The Reporter - Eric L’Italien: The altruistic academic athlete

Hockey star turned law student brings well-roundedness to new levels

By Pascal Zamprelli in the McGill Reporter.

Back in 2004, Eric l’Italien was completing his final year in the Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League, playing for the Rimouski Océanic alongside none other than Sidney Crosby. Over the course of his five-year major-junior career, he had also played in Quebec City, where a very passionate and intense Patrick Roy was his general manager.

But unlike many players who make it to such a competitive level, L’Italien was ready to consider the possibility that his hockey career would not necessarily take him where Crosby was going and Roy had been.

Thus began an impressive demonstration of how one can successfully combine academics and athletics...