The StFX X-Women’s third annual Evening of X-Cellence Gala Event faces off Saturday night at the Keating Millennium Centre. The fundraiser, which benefits the varsity women’s hockey program, features a fun-filled evening of food, drink, entertainment and, of course, action on the ice.

“It has grown over the first couple of years, and we expect to have a great event this weekend. The community has really supported us,” X-Women hockey director of operations Greg Hull, one of the event’s creators, said.

Again this year, the fundraiser will take place on Valentine’s Day – offering a great gift opportunity for that special someone. “People will enjoy it and they also have an opportunity to support a great program,” Hull said.
     
Starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Keating Centre Hospitality Rooms, the celebration includes a key late AUS regular season game between the X-Women and the visiting Dalhousie Tigers on the main ice surface. “The two teams have had competitive games this season, so we are ex-pecting a great match-up,” Hull said. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
     
If the high-calibre women’s hockey action is not enough to whet your appe-tite, guests can also enjoy delicious offerings from Gabrieau’s Bistro and the Culinary Closet throughout the game. Coupled with the mouth-watering food will be beverage sam-pling courtesy of Hardy Wines, Bacardi and Molson.
     
“There is going to be a little some-thing for everyone,” Chef Mark Gab-rieau said, including a special Valentine’s Day cocktail. The Gabrieaus – Mark and Karen – have supported the X-Women’s major annual fundraiser since its inception. “There is often so much focus on male sports, so we wanted to offer our support to these great female athletes and their efforts,” Mark said.

The chef added Karen plays hockey, so that makes the connection with the X-Women and the sport even stronger. “We hope people will come out and enjoy a great evening. They won’t be disappointed,” Mark offered.
     
Following the on-ice action, there will be even more excitement with the traditional live and silent auction, hosted by volunteer auctioneer Ed Ryan. “He has been a great supporter. He has done a great job for us,” Hull said. The X-Women will also join the fun, which will include a video presentation about the team and its players.
     
The night will wrap on the dance floor from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. with a video dance featuring the musical collection of Fred Alexander’s One Stop Enter-tainment. Proceeds from the Evening of X-Cellence Gala Event help continue the success of the women’s varsity hockey program. Like other X athletic pro-grams, team fundraisers help support areas like out-of-conference travel and recruiting trips.
     
“It is certainly an important part of our program and what we try to do to continue to build and improve our pro-gram,” X-Women head coach Dave Synishin said about the fundraisers. The Evening of X-Cellence comes just over one month before the X-Women host the CIS national champi-onship tournament from March 19-22 at the Keating Centre.
     
“The fundraiser will help start building some excitement for the championship, which is going to have some excellent hockey. It will provide an unofficial opportunity to begin the countdown to that tournament,” Synishin said.

Like the X-Women on the ice, the success of the annual fundraiser depends on teamwork, including the support of a variety of community-minded partners. Along with the Gabrieaus and Ryan, Hull pointed out that Tom Keefe and Sears and Molson have been part of the line-up of supporters over the past three years. Bob Hale and the Keating Centre have also been key contributors. The professional hockey ranks, including Antigonish natives Craig MacDonald, Dennis Bonvie and Alan MacIsaac, have been contributors as well.
     
“The community has always been great and we appreciate their support so much,” Synishin concluded.
     
For ticket information and pur-chases, contact the StFX Athletic Department, from Mon.-Fri.: 9-12 and 1-4, or call 867-2152 or 867-5409.