nhl - Haiti Observer Blog

Maxime Fortunus, a Canadian professional ice hockey Defense player, was born on July 28, 1983, in La Prairie, Quebec, Canada. A son of Haitian parents, who immigrated to Canada before Fortunus was born, he is one of only a handful of Haitian-American professional hockey players in North America. He currently plays for both the Dallas and Texas Stars in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Maxime Fortunus, at five-feet eleven and two-hundred and two pounds, began his ice hockey career in early 1999, with the Midget AAA hockey team in the Charles Lemoyne Riverains League. Later in 1999, he began playing junior ice hockey as a second-round draftee choice, for the Baie-Comeau Drakkar team, under the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League banner (QMJHL). He became a professional player in 2003, playing for the Louisiana Ice Gators team.

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Georges Laraque, a Haitian-American and former Canadian professional ice hockey player, was born December 7, 1976 in Montréal, Quebec. He joined the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1996 as a Forward. His team, the Granby Prédateurs, won the 1996 Memorial Cup.

Before joining the NHL, Laraque skated sporadically for three seasons with the Hamilton Bulldogs team, under the AHL banner. While skating for the NHL, in 2003, he won the Best Fighter award, given by The Hockey News, and was also recognized as the 2008 top enforcer by Sports Illustrated.

Georges Laraque, in 2006, was being considered as a free agent by the Edmonton Oilers. He tried to negotiate a contract, in which he would accept a cut in pay, if in exchange, the Oilers would include a no-trade clause, and sign him on as a long-term player. The Oilers refused to do so. Laraque went on to play for the Phoenix Coyotes that same year and then was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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