The University of Regina Rams believe their team matches up well with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies going into their Hardy Cup showdown in Saskatoon.
After a 3-5 regular season, the Rams are underdogs to the Huskies, who finished 5-3. Saskatchewan did, however, split two regular season meetings with the Rams winning a thriller in September 33-28 at Mosaic Stadium and lost a hard-fought 22-20 visit to Griffiths Stadium three weeks ago. Regina's defence limited the high-powered Huskies offence to its lowest output this season.
That late-October game ended with everyone thinking the Rams had been all but eliminated from the Canada West playoffs only to find out in the locker room Manitoba stormed back from a 30-4 third quarter deficit to stun Alberta with a 38-37 win, essentially rescuing Regina’s playoff hopes.
The Bisons might be wishing they hadn’t saved the Rams in the week following their own playoff loss to a newly rejuvenated Regina squad that is coming off wins over Alberta and Manitoba. Rams head coach Mark McConkey admits it feels eery to go back to where this Regina run started.
“It’s almost where our season died,” McConkey said. “It’s cool to go back up there to win a Hardy Cup where our season almost ended.”
A close, late-season loss on the road to the Manitoba Bisons gave the Rams confidence the team could win in that stadium, which Regina eventually did. Now the Rams try to follow the same pattern in their Saturday rematch with the Huskies in Saskatoon.
“We know we match up well with them,” McConkey said. “It’s going to be an even game. It’s probably going to be a one-possession, one-score game at the end. We’re confident in our players and staff. We’ve got to go and play Rams football, put our best foot forward and we’ll have a chance to win.”
Running back Christian Katende, who rushed for 229 yards in the regular season finale win over Alberta, had to leave the Manitoba game early with what appeared to be a forearm injury. He’s still day-to-day and will be a game-time decision as is defensive back Max Polishchuk.
It could easily be argued the Huskies have the best offence in the conference and the Rams have the best defence. The Rams offence has also come to life in recent weeks, especially in Manitoba where quarterback Noah Pelletier engineered the drive of his life in the final five minutes to go 101 yards, including a third-and-12 conversion, for the game-winning touchdown.
If the Rams do in fact win this game, it would be their second-ever Hardy Cup win and guarantee a home game in the Mitchell Bowl on Saturday, November 16 against the Quebec conference winner, either the Montreal Carabins or Laval Rouge et Or.
You can listen to the Hardy Cup radio broadcast on www.620ckrm.com under the CKRM 2 stream which can be found in the drop-down menu. Pre-game show starts at 12:45 p.m with kickoff at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
