ANTIGONISH, NOVA SCOTIA - Coaches and players from the Gryphon football team will be packing their bags and heading East later this summer to take part in a unique, three-team preseason event.
On Friday, June 16 it was announced that the Gryphon football team will be traveling to Antigonish, Nova Scotia to square off against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men and Mount Allison Mounties in a three-team, exhibition event. The "Summer Showdown" will be held at Oland Stadium, located on the campus of St. Francis Xavier University, and is scheduled to take place on
Saturday, August 19. Fans in Ontario and across the country will be able to tune in, with the event set to be streamed live online. Kickoff is scheduled for 12pm Atlantic time, 11am Eastern.
"We're extremely excited to be traveling to Antigonish for this event, which is really the first-of-its-kind," says Gryphons head coach
Kevin MacNeill. "With Mount Allison and St. FX winning each of the last four AUS titles, we know that our players will be in for a tough challenge. We feel that this will be an outstanding test for our players and a great way to help our program prepare for the opening of the 2017 regular season."
Over the course of the afternoon, the exhibition event will feature a total of six quarters, with each quarter running either 15 or 20 minutes in length. Each of the quarters will essentially be treated as "mini-games." By the end of the day, each team will have played in a total of four mini-games/quarters. The opening mini-game/quarter of the afternoon will see the Gryphons take on St. FX, followed by Mount Allison versus Guelph. Throughout the course of the day, each team will have the opportunity to utilize all aspects of special teams and will each have the chance to kickoff as well as receive at the beginning of quarters/games.
For Gryphons quarterback
James Roberts, this preseason trip to the Maritimes serves as an excellent opportunity for the team to grow off of the field as well, "Obviously it's great to be able to test yourself when going head-to-head against outstanding competition like St. FX and Mount A, but this trip also gives us a chance to further bond as a team and to really learn what it takes to be successful away from home."
Gryphon football coach emeritus
Stu Lang would add, "Guelph was one of the first teams in U SPORTS to plan annual, strategic pre-season away games against out-of-conference opponents. We know how incredibly difficult it is to win a Yates Cup, but we still feel it's important to have players and coaches get a feel for competition on the national level, to help prepare the team for the possibility of playing out-of-conference games down the road."
The Gryphons, along with the 10 other football schools that make up the OUA's football conference, will be battling for the right to fly East in mid-November. The winner of the 2017 Yates Cup will head to the Maritimes to play in the Uteck Bowl, a national semi-final matchup set to be hosted by this year's AUS winner.
As for the three-team exhibition event on August 19, St. FX head coach
Gary Waterman believes the new format should produce some fan-friendly football, "The unique format of the game should be an exciting thing to watch for all our supporters here in Antigonish, and should add some excitement to our pre-season matchup. I'm looking forward to the day, and I'm sure all our players are looking forward to it as well. It should be a great kick-off to the 2017 season."
Plans are already underway for several community events throughout the day in Antigonish, with
tickets for the exhibition event going on sale in mid-July.
Once the exhibition event is complete, the Gryphons will be just eight days away from officially kicking off their 2017 OUA regular season with a home game versus the Ottawa Gee-Gees scheduled for Sunday, August 27.
For more information on the three-team exhibition event, contact:
Kevin MacNeill, Head Coach, Guelph Gryphons
[phone] 519.824.4120 ext. 52590
[email]
football@uoguelph.ca
Andy Baechler, Media Relations, Communications & Sports Information, University of Guelph
[phone] 519.824.4120 ext. 54128
[email]
baechler@uoguelph.ca
Gary Waterman, Head Coach, StFX X-Men
[phone] 902.867.3986
[email]
gwaterma@stfx.ca
Krista McKenna, Manager of Varsity Athletics & Communications, StFX University
[phone] 902.867.5381
[email]
kmckenna@stfx.ca
Scott Brady, Head Coach, Mount Allison Mounties
[phone] 506.364.2407
[email]
swbrady@mta.ca
Pierre Arsenault, Director of Athletics, Mount Allison University
[phone] 506.364.2400
[email]
plarsenault@mta.ca
