Eric Guy Chouinard (born July 8, 1980) is an American-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

and

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

Playing career

Chouinard was born in Atlanta during his father's days with the

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

, but raised in both

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

and Cap-Rouge,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. As a youth, he played in the 1993

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament () is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, and give an opportunity for international competition to p ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor ice hockey or minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body c ...

team from

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

Chouinard has played for

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics ** Canadian Olympic Committee * Canada at the Paralympics ** Canadian Paralympic Committee * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at ...

in international competition despite getting offers to play for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. After scoring 296 points in 180 games with the

Quebec Remparts The Quebec Remparts () are a Canadian junior ice hockey based in Quebec City, Quebec. The team plays in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and is named after the Ramparts of Quebec City (). There have been two franchises name ...

of the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

, he became a 1st-round draft choice (16th overall) by the

in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Since then, he has also played for the

and the

, where he played alongside his cousin, Marc Chouinard, during the 2003–04 season. In 2006–2007, Chouinard played four games in Switzerland for HC Sierre-Anniviers. He received an offer to play for the

Straubing Tigers The Straubing Tigers are a professional men's ice hockey team, based in Straubing, Germany, that competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Straubing plays its home games at the Eisstadion am Pulverturm, which has a capacity of 5,635 spectators. P ...

of the German

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

where he played until January 19, 2009 when he was suspended by the team. On September 2, 2009 Chouinard signed a contract with the Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

. On January 15, 2011, he signed a new two-year contract extension with the Ice Tigers that will take him through the 2012–2013 season. Approaching his final professional years, Chouinard played three seasons with

Brûleurs de Loups The Brûleurs de Loups (French for ''Wolf Burners'') are a professional ice hockey team that play in Grenoble, France. History The club was founded in 1963 under the name Grenoble Hockey Club. Since 1992, the club has been known as the Brûleurs ...

of the French

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champio ...

before ending his career by returning to Germany for a single season in 2017–18 with the Bayreuth Tigers of the

DEL2 DEL2 (also known as Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2 or DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Se ...

Personal life

Chouinard is the son of former

star Guy Chouinard, and the cousin of Marc Chouinard.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chouinard, Eric 1980 births American emigrants to Canada EHC Bayreuth players Brûleurs de Loups players Canadian ice hockey centres HC Dinamo Minsk players Fredericton Canadiens players Ice hockey people from Georgia (U.S. state) Ice hockey people from Quebec City Laval Titan Collège Français players Living people Minnesota Wild players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players NHL first-round draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Philadelphia Phantoms players Phoenix Coyotes players Sportspeople from Atlanta Quebec Citadelles players Quebec Remparts players San Antonio Rampage players Straubing Tigers players Nürnberg Ice Tigers players Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players Vålerenga Ishockey players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in France Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Belarus Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Norway 21st-century Canadian sportsmen