Benoit Pouliot
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Benoît Pouliot, (born September 29, 1986 in Alfred, Ontario) is an ice hockey player. Pouliot grew up in the small town of St. Isidore de Prescott, and he has lived most of his life in Hawkesbury, where he grew up completely bilingual. He, like his father before him, played for the Hawkesbury Junior 'A' Hawks as a bantam; one of his teammates there was Belleville Bulls goalie, and Calgary Flames prospect, Kevin Lalande. He played for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL. He was drafted 4th overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild which was a complete shift from his OHL draft when he was drafted 11th round, 207th overall in the 2002 OHL Entry Draft.
Pouliot wears #67 in 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 a Friday the 13th: Friday, February 13, 2004. He played against the Mississauga IceDogs, a team who was the then-best in the entire OHL. The next day, Valentine's Day, brought horrible tragedy: his father Sylvain died, after a long battle with terminal leukemia. Pouliot did not know what happened until he was flown to Ottawa and met by his distraught 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. He was also awarded the Rookie of the Year award for the entire CHL.
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; one of his teammates was Sudbury teammate Marc Staal.
He was signed to the Wild on May 1, 2006.
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 | ||
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