Football: Hec Crighton is as good as Groulx's...

"De sources bien informées, Le Soleil a appris que Benoit Groulx est le joueur par excellence au football universitaire canadien et récipiendaire du trophée Hec-Crighton. La nouvelle sera confirmée ce soir, lors du banquet des étoiles canadiennes présenté à l'occasion des activités entourant le match de la coupe Vanier.

"Préféré à Kelly Hugues, quart-arrière des Mounties de Mount Allison (Atlantique), Mike Giffin, porteur de ballon des Gaels de Queen's (Ontario), et Matt Walter, porteur de ballon des Dinos de Calgary (Ouest), Groulx bataillait pour la deuxième fois de sa carrière pour le Hec-Crighton." -- Le Soleil, with Babelfishing
The cat seems to be out of the bag, as has so often happened with the Hec Crighton Trophy over the past few years.

There is little reason to believe anyone jumped the gun on this, since Benoit Groulx has been a model of efficiency all season. The dominoes also fell right into place to help ensure whoever got the nomination out of Québec, him of Bishop's all-Canadian tailback Jamall Lee, would probably win.

(Duane Rollins posted this to Out of Left Field late last night, too.)

Groulx, as this site noted in early October, was not only too good to pass up, but played for a program and conference that was overdue to have a winner. He will become the first Francophone pivot at a French-language university to win the Canadian university football's highest individual honour and just the second honouree ever from any school in the province.

Sometimes the selectors do underline the obvious. A quarterback who has to complete three out of every four passes just to maintain his completion percentage is hard to take. Speaking for Queen's fans, many of us were hopeful for Mike Giffin, but the handwriting was on the wall after his season ended with an injury and the Gaels' loss to Ottawa in the OUA semi-final Nov. 1.

Assuming we haven't been had, hats are off to Groulx, his offensive teammates at Laval and coaches. He is also, by unofficial count, the fourth Francophone to win the Hec, joining Mount Allison's two-time winner Éric Lapointe (1996, '98), Ottawa's Phill Côté (1999) and McMaster's Ben Chapdelaine (2001).

In a little more than 48 hours, Groulx could also become the first player in 11 years to hoist the Hec and the Vanier Cup in the same season, too.

Related:
Le Hec-Crighton à Groulx (Jean-François Tardif, Le Soleil)
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