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There are four games on the slate involving CIS squads south of the border tonight, including #3 Concordia Stingers at Vermont to face the Catamounts in Burlington, VT. The Brock Badgers, Ottawa Gee-Gees and UQAM Citadins are also in action tonight. Happy Halowe'en to all !

Wednesday, Oct. 31 CIS vs. NCAA Games
all games listed as Eastern time

7 PM Ottawa at Charlotte 49ers The Gee-Gees play the first of their two-game trip through the state of North Carolina in Charlotte against the 49ers, members of the Atlantic 10 conference (NCAA Division 1). Charlotte returns three seniors from last year's team that finished 14-16 and lost in the first round of the A-10 tournament to Dayton: 6'9" Sean Phaler, 5'11" Leemire Goldwire and 6'0" Jerrell Lewis. Long-time Coach Bobby Lutz, who brought his team to Canada for 4 games during Labour Day 2006, recruited what one expert called the #13 recruiting class in the USA this season. The 49ers incoming class includes current signees Javarris Barnett (Charlotte, N.C.), Lamont Mack (Chicago, Ill.), Gaby Ngoundjo (Little Rock, Ark.) and An'Juan Wilderness (Dunwoody, Ga.) as well as sophomore walk-on Dijuan Harris (Charlotte, N.C.), who has completed one year at Hillsborough Junior College and has been accepted into the university. Ottawa will be without a pair of starters as 6'3" Donnie Gibson is nursing a knee injury and 6'5" David Labentowicz continues to battle an ankle injury. Although both should be available for the start of league play, neither will play on this trip and the Gee-Gees plan to start a pair of freshmen in their place in 6'6" forward Justin Bell and 6'1" Vlad Pislaru. As of now, there is no audio, video or live stats coverage for this game.

7 PM #3 Concordia at Vermont Catamounts The Stingers embark on a five-games-in-eight-days road trip, starting with a reasonably short van ride from Montreal to Burlington, VT to face the Catamounts, perennial contenders in America East (NCAA Division 1). Vermont is playing the first of two exhibition games prior to the official start of their pre-season schedule. The Catamounts return a solid nucleus from last year's squad that won the America East Regular Season Championship by going 15-1 in league play and advanced to the post-season National Invitation Tournament nearly knocking off Big 12 member Kansas State on its home court. After starting the season 5-5 Vermont finished the year winning 20 of its next 23 and tied the school record for wins with 25. Vermont's run of five straight conference championship appearances is the second longest active streak in the nation behind Gonzaga and is one shy of tying the America East record for consecutive title game runs. Leading the team this season will be junior point guard Mike Trimboli, the reigning America East Fans' Choice Player of the Year. Trimboli has led the team in scoring in each of his first two seasons at Vermont and is also the only first team all-league selection from last year to return this season. The Stingers are likely to welcome back 6'1" Damian Buckley, who has missed the past five Stinger games with a knee injury but has been pronounced ready to go and will likely start. As well, 6'8" Jamal Gallier, who had been suffering from a leg contusion, should be at or near full strength. Here is a Game Preview from the Vermont site. As well, the game can be followed in real time via LIVE STATS!. For those wishing to either watch or listen live, click on the game preview link above and there are further links for pay-per-view of the game.

8 PM UQAM at Maine Fort-Kent Bengals (NAIA) The Citadins travel just across the border to Fort Kent, MA to face the Bengals, who last season lost in the championship game of the Sunrise (NAIA) conference. The Bengals feature a lineup full of foreign players including a Croatian, two players from Lithuania, one player from Isreal and two players from the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean. UQAM has not played since the House-Laughton tournament at Carleton more than two weeks ago during which the Citadins went 0-3. The athletic, up-tempo Citadins try to take advantage of their quickness and speed and are led by 6'2" veteran guard Samuel Johnson, now playing again after a serious back injury, 6'4" Mario Joseph and 6'4" Joseph Atangana, an all-star at the House-Laughton tournament. UQAM will also play an exhibition game on Friday night at the University of New Brunswick.

9 PM Brock at Air Force Falcons The Badgers play the first of two games against NCAA Division 1 teams in Colorado when they tangle with the Falcons, members of the Mountain West conference. Air Force won 3 games against CIS teams over the Labour Day weekend in the Vancouver area. Brock hopes to have 5'10" All-Canadian Brad Rootes back from an ankle injury. In Rootes' absence, Brock has managed to go only 1-5. Here is a game preview from the Falcons site.