Sarah Mills: Canada should be united in grief
Sarah Mills says the tragic set of circumstances in Wainwright that left four dead and dozens injured should make us all...
With 10 minutes left in the Prairie Football Conference championship game on Sunday in Regina, the Saskatoon Hilltops knew their season would likely draw to a close trailing by 25 points.
As the Regina Thunder inched towards being crowned the new champions of the conference, the Hilltops made a startling realization.
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“People are like, ‘Where’s the trophy?” said Hilltops vice-president of operations Rob Walter. “How do you get it in 10 minutes to Regina?”
The final siren sounded at Leibel Field with the Thunder victorious by a 44-19 margin to capture their first conference title since 2024.
Instead of lifting the Paul Schwann Memorial Cup over their heads on their home field however, the Thunder were left without any hardware to hold.
According to Walter, the Hilltops forgot to load the PFC championship trophy onto the team bus prior to hitting the road against Regina.
“Are we embarrassed?” Walter said.
“Yeah, extremely embarrassed, it’s really a struggle. I know there’s a lot of things on social media that it was done on purpose and it wasn’t. It was a complete gaffe and it was a complete mistake that the Hilltops, we didn’t take the trophy.”
It’s a blunder which is a first for the PFC according to conference president Randy O’Shaughnessy, who said it was up to defending league champions like the Hilltops to make the trophy available.
“Unfortunately, it was an oversight of the conference,” O’Shaughnessy said.
“It was just simply deemed that it was missing in game preparations. We are very focused on how this does not happen again.”
After several conversations between the Thunder, Hilltops and the PFC, the sides ironed out the logistics on Tuesday morning.
A 44-19 victory secured the 2026 Prairie Football Conference championship for the Regina Thunder over the Saskatoon Hilltops at Leibel Field on Oct. 18, 2026. (Wanda Harron Photography/Submitted)
In a statement, Thunder president Murad Al-Katib confirmed the trophy has been delivered to Regina ahead of their national semifinal game on Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
“It was an unfortunate incident that was missed in game preparation,” Al-Katib said.
“This has been resolved and the trophy has been delivered to Regina (and) the Thunder this morning by the Hilltops. Both clubs worked together with the league to resolve this matter quickly to get the trophy to the winner. The Regina Thunder look forward to proudly representing the Prairie Football Conference against the Sault College Cougars in Ontario in the CJFL national semifinal, in our quest for a national championship to be played in B.C. (on) Nov. 7.”
The Hilltops stated the missing trophy wasn’t done out of any malice or ill will towards their conference rival, as Walter said their players wouldn’t have been able to celebrate on the field with the trophy either on Sunday.
Still, he said the mistake has shaken the organization and is being taken seriously by both the team and league.
“This is an embarrassment not only for the Hilltops, but for the league as well,” Walter said.
“We want to try and grow junior football in Canada, and this does not look good at that level. We’ll make some changes and I know the PFC will, and so will the (Canadian Junior Football League) so that this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
Change is coming to the way the conference and the CJFL handle their official trophies after this past weekend’s incident, with all hardware needing to be given back to the leagues ahead of playoffs.
“One of the significant changes we decided on Sunday night was simply that any trophies won in the current year, will be returned prior to the playoff season the following year,” O’Shaughnessy said.
We messed up - BIG time. To the entire @reginathunder organization, we are so sorry we failed to provide you with the experience you deserved as PFC Champions. https://t.co/t8gx1pXUkO
— Saskatoon Hilltops (@SaskHilltops) October 19, 2026
A public apology posted by the Hilltops on Monday night went viral on social media with over 56,000 views on X alone and thousands of impressions on Facebook and Instagram.
O’Shaughnessy said the apology went a long way for the conference, as he compared the situation to a quarterback throwing an interception and taking the blame on their shoulders.
“I thought it was a full mea culpa,” O’Shaughnessy said.
“They feel absolutely terrible about it. We have accepted that as a league and I know the Thunder team accepted that last night in our conference call. We’re going to put this behind us and move on, and ensure cooperatively that this doesn’t happen again.”
The PFC isn’t actively looking at additional punishment towards the Hilltops organization such as fines or loss of home games, however Walter said conversations are ongoing with the Thunder to see if other reparations are possible.
“I feel extremely upset over this, that this didn’t happen the way it should have happened,” Walter said. “We’ll be in discussion with them.”
Year-end board meetings have been scheduled by the Hilltops in the coming days, which will include a deeper investigation into how communication broke down to the point where the trophy remained in Saskatoon over the weekend.
Along with the conference’s decision to handle their trophies differently moving forward, Walter said the Hilltops will also be reviewing their own internal policies.
“We’re going to be evaluating all of this and moving forward,” Walter said.
“I know there are going to be some interesting board meetings over the next couple of weeks, for sure. Just to try and figure out how do we change it internally as a club?”
While the Hilltops look ahead to 2027 with their off-season underway, the Thunder sit just two wins shy of capturing the Canadian Bowl for the first time in 13 years.
Despite their longstanding rivalry, Walter said the Hilltops will be supporting the Thunder with hopes of keeping a national championship at home in Saskatchewan.
“We’re right behind them and we’re cheering for them,” Walter said. “We want them to go on and win that game.”
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