FB: SSK and UBC to settle the score in Hardy Cup Final

By Brian Swane, special to CW

The University of Saskatchewan’s football team has been nearly unbeatable in 2022, finishing clear atop the regular season standings and advancing to the championship with a dominant playoff win.

After two months of competition in Canada West, the Huskies have but one blemish on their record.

And that one blemish just happens to be what stands in the way of a record 21^st A.E. Hardy Trophy for the defending champion Huskies when they host the UBC Thunderbirds in the 85th Hardy Cup, 1 p.m. CST Saturday at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon. Catch the action streaming live on SaskTel (channels 49 & 349), TELUS (channels 997 & 998) or Canada West TV.

Saskatchewan (7-1 in the regular season, first in the standings) eliminated the Manitoba Bisons 37-9 while UBC (4-4 in the regular season, third in the standings) delivered a 28-14 road win over the Regina Rams in last weekend’s Hardy Cup semi-finals.

The Huskies and T-Birds are meeting for a third time in barely over two months. On Sept. 9 in Saskatoon, during Week 2 of the regular season, Saskatchewan beat UBC 29-10. Saskatchewan was undefeated until Week 7, when UBC toppled the Huskies 35-29 on Oct. 22 at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver.

Now comes the rubber match, for all the marbles, between the only two Canada West teams that have a win this year against every other team in the conference, including each other.

“They handed us that loss there, and they got us at UBC,” says Huskies head coach Scott Flory. ​ “I know that we’ll be ready, we’ll be able to adjust better, we didn’t adjust in all three phases quick enough in that game.”

In their Week 2 victory over UBC, the Huskies opened the scoring just two minutes into the game, never trailed and led after every quarter. Three weeks ago in Vancouver, it was the host T-Birds that jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, then rallied after falling behind in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 unanswered points to end the game.

“Kudos to them, they beat us, but we’re really looking forward to getting back here to the cozy confines of Griffiths and our guys will be ready,” Flory added.

In a match-up overflowing with subplots, one of the juiciest narratives is that of the upstarts on the rise against the established power: The Huskies are 15-2 against Canada West opponents over the last two years, while UBC has won 4 of its last 5 games after starting the season 1-3.

Seven years have passed since UBC last captured the Hardy Cup, while Saskatchewan has won two of the last three Canada West football championships. On both of those occasions the Huskies prevailed over the Thunderbirds in the semi-finals, 31-28 at UBC in 2018 and 39-17 in Saskatoon last year.

“When you’re a program looking to become a champion, you need to beat the current champion and you need to beat them on their home field,” says T-Birds coach Blake Nill, whose squad knocked off the defending champion Bisons in the playoffs en route to UBC’s 2015 Hardy Cup triumph.

“We’re an up-and-coming team that wants to be included amongst the best and this is an opportunity for us to gain that reputation.”

After allowing at least 21 points in every one of their first seven games, the T-Birds have held the opposition to 15 or less in back-to-back weeks, both times on the road. Against Regina, second-year quarterback Derek Engel threw one touchdown and no interceptions in his first playoff start, while fellow second-year student-athelte Dane Kapler rushed for a game-high 71 yards and sealed the Rams’ fate by running 27 yards to the endzone late in the fourth quarter.

Saskatchewan scored the most and allowed the fewest points in the conference during the regular season and are stacked with skill and experience in all phases. Many of the Huskies are looking to win the Hardy Cup for a third time in their university career, including fifth-year quarterback Mason Nyhus and third-year kicker David Solie, Saskatchewan natives who both were unanimous selections to the 2022 Canada West All-Stars.

"They have a championship culture there, they’ve built their program on homegrown talent, homegrown toughness and they play the game the right way,” Nill says of the Huskies. “I’ve tried to do the same with this group I have.”

Flory is equally complimentary of his championship opponents.

“They’re a really good football team,” the Saskatchewan coach says. “The line of scrimmage is really good on both sides, they’ve got speed, they’ve got guys that can move. Coach Nill’s been around, he’s a champion and we know that he’s going to have his guys prepared.”

WATCH THE HARDY CUP

Catch the action streaming live on SaskTel (channels 49 & 349), TELUS (channels 997 & 998) or Canada West TV.

TICKETS

To watch the game live at Griffiths Stadium, you can purchase tickets here.

HARDY CUP PRESS CONFERENCE

Both coaches will be available to media during a press conference held Friday at 3 p.m. CST at Griffiths Stadium (Huskies Clubhouse). For more information, please contact Stefanie Lasuik, Associate Director, Communications & Marketing, Canada West at stefanie.lasuik@canadawest.org.