Hall of Fame
Born March 2, 1983 and raised in Gatineau, Que., Mathieu Poitras was educated in his hometown at École George-Étienne Cartier and Polyvalente Nicolas-Gatineau before attending CEGEP Abitibi-Témiscamingue in Rouyn-Noranda, where he played between the pipes for three seasons with the QMJHL's Huskies.
The six-foot, 187-pound netminder enrolled at McGill in 2004 and graduated four years later with a mechanical engineering degree.
Poitras started off a brilliant university hockey career with a bang, winning the Clare Drake Award as CIS rookie-of-the-year. He became the most decorated player in McGill hockey history, with 31 career awards while playing for the Redmen. A recipient of the Prix d'excellence Guy Lafleur as the Quebec university player who best combines hockey with academics and citizenship, he was also an Academic All-Canadian and member of the Principal's Student-athlete Honour Roll.
A four-time OUA all-star who received All-Canadian first-team honours in 2005-06, Poitras merited Bobby Bell trophies as team MVP three times, received the Bill L'Heureux Trophy as OUA conference player of the year in 2005-06, was twice-named a recipient of the D. Stuart Forbes Trophy as McGill male athlete of the year (2004-05 and 2005-06) and was the Quebec conference nominee for the national BLG Award as CIS athlete of the year.
Poitras posted an 84-36-6 career mark in 130 games overall at McGill. He registered 17 career shutouts, a 2.24 goals-against average, and a .921 save percentage, to go along with four assists and 12 penalty minutes. In 79 regular-season contests, he posted a 54-19-6 record with 14 shutouts.
He established numerous school career records for goaltenders, including most games played, minutes (7,752), shutouts, wins and saves (3,347). He also psted the third-longest shutout sequence in school history, blanking all shooters for 174 minutes and one second, from Feb. 20/05 to Nov. 4/05.
In 2007-08, his senior year, Poitras led McGill to the OUA's Queen's Cup league championship, their first league title since 1945-46. At season's end, he was called up to the National Hockey League for three weeks as a reserve goaltender with the Anaheim Ducks.
