Claude Lapointe

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Claude Lapointe (born October 11, 1968 in Lachine, Quebec) is a Canadian hockey player. In his career, Lapointe has played for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, and Philadelphia Flyers. He was drafted by the Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) in the 12th round of the 1988 NHL Draft, with the 234th overall pick. He has a son named Kirk Lapointe. Claude spent most of his NHL career with the New York Islanders. He was there from the 1996-97 season to the 2002-03 season. While with the New York Islanders, he received many honors such as many NYI Fan club MVP awards, a couple Bobby Nystrom awards, which is for the player who shows the most leadership, hustle, and determination. He also received awards for reaching the 800 game mark,(over 1000 NHL games including reg. season, playoffs, and pre-season), over 100 goals. Other achievements include actually being drafted,15 NHL seasons and having one of the NHL's highest face-off win percentage. In the 2002-03 season Claude Lapointe was traded to the Phialdelphia Flyers for a 5th round pick in the 2003 entry draft.^[1] Claude played 1 and a half seasons with Flyers. In 2004, Claude retired from the NHL. In 2006, Claude Lapointe was offered to play in the Swiss Leagues in Europe. He played in the city of Bern. In late October of 2006, Claude Lapointe injured his knee during a practice. In early November, he came back to Canada where he resides now.

Claude grew up in the city of Lachine, Quebec, Canada. As a child all he did was play hockey. As a teenager his first job wasn't an average job. It was playing in the QMJHL. Players in this league got payed just like players in the NHL do, just not as much money. Other than this, Lapointe had no other occupations other than hockey. Claude Lapointe did not finish high school. He was offered a scholarship by the University of Michigan but Claude refused it. He currently resides in Quebec. He has 2 sons: Kirk (14) and Kody(12). He is divorced and currently has a girlfriend. Lapointe is in the process of opening a hockey school at an arena 45 minutes from Montreal.