FB: Bisons-Huskies renew rivalry in Hardy Cup
November 19, 2021
SASKATOON - The latest chapter in the playoff football history of the Manitoba Bisons and Saskatchewan Huskies will be written Saturday when the prairie powerhouses from neighbouring provinces go head-to-head in the 84th Hardy Cup at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. CST live on Canada West Football Showcase on SaskTel (349), TELUS (997), and on Canada West TV Presented by Co-op.
This will be the fourth Hardy Cup pitting Manitoba against Saskatchewan, and the eighth time the Bisons and Huskies have squared off in the football postseason. Saskatchewan holds a 4-3 edge over Manitoba in the previous seven meetings and is 2-1 against the Bisons in the Hardy Cup.
"The University of Saskatchewan and the University of Manitoba have always been good for a very long time and always competitive, and I think one thing that both programs pride themselves on is the physical nature in which they play," says Bisons' former player and current linebackers coach DJ Lalama.
Both programs have had moments of triumph and heartbreak in a postseason rivalry that dates back nearly five decades to their first postseason match-up the 1973 Hardy Cup, but the most memorable games may also be the most recent ones.
Fifteen years later, they still talk fondly about the 2006 Hardy Cup in Saskatoon. And from the Manitoba perspective, it doesn't get much better than the Canada West semi-finals in 2013 and 2014.
Entering the 2006 Hardy Cup on its home turf, Manitoba was favoured against the Huskies: the nationally ranked No. 1 Bisons sported a perfect 9-0 record, including a 35-16 regular season victory in Saskatchewan. But the Huskies were two-time defending Canada West champions, and their experienced prevailed in a 32-15 win that saw Saskatchewan get a 71-yard rushing touchdown from Tyler O'Gorman and a 72-yard receiving touchdown from Cory Jones.
Saskatchewan then defeated Ottawa in the Mitchell Bowl to advance to the Vanier Cup for a third straight year, the only Canada West team to ever achieve such a feat.
"What the group had was that expectation to win," says Braden Suchan, a kicker for the Huskies from 2004 to 2007. "And that's something that, no matter who were playing, just kind of rolled in there thinking we're going to win and we're going to be in that Vanier Cup."
The Bisons, for their part, learned from their 2006 Hardy Cup loss, using it one year later as fuel propelling them to win the Vanier Cup for the first time in 37 years.
After Manitoba's triumphant 2007 season, it would be six years before the Bisons next hosted a Canada West playoff game, against Saskatchewan in the 2013 semi-final.
The Huskies looked like they once more were going to spoil Manitoba's party, leading 36-24 with just over five minutes remaining, but a pair of late touchdown passes by Jordan Yantz to Nic Demski rallied the Bisons to a 37-36 victory at Investors Group Field.
That instant classic deserved a rematch, and the football gods obliged, with Manitoba and Saskatchewan locking up in the 2014 semi-final, this time at Griffiths Stadium, where the Bisons made an even bigger comeback than the year prior.
Trailing by as much as 19 early in the second half, Manitoba out-scored Saskatchewan 29-2 over the game's final 24 minutes to stun the Huskies 47-39. The Bisons rode that momentum down the highway to Calgary, where they beat the U of C Dinos to win the 2014 Hardy Cup.
"Those games against Saskatchewan were battles," says Lalama, who played linebacker for Manitoba from 2012 to 2016. "You were tested and you were tried and it wasn't necessarily pretty, but collectively we were able to do enough to keep playing another week and that instills confidence in everyone When you're able to come back against a good opponent a couple years in a row it really bodes well for your confidence moving forward."
The 2014 Hardy Cup was Manitoba's most recent postseason victory for until last Saturday, when they the Bisons blasted Alberta 43-17 in a whiteout at IG Field.
As for Saskatchewan, those heart-breaking losses in the 2013 and 2014 semi-finals were right in the middle of an eight-year stretch without a postseason win for the Huskies. But that's ancient history now: Saskatchewan is playing in a third consecutive Hardy Cup final after booking its ticket with a 39-17 defeat of UBC last weekend.
And now, here they are, renewing acquaintances with the Canada West football championship and a spot in the Uteck Bowl, Vanier Cup semi-final, up for grabs. In their shared postseason history, Saskatchewan has more wins, but Manitoba has won more recently. And whoever prevails this time, Saturday will be another battle that's talked about for years to come.
"My expectation is that both teams are going to be bringing everything that they have and we're going to see a lot of hard, physical play," says Suchan, who is in his fifth year as special teams assistant coach for the Huskies. "Two big offences going against each other."
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. CST live on Canada West Football Showcase on SaskTel (349), TELUS (997), and on Canada West TV Presented by Co-op.
This will be the fourth Hardy Cup pitting Manitoba against Saskatchewan, and the eighth time the Bisons and Huskies have squared off in the football postseason. Saskatchewan holds a 4-3 edge over Manitoba in the previous seven meetings and is 2-1 against the Bisons in the Hardy Cup.
"The University of Saskatchewan and the University of Manitoba have always been good for a very long time and always competitive, and I think one thing that both programs pride themselves on is the physical nature in which they play," says Bisons' former player and current linebackers coach DJ Lalama.
Both programs have had moments of triumph and heartbreak in a postseason rivalry that dates back nearly five decades to their first postseason match-up the 1973 Hardy Cup, but the most memorable games may also be the most recent ones.
Fifteen years later, they still talk fondly about the 2006 Hardy Cup in Saskatoon. And from the Manitoba perspective, it doesn't get much better than the Canada West semi-finals in 2013 and 2014.
Entering the 2006 Hardy Cup on its home turf, Manitoba was favoured against the Huskies: the nationally ranked No. 1 Bisons sported a perfect 9-0 record, including a 35-16 regular season victory in Saskatchewan. But the Huskies were two-time defending Canada West champions, and their experienced prevailed in a 32-15 win that saw Saskatchewan get a 71-yard rushing touchdown from Tyler O'Gorman and a 72-yard receiving touchdown from Cory Jones.
Saskatchewan then defeated Ottawa in the Mitchell Bowl to advance to the Vanier Cup for a third straight year, the only Canada West team to ever achieve such a feat.
"What the group had was that expectation to win," says Braden Suchan, a kicker for the Huskies from 2004 to 2007. "And that's something that, no matter who were playing, just kind of rolled in there thinking we're going to win and we're going to be in that Vanier Cup."
The Bisons, for their part, learned from their 2006 Hardy Cup loss, using it one year later as fuel propelling them to win the Vanier Cup for the first time in 37 years.
After Manitoba's triumphant 2007 season, it would be six years before the Bisons next hosted a Canada West playoff game, against Saskatchewan in the 2013 semi-final.
The Huskies looked like they once more were going to spoil Manitoba's party, leading 36-24 with just over five minutes remaining, but a pair of late touchdown passes by Jordan Yantz to Nic Demski rallied the Bisons to a 37-36 victory at Investors Group Field.
That instant classic deserved a rematch, and the football gods obliged, with Manitoba and Saskatchewan locking up in the 2014 semi-final, this time at Griffiths Stadium, where the Bisons made an even bigger comeback than the year prior.
Trailing by as much as 19 early in the second half, Manitoba out-scored Saskatchewan 29-2 over the game's final 24 minutes to stun the Huskies 47-39. The Bisons rode that momentum down the highway to Calgary, where they beat the U of C Dinos to win the 2014 Hardy Cup.
"Those games against Saskatchewan were battles," says Lalama, who played linebacker for Manitoba from 2012 to 2016. "You were tested and you were tried and it wasn't necessarily pretty, but collectively we were able to do enough to keep playing another week and that instills confidence in everyone When you're able to come back against a good opponent a couple years in a row it really bodes well for your confidence moving forward."
The 2014 Hardy Cup was Manitoba's most recent postseason victory for until last Saturday, when they the Bisons blasted Alberta 43-17 in a whiteout at IG Field.
As for Saskatchewan, those heart-breaking losses in the 2013 and 2014 semi-finals were right in the middle of an eight-year stretch without a postseason win for the Huskies. But that's ancient history now: Saskatchewan is playing in a third consecutive Hardy Cup final after booking its ticket with a 39-17 defeat of UBC last weekend.
And now, here they are, renewing acquaintances with the Canada West football championship and a spot in the Uteck Bowl, Vanier Cup semi-final, up for grabs. In their shared postseason history, Saskatchewan has more wins, but Manitoba has won more recently. And whoever prevails this time, Saturday will be another battle that's talked about for years to come.
"My expectation is that both teams are going to be bringing everything that they have and we're going to see a lot of hard, physical play," says Suchan, who is in his fifth year as special teams assistant coach for the Huskies. "Two big offences going against each other."