John LeClair
| John LeClair | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
July 5, 1969 St. Albans, Vermont, U.S. |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||
| Weight | 225 lb (102 kg; 16 st 1 lb) | ||
| Position | Left Wing | ||
| Shot | Left | ||
| Played for |
Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia Flyers Pittsburgh Penguins |
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| National team |
 United States
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| NHL Draft | 33rd overall, 1987 Montreal Canadiens |
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| Playing career | 1991–2006 | ||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's ice hockey | ||
 |
2002 Salt Lake City | Ice hockey |
John Clark LeClair (born July 5, 1969) is a retired American professional ice hockey player who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins. With the Flyers, LeClair became the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive NHL seasons while playing on the Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. LeClair was a member of the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup winning team in 1993.
LeClair was born on July 5, 1969 in St. Albans, Vermont, a town close to the Canada–US border. He is the son of Robert "Butch" LeClair, a manager of a paint store, and Beverly (Clark), a surgical nurse. LeClair has three older sisters, Mary Kay, Nancy and Susan, and a younger brother, Joseph.
While familiar with the game of hockey, LeClair's father Butch had never actually played the sport himself. Until the 1960s, there was no organized hockey in the Saint Albans area. Despite this, LeClair took notice and asked his father for a pair of hockey skates at the age of six. Butch recalls how the kids in the area first played:
Richard Benoit, the father of John's friend Jeremy, created a homemade rink for the kids in his backyard by flooding his volleyball court. Benoit added boards around the edge and installed lights so they could play at night. There was also shack complete with a heater for the kids to go to warm up if needed.
When LeClair was a freshman at Bellows Free Academy, he didn't make the very competitive high school team. So, he continued to play in community leagues. In his sophomore year, LeClair made the team and earned attention. "We'd be dumping the puck in (during a line change), and there would be John, in the corner on his knees and hands, five against one, somehow getting the puck out of the corner," recalls Luke Cioffi, a teammate and childhood friend of LeClair's.
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