Vancouver, BC – The Blake Nill era will officially kickoff against the most successful program in CIS football. The UBC Thunderbirds will open the 2015 football season in Quebec City with an exhibition game against Laval University on August 29, 2015.
Under the guidance of Nill, the Thunderbirds will head to Quebec City on August 26th and have two integrated practice days with the Rouge et Or before an exhibition game on Saturday August 29th at Telus Stadium.
“Bringing a young team into Quebec City and giving them the experience of seeing football at this level will benefit our program immediately,” said Nill, who has won two Vanier Cups as a head coach.
Laval is the most successful program in CIS football history having won a record eight Vanier Cup Championships. This past season they lost in the final of the Dunsmore Cup (RSEQ Final) to the eventual Vanier Cup Champions from the University of Montreal. Prior to that, the Rouge et Or had won 11 straight Dunsmore Cups. Laval is led by head coach Glen Constantin, who is set for his 15th year at the helm of the Rouge et Or’s program.
“Both Coach Constantin and myself are staunch supporters of CIS interlocking play,” said Nill. “Over the past several seasons Laval has given several programs the opportunity to experience Rouge et Or football and I’m glad to give our guys the chance to play an interlocking game this season.”
“We don’t know them much, but we know they have good athletes,” said Constantin. “We will have the opportunity to hold good, intense training sessions against them, under the supervision of a head coach with whom we are used to working with.”
The previous two seasons Laval hosted Nill’s former team, the University of Calgary, for an exhibition game.
This will be the first game ever, whether it be exhibition, regular season, or playoffs, between UBC and Laval.
Source: Dan Elliott, UBC Thunderbirds Sports Information
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