The Laurentian Voyageurs men's basketball team heads to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario this weekend for a pair of pre-season games against the Algoma Thunderbirds on Friday, October 3 and Peterborough's Fleming College Knights on Saturday Oct. 4.
The games this weekend will be the Voyageurs first action against Canadian schools this year, following their 104-69 loss to the NCAA Division I Iona Gaels on Labour Day weekend.
The Voyageurs and Thunderbirds are familiar foes despite playing in different leagues. The teams have tested each other in pre-season in year's past.
Algoma is coming off a strong season a year ago, finishing the regular season at 11-7, and making it to the OCAA championship game, where they lost to Sheridan College.
The Thunderbirds also had two players named to the OCAA Championship all-star team in their title run that fell just shot.
The Fleming College Knights will pose a unique challenge for the Voyageurs as they have not seen the Knights recently.
The Knights had an impressive campaign last year finishing 15-5, which was good enough for a tie for first in the east division. Their outstanding season came to a halt, after a heartbreaking first round loss to eventual bronze medal champion Fanshawe College.
The Voyageurs will look to roll a continuous flow of players on to the court and expect contribution from everyone as they feel they are much deeper than a year ago.
"We are looking forwarded to playing a couple of games after practicing for over a month," said head coach Shawn Swords, in a release. "I know the guys are eager to show that we have been working hard and that we have improved since our game against Iona."
The Voyageurs will be in Sault Ste. Marie for a pair of exhibition games this weekend. On Friday the Voyageurs will play the Algoma Thunderbirds at 9 p.m., while Saturday they take on the Fleming College Knights starting at 10:45 a.m.
To follow the Voyageurs as they travel to the Soo, go to www.luvoyageurs.com .
