December 2011 Update 11.06.11 To all Alumni and Friends of X-Men Football       As the holiday season approaches, we wanted to touch base with all of our loyal friends and supporters with some updates on how things are going here in Antigonish. As most of you are aware, our season ended a few weeks ago with a loss to Saint Mary’s in the AUS Semi-Final game. While we did not achieve our goal of winning a championship, we did feel that our team made many strides this year. We are confident that giving our young team the experience of making the playoffs and participating in a playoff game will certainly pay dividends as we approach this offseason and beyond. There is much to be done, but we feel we are headed in the right direction, which has everyone here excited and ready to work.      We were fortunate to have a few of our players named to the AUS All-Star team, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge them. Linebacker Brett Hubbeard, who had an outstanding year for us at Middle Linebacker, was named an All-Star, as was Defensive Back Raye Hartmann. It was the first time that each of them received this honour, and we are confident it will not be the last as both used just their 2nd year of eligibility in 2011. Offensively, Jordan Catterall and Colin Wicks were both named to the All-Star team.  Both offensive players were also first-time All-Stars, which we are excited about in moving forward.      We also held our annual Captain’s Ball recently, and I would like to mention our award winners. Our Most Improved Player Award was given to Jainyme DaSilveira, a 2nd year Offensive Lineman from Chelsea, MA, USA. The Joe Stewart Rookie of the Year Award had two recipients this year, RB Ashton Dickson (Ottawa, ON) and WR Damone Williams (Mississauga, ON). The Johny Pike Most Dedicated Player Award went to 2nd year Defensive Tackle Tyler Grant from Kingston, Ontario. Our Lineman of the Year Award went to DE Jonathan Langma (Mississauga, ON), and our Special Teams Award went to LB Ryan Olsen (Manchester, NH, USA) who had a great year Long Snapping and covering kicks.  Our Offensive MVP Award went to WR Jordan Catterall (Oakville, ON) and our Defensive MVP Award went to 1st year LB Ron Omara (Aylmer, QC). The Mackinnon Award, which is the player’s choice for MVP, went to LB Brett Hubbeard (Peterborough, ON), and the Don Loney Award (Coaches Choice MVP) went to WR Andrew Hickey (Fredericton, NB).      As many of you are aware, StFX Football has been in the news quite a bit lately with three of our players participating in this year’s Grey Cup game. Henoc Muamba, first overall pick of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, faced his brother Cauchy Muamba and teammate Akeem Foster who both play for the BC Lions. The elder Muamba brother prevailed in the game, with BC pulling off the win, but we are very proud of these players as well as all of our alumni who are still playing the game they love. To read more about the matchup, follow this link:  http://stfx.ca/news/view/4094/           We are already hard at work here preparing ourselves for the 2012 football season, and a big part of that preparation involves recruiting. I was fortunate enough to be in BC for the Vanier Cup and had a chance to meet with many quality student athletes out there who are excited about StFX and X-Men Football. I made my way from there to Winnipeg, where I was again received very well and had the chance to speak to many young players. Following that, I met up with Coach Jon Svec in Toronto where we had a chance to watch the OFSAA Bowl Games and see many quality High School players in action, and had the opportunity to talk to them after the game about the X-Men. I will soon be headed back to Ontario with Coach Josh Lambert as we visit the Top 100 tryouts and many player combines. We always welcome input from our Alumni and supporters regarding quality young players who might be interested in wearing the Blue and White. If you have someone you’d like to recommend to us, you can do so by clicking here: https://www.frontrush.com/FR_Web_App/Player/PlayerSubmit.aspx?sid=3611&ptype=recruit&recommend=1         As always, your support is vital to our success, especially in regards to recruiting quality football players. If you would like some information on how you can help us compete and get back to where we want to be as a football team, visit this link:  http://www.xmenfootball.ca/xtrayard/       Also, we are always looking to update our Alumni database to make sure we have the ability to stay in contact with all of our Alumni. If your contact information has changed, or you know someone who is not receiving these emails but should be, please use this Alumni contact form to get us the proper contact info:  https://www.frontrush.com/FR_Web_App/Player/PlayerSubmit.aspx?sid=3611&ptype=alumni       Thank you for your continued support of X-Men Football.  I wish you and your family a happy holiday.  Hail and Health.  Go X Go! Hail and Health,