UBC win Hardy Cup with double-overtime thriller against Regina, advance to Uteck Bowl

Rich Lam/UBC Athletics

You can officially apply the “instant classic” term to the 2026 edition of the Hardy Cup for the Canada West football title.

The UBC Thunderbirds outlasted the Regina Rams in a double-overtime thriller, picking up the win by a 41-39 score.

What was a shootout for much of the second half turned into a kicking contest in the end of it, with Alex Hillyard hitting his third and fourth field goals of the day to give the Thunderbirds a victory.  Regina’s Ty Gorniak wasn’t quite as fortunate, missing wide left on a 34-yard-kick on the final play of the game with a kick that could’ve forced a third overtime.

UBC had a pair of 15-point second-half leads at both 28-13 and 35-20, though Regina’s reluctance to give up made the game an all-timer.

Like any memorable win, the title game featured a series of plays that could’ve turned the tide for either side. The Thunderbirds themselves probably felt like they finally caught a break in overtime on Gorniak’s miss, as they appeared to have the game all but locked up on several occassions before the Rams kept clawing back.

In the first overtime after holding Regina to a field goal, UBC’s Ben Gutek looked to possibly pick up a diving catch for a first down that would’ve put the Thunderbirds within the 20-yard line, where a touchdown would’ve won the game. The referees ruled it a no-catch call on second down that would’ve kept the drive alive, before they opted for a field goal themselves.

The Thunderbirds took the ball first in the second overtime, but once again were only able to muster a field goal before Gorniak’s fateful miss.

In the fourth quarter, it was Regina receiver Michael Eagle Bear single-handedly kept the Rams’ hopes alive, with a trio of catches capped up with a game-tying touchdown with just 38 seconds left on the clock. Arguably the game’s top highlight came with a one-handed catch by Eagle Bear, as he finished with a game-high 142 yards on 10 catches.

On that same drive, UBC linebacker Sean Gunnip had a chance to likely end the game in regulation. A Owen Sieben pass on their game-tying drive bounced off of Gunnip’s shoulder pads, where an interception could’ve come close to icing the contest before the Rams tied it up. But despite the close calls, the Thunderbirds had just enough breaks go their way, winning the trophy at home for the first time since 2023.

Sieben through for 443 yards and four touchdowns, but he’ll likely be looking at a fourth-quarter interception he threw to UBC’s Damien Bucknor as the one that got away.

On the first play of the next drive following the interception, Drew Viotto found Trey Montour for a 31-yard reception that brought the ball within strking distance of the Regina end zone. Zach Patfield found the end zone for the third time of the day, punching in a one-yard score to put the Thunderbirds up 35-20 after the conversion with 9:22 left. Viotto himself finished the day 17 for 35 for 251 yards.

But Sieben drove the ball down the field again in the fourth quarter, as Nicholas Sirleaf scored a touchdown and the subsequent two-point convert that helped set up the game-tying score by Eagle Bear.

Though the second half and overtime periods provided plenty of theatrics, the first few chapters of the game didn’t quite exactly scream that the contest was setting up to be one for the ages.

Regina carried a 13-10 lead into halftime, with a pair of Gorniak field goals to go along with a short six-yard catch by Alex Gagnon. Kai Rednour-Bruckman had the Thunderbirds’ lone receiving touchdown of the day in the first half.

In the first nine minutes of the third quarter, methodical drives from the Thunderbirds resulted in a pair of Patfield one-yard scores. (Interestingly, he finished the day with five carries for just six yards, but three of those resulted in majors. Not a bad day at the office for the typical tight end, who had a pair of rushing touchdowns on 13 carries for 28 yards coming into the day.)

The victory sees the Thunderbirds advance to the Uteck Bowl next week, where they travel to Quebec to visit RSEQ winners Montréal for the right to play in the Vanier Cup.