Most players need and entire season under their belts before they're fully adjusted to life in the Canadian Hockey League.As for Vincent Lecavalier,he needed...well,maybe acouple of hours.A rookie centre with the Quebec Major Jr League's rimouski Océanic last season,Lecavalier had the poise of a seasonned veteran.In 64 regular-season contests,he piled up 103 points,racking up 42 goals and 61 assists.So no eyebrows were raised when Lecavalier was chosen the CHL's 1996-1997 Midas rookie of the year."I'm very, very suprised with how I played," says Lecavalier,Rimouski's first-round selection,fourth overall,at the 1996 QMJHL midjet draft."Last summer, I wasn't really thinking about being the rookie of the year.I just wanted to make the team."Thought he was Rimouski's top draft pick, there was a stretch when Lecavalier,a lanky 6-foot-3,177-pounder,could only sit idly and wonder whether he'd be included in the club's opening-night lineup.He missed three weeks of the Océanic training camp--------usually not the best way to impress the club's brass----with a severe charley horse.Back on the ice, Lecavalier touted as a top prospect for the 1998 NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE ENTRY DRAFT,had to meet some pretty high expectations."I didn't really set any (statistical) goals," says Lecavalier.who had averaged alomost 5 points a game the previous season when he played at the bantam level for Saskatchewan's Notre Dame Hounds."I just wanted to make the team and play on the team."

Magazine Hockey Canadien vol.20 no.3 97-98 p.98

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