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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Louis Leblanc follows his hockey dreams
posted by jmeagher at 11h01
Louis Leblanc rips shot at Habs camp. (Gazette file))
So what do you think of Louis Leblanc’s somewhat controversial decision to leave Harvard to play junior hockey in Montreal?
Goodbye Ivy League, hello Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Some will wonder why anyone would walk away from a Harvard education. Others will argue Leblanc’s true calling is pro hockey, so why not hit the ice and not the books.
Is there a right answer for a blue-chip francophone prospect in a hockey-mad city like Montreal?
What we do know for sure is that Leblanc has been turning heads since he led the midget Triple-A league in goal scoring two years in a row before leaving to play in the United States Hockey League.
From there, the Kirkland Kid jumped to Harvard, where he played one season alongside the Biega brothers from Pointe Claire and fellow Lakeshore hockey product Alex Killorn.
But the call of the “Q” was never far off and Leblanc finally made a U-turn at the American border and headed straight to the Verdun Auditorium where he will soon be auditioning as the next Canadien Idol.
Leblanc’s newly-defined goal is to graduate from the Montreal Juniors to the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL.
Obviously, money talks. Leblanc recently signed a three-year deal with Habs, which apparently included a $300,000 signing bonus.
How many 19-year-old West Island teenagers do you know with that kind of pocket change?
It’s hot huge money, but the 2009 first-rounder is hopefully fast-tracking his way to the NHL, where bigger paycheques await.
A big season with Montreal Juniors, sandwiched around a showcase performance at the 2011 world juniors this winter, could hasten his climb up the hockey food chain.
What people should know is that Leblanc is a special kid. He has a tremendous work ethic that often left even the most hard-bitten of coaches in awe. The Lac St. Louis Lions coaching staff loved him.
He was “a first on the ice, last off” kind of player with talent.
So, for now at least, his academic goals will simmer on the backburner while he pursues his hockey dream.
It’s a luxury a young and now wealthier hockey prospect feels he can afford.
Only time will tell if it was the right decision, but sometimes you have to follow your dreams.
Why is this decision by
Why is this decision by Louis Leblanc even remotely controversial? Dozens of hockey prospects all over the North America do this every year and there isn't even as much as a whisper. Yet as soon as a francaphone star in the making, decides to jump the college ship and fast track his career into the hearts of habs fans everywhere by playing a LOT more hockeyin the Q, and suddenly there is a controversy? Is it that columnists, bloggers and readers are only interested in fabricating a problem where no problems exists, simply to see if the player can take the squeeze?
The Kid left college to play hockey.
a) It was his choice not ours
b) he is likely to be playing hockey for the next 20 or so years and make a ton of money doing it so why not.
c) Its never too late to go to school - even if you are 38 and loaded.
If the kid wants to have a 20 year career, then go back to Harvard get his degree and spend the next 20 years in busines, its not like he cant!
The only controversy here, is that most of US would dream at getting a shot at harvard, and he blows it off while we are left to read about it. IT's not his path. Lets stop living vicariously through other people, and start being happy for the people we are dying to idolize instead of simply doing what we all love to do and run him out of town....... AGAIN
Maybe if we supported our team truly, instead of consistently finding reasons to whine about all our players, they wouldn't take all summer to sign contracts (Carey Price), leave town for lesser spotlights (Saku Koivu - I do realize he was let go), avoid Mtl at all costs in FA.
just my two cents.