Huskies and Rams alumni relive the 2002 Hardy Cup final

For the second time in the long and storied 102-year history of the Hardy Cup, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies will face the University of Regina Rams on Saturday afternoon for a chance to take home western Canada’s biggest football prize.

Back in 2002, the Huskies and Rams met in the Hardy Cup final at Taylor Field in front of 5,612 fans. To this day, it remains the largest crowd on record to watch the Hardy Cup final.

The Huskies ended up winning the Hardy Cup 44-28.

This year’s meeting between the Rams and Huskies is eerily similar to what we saw in 2002. That year, the Huskies were the number four seed and had to travel to Manitoba to knockoff the top-seeded Bisons — while the Rams were listed as the number three seed and had to play in Calgary and win to earn its trip to the Hardy Cup.

This past season, the Rams were the number four seed and also had to go into Manitoba and defeat the top-seeded 7-1 Bisons to advance to the championship game — while the Huskies were the number three seed and had to travel to Vancouver to defeat the University of British Columbia to move on.

With the two teams set to meet, excitement is building across Saskatchewan.

650 CKOM spoke with alumni of both teams to reflect and remember the historic day in 2002 for football in this province.

What do you remember about the game?

Brian Towriss, former Huskies head coach 1984-2016:

“There was lots of anticipation and lots of noise about the game,” Towriss said. “There was lots of excitement around it. It was snowing, it was slippery and as I recall I think we jumped out pretty quickly. We kind of jumped ahead early and then seesawed back and forth. I think they made it close in the late third or early fourth and then we got another one (score). Both teams were quite skilled.”

In the first quarter, the Huskies went up 21-0 with receiver Nathan Hoffart scoring two touchdowns.

Huskies receiver in 2002 Nathan Hoffart, former Rams receivers coach:

“It was a really great atmosphere. I remember it was a night game and it was snowing and there was a lot of snow,” he said. “I’m from Regina, so whenever we came back to Regina to play, it was always a really familiar field. I grew up playing football at that stadium and there was always something special about coming back to Regina and playing those games.”

Sheldon Gray, former Rams defensive back 2002, now Rams defensive coordinator:

“I remember it was pretty cold — snowy — the conditions were very football-esque for a playoff game in Saskatchewan. It was at the old Taylor Field — so we were on that AstroTurf — so the footing conditions were just terrible. It seemed like the Huskies had like four different pairs of shoes to wear because I know they did a couple of footwear exchanges during the game where I’m not sure if we weren’t prepared for that aspect or not — but I know we were struggling with the footing for sure.”

What do you remember about that season?

Towriss:

“That was the start of another run for us, nobody expected us to get there in 2002,” Towriss said. “We were 4-4 that year and we had started slow with a pretty young team and kind of got better every game. Much like the Huskies have this year.”

Hoffart:

“I wouldn’t say we under performed, but I remember we were developing. We were kind of finding our footing and we really started to hit our stride late in the season. That was definitely the season that things started to kind of come together. I think from what I remember.”

Gray:

“It’s very much like this year — anybody can beat anybody any weekend for sure. I remember we had a good run of success there with the Vanier Cup in 2000 and then in 2001 we were in the Hrady again and then in 2002 we knew we had the pieces to get there. We were a pretty veteran group and knew that we could pretty much go in and compete with anybody wherever we were going.”

Were you nervous or excited about facing your provincial rival?

Hoffart:

“I remember being really excited. It was always exciting because it was so familiar coming back to Regina — I looked forward to it because I had family and friends who could come to the game. I remember it being so exciting to play for a championship. We were underdogs and kind of struggled through that season, so playing in the Canada West championship was kind of an exciting culmination of things clicking down the stretch.”

Gray:

“Hosting a playoff game was a little bit different for us because we were road warriors in 2000 and 2001. Hosting a game might’ve been a different experience for us and I think it might’ve caught us off guard a little bit. It was a surprise that we were hosting — we were expecting to go somewhere being the seed that we were.”

What do you expect from this big game on Saturday?

Towriss:

“I watched all eight Huskies games (this year) and I watched five of the Rams games and there wasn’t much to choose. I said when Manitoba came in here at 6-0 that they’re winning, but they haven’t been convincing, they don’t look like a 6-0 team. I didn’t think there was any clear-cut favourite watching the games this year, so really any of the four playing had a chance to win the Hardy Cup this year. The league was that close. I think the Rams — this is their best opportunity in a number of years — so they’re going to be ready. It’s going to be a great game with two pretty evenly matched teams.”

Hoffart:

“My heart is with the Saskatchewan Huskies, but from a familiarity perspective, I have more familiarity with the Regina Rams. I coached with many of the coaches who are still coaching there today, so there’s a comradery with the coaching staff.”

“I’m not shocked, I watched a few games from the Rams reasonably closely. I think they’re a better team than their record showed and I think they came out on the wrong end of a couple of really tight games. To see things falling into place, I’m not surprised they upset in the first round and they’re now in the Hardy Cup. I think this is two worthy teams for the Canada West championship. I will not be surprised whoever comes out on top.”

Gray:

“They (the Rams) are super excited. Our guys are pretty jacked up. They’ve been grinding film and really haven’t had a minute off since our win against Manitoba. It’ll be a lot of excited dudes who we just have to put in the right spot because we know they’re going to be juiced.

Kick-off on Saturday is set for 1 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium.