Football: Big night for Laval with record 8 all-Canadians

There are no real surprises, as Laval's Benoit Groulx and Étienne Légaré earn the Hec Crighton and the J.P. Metras Trophy as top lineman, and also rank among Laval's record eight first-team all-Canadians.

The Québec conference totalled 11 first-team selections on offence and defence, suggesting their players look very good on those 12-play highlight reels teams submit to the all-Canadian selectors.

Queen's middle linebacker Thaine Carter wins the Presidents' Trophy as top defensive player. Another OUA linebacker, Waterloo's Jordan Verdone, won the Peter Gorman Trophy -- a nice score for the Warriors, while Toronto QB David Hamilton, as Rob already detailed, won the TSN Russ Jackson Award.

Graduating Regina QB Teale Orban was up for a national honour for the third straight year, the Russ Jackson, and lost out, as Regina scribe Tim Switzer details at Campus Chatter.

The breakdown on first-term all-Canadians:
QUFL: 11; OUA: 8; Atlantic: 4; Canada West: 4.

It's odd to see neither Concordia nor Ottawa have a player selected, even to the second team, but after the way the all-conference selections went, I could have seen that coming. The Canada West regular-season champion, Saskatchewan, had just a pair of second-teamers, single second-teamer, guard Hubert Buydens and cornerback Jon Krahenbil. Callan

Here's the full list (second-teamers in parentheses):

QB -- Benoit Groulx, Laval (Dan Brannagan, Queen's).
Running backs -- Mike Giffin, Queen's; Jamall Lee, Bishop's (Matt Walter, Calgary; James Green, St. Francis Xavier.)
Wideouts -- Julian Feoli Gudino, Laval; Scott Valberg, Queen's (Jedd Gardner, Guelph; Nathan Coehoorn, Calgary.).
Inside receivers -- Erik Galas, McGill; Gary Ross, Mount Allison (Mark Stinson, Toronto; Alain Dorval, Sherbrooke).
Centre -- Louis-David Gagné, Laval (Kurtis Stolth, Manitoba).
Guards -- Vincent Turgeon, Laval; Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, Laval (Hubert Buydens, Saskatchewan; Vincenzo De Civita, Queen’s).
Tackle -- Simeon Rottier, Alberta; Steve Myddelton, St. Francis Xavier (Scott Evans, Laurier; Bryan Jordan, Saint Mary’s).

DEFENCE
Tackle --
Étienne Légaré, Laval; Dee Sterling, Queen's (Dan Schutte, Saint Mary’s; Don Oramasionwu, Manitoba.)
End -- Scott McCuaig, UBC; Osie Ukwuoma, Queen’s (Mathieu Brossard, Montreal; Marc-Antoine Beaudoin-Cloutier, Laval).
Linebackers -- Thaine Carter, Queen's; Andrea Bonaventura, Calgary; Joash Gesse, Montreal (John Surla, Western; Henoc Muamba, St. Francis Xavier; James Yurichuk, Bishop's).
Cornerbacks -- Hamid Mahmoudi, Montreal; Jeff Zelinski, Saint Mary's (Jon Krahenbil, Saskatchewan; Anthony Deslauriers, Simon Fraser).
Halfbacks -- Maxime Bérubé, Laval; James Savoie, Guelph (Corey McNair, Western; Joel Lipinski, Saint Mary's).
Safety -- Callan Exeter, Mount Allison (Matt Carapella, Western).

SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker --
Rob Maver, Guelph (Hugh O'Neill, Alberta).
Punter --Hugh O’Neill, Alberta (Rob Maver, Guelph).
Returner -- Jimmy Allin, Queen's (Gary Ross, Mount Allison).

Idle thought: Why have separate all-Canadian awards for a kicker and punter when the the first-team kicker is the second-team punter and vice-versa? Good job by Guelph, for having three players selected. Jedd Gardner will be on that first team one of these seasons.
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