Benoît Pouliot

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Position Left Wing
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
199 lb (90 kg/14 st 3 lb)
NHL Team Minnesota Wild
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born September 29, 1986 (1986-09-29) (age 21),
Alfred, ON, CAN
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 St. Isidore, Ontario. He played for his hometown team, the St-Isidore Eagles, where he was coached by his father Sylvain. He was later promoted to the AA group regional team of Eastern Ontario Cobras. After a short stint in Junior B with Les Castors de Clarence Creek, he played for the CJHL, as had his father, Sylvain.

His brothers David, is a defenceman with the St-Isidore Junior C Eagles, and Hugo played for the Hawkesbury Hawks. In 2005, Hugo led them to the CJHL championship, the Fred Page Cup. Now Hugo Plays for the Alexandria Jr.B Glens.

The day after Pouliot scored his first-ever OHL goal, his father died from leukemia.[1]

Pouliot won the Emms Family Award as the OHL's top rookie for the 2004–05 season. On July 30, 2005, he was drafted fourth overall by the Minnesota Wild. He was a member of the Canadian team that won the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He finished the 2005–06 season with 65 points in 51 games including 35 goals.

He 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. Pouliot was then signed to the Wild on May 1, 2006 and made his NHL debut on November 22, 2006 against the Montreal Canadiens.

Pouliot scored his first two NHL goals for Minnesota against Calgary Flames on March 22, 2008, but Wild still lost the match 4–5.[2]

[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 67 19 17 36 109
2007–08 Minnesota Wild NHL 10 2 1 3 0

[edit] References

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)