For the first time since 2022, the Regina Thunder will play in the Canadian Bowl, with the hopes of capturing the country’s junior football national title. It’s been a long road for Regina this season, the latest journey of which was traveled through the air. The Thunder rolled into Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, Oct. 24 and dominated the Sault College Cougars 44-15. The semi-final win gave Regina a chance at the national finals, a game they haven’t won since 2013. High pressure games are a dime a dozen for the Thunder, having won three consecutive playoff games and appearing in their own conference finals each of the last six seasons. However, what is new for the Thunder is the travel. “We’re pretty used to taking guys on the busses and stuff, so we tried to have that similar mindset, like whatever you take on the bus is what you take on the plane. We’re just lucky because originally, we were supposed to fly to Toronto and take an eight-hour bus ride from Toronto to Sault College.” Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay explained. The team ended up with a direct flight that cut travel time down under three hours one-way, a crucial time saver. Weekly preparation was the most difficult it had been all season. Not only did the Thunder have to figure out a team they had never seen before, but complications with acquiring quality game film to work off made the short week even more of a time crunch. “It was a lot on our coaches and I’m really proud of those guys. They worked extremely hard to take the time appropriately to prepare for them but also to make sure our gameplans were very thorough and then we were able to teach our players appropriately,” MacAulay added. It’s a similar challenge the Thunder will find in preparing for the Canadian Bowl. The Westshore Rebels of British Columbia. One advantage this year’s Thunder squad has is its youth. That young mentality has been a great asset in the post-season, according to offensive coordinator Paul Tokarz. “One thing that’s led to our success this year, we didn’t know that we shouldn’t be in these types of games and we’ve kind of had a little bit of ignorance but that ignorance has been bliss and we just keep the standard, the standard and that’s led to us playing at a really high level,” Tokarz explained. Only one player from their national title team in 2013 remains with the Thunder on the staff and for the first time in four years, Regina has another shot at crowning themselves best of Canada. The Canadian Bowl is set for Nov. 7 on Vancouver Island.
