Former Rams and current B.C Lions linebacker Ryder Varga knows the rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon runs deep.
"They always think they're better than us," Varga told the SportsCage. "My roommate will tell you that Saskatoon is five times the city that Regina is."
That rivalry runs hot on the football field with the Rams and Huskies. The universities played twice during the 2024 regular season, Regina won the first game in September 33-28 but lost to Saskatchewan in October 22-20. Both teams pulled upsets on the road in the Canada West playoffs to advance to the conference championship game.
It has been 22 years since the Rams played the Huskies in the Hardy Cup -- the one and only time in history -- which Saskatchewan won 44-28. Former Regina head coach, Frank McCrystal recalls the weather and officiating from Saturday, November 9, 2022.
“It snowed. At halftime, we asked for extra time to clean the field and all they did was clean the yard lines," McCrystal said. "I came out from the dressing room and said: 'Why did we take five more minutes? You know what the problem was? It was the referee, he was from Saskatoon, so I blame that.”
The Rams made it to the 87th Hardy Cup by beating the Manitoba Bisons 28-25 at Princess Auto Stadium last Saturday. According to Varga, he was in the locker room at Mosaic Stadium listening to the game's final minutes prior to kickoff in the West Semi-Final.
"I was listening on the radio and I knew the score. It was right after [Breydon] Stubbs got that long touchdown run, I joined in and I thought we were winning," Varga said. "I joined the radio and I heard that we were losing. I said: 'Oh damn, guys what happened? I left for one second on Twitter and all of a sudden, you guys are down.' It was electric hearing it."
The Regina-born Varga was with the Rams from 2017 to 2022. He earned first-team U Sports All-Canadian status in his final season along with being named the Canada West Defensive Player of the Year. The 25-year-old Martin LeBoldus High School graduate still keeps in touch with the team.
"There's still a good handful of guys that I saw in the last couple years of my career," Varga said. "Then there are all the coaches that coached me growing up. Sheldon Gray coached me since I was 10-years-old. When they're losing a bunch of games, I will text them: 'What are you guys doing? You guys gotta figure it out.'"
Varga offered advice to his former team for the Rams' match-up against the Huskies at Griffiths Stadium.
"Make sure that you're giving your all every single play, you don't want to have any regrets after the game," Varga said. "You can't do what-ifs, but if you try your hardest you can live with the result either way."
The Rams-Huskies winner hosts the Quebec Conference champion, either Montreal or Laval, in the Mitchell Bowl on Saturday, November 16.
Regina travels to Saskatoon to take on the Huskies in the Hardy Cup on Saturday. Brendan McGuire and Derek Bidwell start the pre-game show at 12:45 p.m. with kick-off to follow at 1 p.m. You can listen to the game on the 620 CKRM 2 stream.
