Benoit Pouliot

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Position	Left Wing
Shoots	Left
Height Weight	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 188 lb (85 kg)
NHL Team (P) Cur. Team	Minnesota Wild Houston Aeros (AHL)
Nationality	Canada
Born	September 29, 1986 (age 20), Alfred, Ontario
NHL Draft	4th overall, 2005 Minnesota Wild
Pro Career	2006 – present

Benoît Pouliot (born September 29, 1986 in Alfred, Ontario) is an ice hockey player. Pouliot grew up in the small town of St. Isidore, Ontario, and he has lived in this town most of his life at the most well-known home on Bernard Street. Pouliot also lived for a few years in Alfred and Hawkesbury, where he attended high school. He grew up completely bilingual but mostly speaking French. At a young age, Pouliot played for his hometown team, the St-Isidore Eagles, where he was coached by his father Sylvain. He was later promoted to the regional team of Eastern Ontario Cobras, an AA group playing against teams from the Ottawa and Kingston region, where he played with Belleville Bulls goalie and Calgary Flames prospect Kevin Lalande. After a short stint in Junior B with Les Castors de Clarence Creek (the Clarence Creek Beavers), he, like his father before him, played for the CJHL. When Sylvain Pouliot played for the CJHL, one of his teammates was Bob Hartley, the current coach of the Atlanta Thrashers. When Benoît Pouliot played there, he played there with Lalande.

Pouliot was also a talented baseball player as a young teen. He played little league for the local teams of St-Isidore and Alfred. He was also part of the All-Star team of Prescott-Russell for several years, leading the team to victory at several occasions. Yet again, as in hockey, his father coached him. Pouliot was a center fielder, a pitcher and a catcher. He had to give it up to focus fully on hockey.

Pouliot is the second of three brothers. His older brother is named David and his younger brother is named Hugo. David, who is turning 21, is a defenceman with the St-Isidore Junior C Eagles. Hugo, who is 17 years old, plays for the Hawkesbury Hawks, and in 2005, he led them to the CJHL championship, the Fred Page Cup.

Pouliot was a star player for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL for two years. He was drafted in the eleventh round (207th overall) by Sudbury in the 2002 OHL Priority Selection but he was sent back home from the Wolves camp in 2003 due to his father being sick with cancer.

Pouliot wears #67 as a tribute to being in between his two favourite all-time players from his favourite NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins: #66 Mario Lemieux and #68 Jaromir Jagr.

Pouliot's first ever OHL game was on Friday, February 13, 2004, against the Mississauga IceDogs, in which he scored his first OHL goal. The next day, Valentine's Day, brought horrible tragedy: his father died the next day after a lengthy battle with terminal leukemia^[1]. Pouliot did not know what happened until he was flown to Ottawa and met by his mother, Diane. To this day, in honour of his father, Pouliot wears a small cross on a leather strap around his neck during every game he plays.

Pouliot was awarded the Emms Family Award as the OHL's top rookie for the 2004-05 season, after #67 scored 67 points in 67 regular-season games, tying Bobby Chaumont for the team scoring lead; he beat Michael Vernace (Brampton Battalion) and Marek Kvapil (Saginaw Spirit) for the award. He was also awarded the Rookie of the Year award for the entire CHL, beating Tyler Plante (Brandon Wheat Kings) and Derick Brassard (Drummondville Voltigeurs). On Saturday, July 30, 2005, Pouliot was drafted fourth overall by the Minnesota Wild, which many thought to be a steal since many thought that he would have gone second overall behind Sidney Crosby; if Pouliot had gone second overall he would have been taken by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

He was a member of the Canadian team that won gold at the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in his first-ever IIHF tournament. He played on the team with his Sudbury teammate Marc Staal. He was among the assist leaders in the tournament.

After he returned from the World Juniors, Pouliot's game completely revived. He finished the 2005-06 season with 65 points in 51 games, powered by 35 goals; he finished second to Nick Foligno in Wolves scoring. During the 2006 playoffs, Pouliot completely destroyed the Kingston Frontenacs single-handedly with 10 points (8 goals and 2 assists) in the 6-game series. He got two more goals in the first two games of the semi-final series against the Peterborough Petes. Unfortunately, his playoffs were prematurely ended after he was hit illegally in the knee by Petes defenceman Bryan Young, much to the anger of linemate Anton Hedman who went after Young and proceeded to fight with him; Hedman was later suspended. The Wolves were then swept in the series, losing Game 4 in overtime in Sudbury.

Pouliot was signed to a tryout contract with Minnesota's AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, on April 28 and he played there for two games of their semi-final Calder Cup playoff series against the Milwaukee Admirals, the farm team of the Nashville Predators; Houston lost that series.

Pouliot was then signed to the Wild four days later, on May 1, 2006.

On September 25, 2006, Pouliot, along with Erik Reitz, Peter Olvecky and Roman Voloshenko, were assigned to the Houston Aeros.

Pouliot played his first NHL game on November 22, 2006 for the Minnesota Wild against the Montreal Canadiens. He played six minutes of ice time and he was a +1. Pouliot played two more games for the team, playing against the Phoenix Coyotes and the Columbus Blue Jackets, before he was assigned back down to Houston on November 26.

Preceded by Bryan Little (Barrie Colts)	OHL Rookie of the Year 2004-05	Succeeded by John Tavares (Oshawa Generals)
Preceded by Sidney Crosby (Rimouski Oceanic)	CHL Rookie of the Year 2004-05	Succeeded by John Tavares (Oshawa Generals)

[edit] Career statistics

				Regular Season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2003-04	Sudbury Wolves	OHL		4	2	2	4	0		4	2	1	3	0
2004-05	Sudbury Wolves	OHL		67	29	38	67	102		12	6	8	14	20
2005-06	Sudbury Wolves	OHL		55	35	30	65	120		8	10	2	12	16
	Houston Aeros	AHL		0	0	0	0	0		2	0	0	0	2
2006-07	Houston Aeros	AHL		16	12	4	16	21