The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 28-29 at Sphere in Las Vegas. The first round will be June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and round 2-7 are on June 29 (11:30 ET; ESPN+, NHLN, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a profile on Baie-Comeau center Raoul Boilard. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.
Raoul Boilard was destined to be some kind of winter sports athlete. When the time came, he opted for rushing up the ice rather than down a mountain.
When he turned 14, Boilard chose to play hockey full-time, leaving behind the potential for a promising career as an alpine skier.
"My dad was a skier growing up," Boilard said. "He won several titles at the Canada Games, and he was a pretty good skier. So that's why I started skiing when I was younger.
"I was competitive until I was like 14 years old. I stopped to play hockey, but I was pretty competitive."
Michel Boilard won the bronze medal in slalom at the 1979 Canada Winter Games, and Raoul certainly enjoyed following in his father's trail path. But picking hockey was a simple decision.
"I loved skiing, but I love hockey more," he said. "So that was an easy choice for me."