COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Saint John's University football team will travel to Regina, Saskatchewan, in May to participate in two controlled scrimmages on Saturday, May 18, head football coach Gary Fasching announced Monday, Feb. 25.

The Johnnies are scheduled to make the 11-hour trip Friday, May 17, and scrimmage the Regina Thunder, a member of the Canadian Junior Football League, before returning Sunday, May 19. The scrimmages will be held at Mosaic Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The NCAA allows teams participating in an international trip, which is permitted to each institution once every three years, 10 padded practices. The extra practices are in addition to the seven non-padded spring workouts, which begin April 3, that are allowed by the MIAC.

“This will be a great opportunity for our staff and our team to start working together and get ready for the upcoming 2013 season,” Fasching said. “We will use the extra practice time to implement some of our new ideas, and also to evaluate the talent that we have coming back.”

SJU begins the 2013 campaign with preseason practice Aug. 14. The season opener is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at Wisconsin-River Falls.