explained.

Despite the 3-5 regular season record, the Rams had the best defence in Canada West, allowing only 177 points on the season.

“Yeah, we’re 3-5 and lost a lot of games, but the games that we lost were by two, by three, by eight. We never really lost faith in ourselves and again our defence is the backbone of our team this year and they continue to play at a high level.”

McConkey feels his team has been playoff football ready since his group last lost to the Huskies in mid-October. He thinks Saturday’s game will be a battle.

“It’s going to be a 10 round boxing match. It’s going to go right down to probably the final whistle and final play. We played each other tough — we won by five, they won by two — we’re just two really good football teams,” he said. “I’m just excited to see the battle on Saturday.”

The Huskies last played in the Hardy Cup in 2022, and have 21 cup wins.

U of S started the season 1-3, but have since won five in a row.

Head coach Scott Flory credits his team’s workmanlike approach for being the reason they’re in Saturday’s game.

“How it starts isn’t how it’s going to be how it finishes. I think we have a very consistent and steady approach with how we do things, and I think the guys buy into that and just consistently show up and work for one play at a time for 60 minutes,” Flory explained.

“It’s the adage of football, I’m not reinventing the wheel here on that stuff.”

With the Hardy Cup final expected to be a dog fight, Flory says his team just has to worry about themselves.

“Playoff football, I don’t know if there’s any secrets to it. You’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to win the line of scrimmage, not turn the ball over and just make sure that you’re smart with the football,” Flory said.

“Every play just becomes amplified in the playoffs. It’s going to be a tight game, there’s no doubt. It’s going to be a hard fought battle.”

The winner of the Hardy Cup will host the Mitchell Bowl next Saturday at 2 p.m. against either Montreal or Laval.

Read more:

• Huskies and Rams alumni relive the 2002 Hardy Cup final
• Riders look to end Winnipeg blues in CFL West final