Leblanc skating on Ivy League ice now

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Canadiens first-round draft pick Louis Leblanc wants long NHL career. (PHIL CARPENTER / CANWEST NEWS SERVICE ARCHIVES)

MONTREAL -- Until today, Louis Leblanc was a big man on the Montreal campus.

The Montreal Canadiens' first-round pick, 18th overall in this year's entry draft, had his name called out at the Bell Centre before thousands of delirious fans. He instantly became this town's next great francophone hope, a freshly minted celebrity in demand for autographs and photos wherever he went.

As he heads to prestigious Harvard University today, Leblanc is officially nobody.

The 18-year-old Montrealer arrives in Cambridge, Mass. a wet-behind-the-ears freshman, lower than the curb on the college totem pole, a jock -- albeit a smart jock -- in academic nirvana.

"It won't be the same. Nobody will recognize me, and it might do a bit of good to relax a little bit, prove myself again," Leblanc said Wednesday at a press conference launching the Quebec midget triple-A hockey season.

"There's pressure everywhere, to perform on the ice and in school. I have the Canadiens behind me, and I hope it'll go well in school. But my main focus will be hockey; I'm just taking it step by step.''

Since that day at the Bell Centre, every Tom, Dick and Jean-Guy has offered advice on what he should do.

Most think he should have skipped college -- especially as it appears he doesn't plan to stay the full four years -- and play major junior to get more game experience to not only help him make the Canadian world junior squad this year, but also to get to the National Hockey League quicker.

Leblanc takes to the ice at the Bright Hockey Center next week, but won't start playing games in the ECAC conference for another month. He'll have maybe 10 games under his belt before the junior camp.

He's not worried.

"I won't have played as many as the other players, but I'll be well-rested, maybe I'll have gotten bigger. I don't think it's the number of games, but the desire of the player," he said.

He said Wednesday that university is a backup plan, because there is life after hockey. "Let's say you play 15 years in the NHL; you might be 35 or 40. Life continues at 40, so it'd be fun to have a diploma from Harvard as well."

At the same time, whenever someone asked a young Leblanc what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer was never "a Harvard man." It was always "to play hockey for the Habs."

His goal is to make it to the NHL in a year or two, probably an ambitious timetable. "It's not at what age you get there, it's how long you stay in the NHL. If you get there at 18 and you're finished at 24, that's no good, either," he said. "It will be when I'm ready."

-- Canwest News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 27, 2009 C4