Standing on their home field at Griffiths Stadium surrounded by visiting white jerseys celebrating a 19-14 victory in the 87th Hardy Cup last November, it was a painful moment for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team.
Coming up five points shy of a record 22nd Canada West championship, bested by their greatest rivals in the University of Regina Rams.
For Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud, it was one of the most difficult losses of his career, but one he’s now moved on from.
“Obviously, with the way last year ended, it was a long off-season,” Amundrud said. “The boys were committed all off-season and we’re excited to get going here.”
That off-season training will be put to the test for the Huskies on Friday night, as they’ll visit the University of Alberta Golden Bears to begin the 2025 Canada West regular season.
It’s an opportunity to begin a new chapter for the Huskies, with the hurt of the Hardy Cup loss being firmly behind the team.
“Starting Week 1 here, we’re over that now,” Amundrud said. “This is a new season, new team, everything is new this year. We’re focused on that and we’re excited.”
It’s a sentiment that Huskies head coach Scott Flory is echoing in the week before kickoff — not wanting his players to completely forget about the feeling on that crisp, November day, but also not wanting them to be consumed by the thought with the birth of a new Canada West campaign.
“Man, I don’t want to talk about it,” Flory said. “That was last year, that was a different team and that was a different group. We’re trying to be the best version of 2025 that we can be. I’m not saying that the guys here don’t remember, I’m not asking them to Men in Black here and try to erase memories.
“That’s not what this is about, but (the loss) is not a focal point of ours.”
Get breaking National news
The Huskies enter the season ranked first in the Canada West coaches poll, coming off an 18-2 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds on Aug. 20 in a pre-season game that was cancelled at halftime due to severe thunderstorms in the area.
While Flory was hoping to have more of an evaluation of his team, especially when it comes to his first-year players, he feels positive when it comes to the type of team he’ll be running onto the field this fall.
Along with Amundrud returning for his fourth season with the Dogs and third as starting quarterback, the Huskies will be fielding a veteran-heavy roster in 2025.
That will include running back Ryker Frank, who will be chasing down Doug Rozon’s program record of 4,086 rushing yards, as well as other veterans such as offensive lineman Jack Warrack, receiver Rhett Vavra and defensive back John Stoll.
The Huskies will also be returning a pair of fifth-year conference all-stars in linebacker Seth Hundeby and receiver Daniel Wiebe, both of whom were selected by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2025 CFL draft and joined the team at training camp in May.
“I’ve been really blessed in the fact that I’ve gotten to play probably more this year than I ever have,” Hundeby said. “I’m super happy that I got the opportunity to go down to Riders camp and I’m super excited to finish off my fifth year here, get some more engineering done. It’s one more ride with the boys.”
With stars like Frank, Hundeby, Wiebe, Stoll, Vavra and Jayden Engel all entering their final year of U Sports eligibility, it’s a go-for-it season, according to Flory — knowing that their roster will look much different when it comes to a year from now, with a sizable number of graduates expected to leave the Huskies.
“We’re going to have a good chunk of fifth-year guys,” Flory said. “There’s going to be a bit of a renaissance period moving forward after this, but we’re really happy with our guys and we’re really looking forward to them performing, all of those fifth-year guys.”
The biggest change the program has seen over the off-season has been on the sidelines, with offensive co-ordinator Jeremy Long and defensive co-ordinator Warren Muzika both departing the organization over the winter.
Helping to fill Long’s role this year will be one of the program’s all-time greats at quarterback, with Mason Nyhus returning to the fold as assistant head coach and passing game co-ordinator after spending two seasons on the sidelines of the UBC Thunderbirds.
Amundrud, who learned from Nyhus at the beginning of his career, said it’s been a welcome addition to the offence.
“It’s been amazing to have (Nyhus) so far,” Amundrud said. “He’s helped my development a lot in the film room, and on the field, it’s nice having a familiar face who I’ve played with. He’s been really awesome.”
Defensively, Muzika’s position has been taken over by former Huskies cornerback and longtime defensive assistant Cody Halseth, who has been on the team’s sidelines since 2011.
According to Hundeby, it’s been a process adjusting to the new system implemented by Halseth, but he is confident the pieces are in place to have one of the top defences in the country.
“It’s definitely a bit of a change,” Hundeby said. “You get used to certain things with certain coaching staffs, but I definitely think we’re going to move forward. I think (Halseth) has got a lot of really good ideas and I think we’re going to have a really solid defence.”
The Huskies will face some unknowns on Friday night against the Golden Bears, with Flory referencing a note from special teams co-ordinator Robert Payne that Alberta is operating a new coaching staff under rookie head coach Stevenson Bone.
Even with an air of uncertainty around their Week 1 opponent, the bar has been set for the Huskies to return to the Hardy Cup in 2025 and re-establish their place atop the conference.
“We got a great group of leaders,” Flory said. “Fast, physical, hard-nosed Huskie football. That’s just the stuff that we want to put on tape.”
Comments