Each Wednesday for a five-week period from June 5 to July 3, one of the newly minted inductees to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame will be profiled. In our second installment for the Class of 2024, read about hockey player Alexandre Picard-Hooper (B.Com. '12)
 
Born May 25, 1987 and raised in Boucherville, Que., Alexandre Picard-Hooper was recruited to McGill in 2008 after four seasons in the QMJHL, with Baie-Comeau and Saint John, where he scored 323 points, including 137 goals, in 265 regular season games. 

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound forward continued his on-ice wizardry in the university ranks, where he tallied he registered a 38-126-164 record in 104 OUA regular season games, to go along with 122 penalty minutes. In 175 career contests overall, he notched 68 goals and 264 points to go along with 216 PIMs. His overall point total was three shy of the school record set by Tim Iannone from 1986 to 1990. Picard-Hooper added another four shootout goals, which, if counted in the official stats, would have given him the all-time points record. One of those that didn't officially register was the only marker in a post-overtime shootout that gave McGill a 1-0 victory over the visiting Carleton Ravens before a raucous Winter Carnival crowd of 1,039 at McConnell Arena on Jan. 20, 2012.

"Alex is a skilled, crafty centreman who is very smart and good at both ends of the ice," said then McGill head coach Kelly Nobes. "He has eyes in the back of his head and makes guys around him better. He has a knack for delivering saucer-like passes right on target."

Known by his teammates as "Pic", he captured almost every award possible during his stellar four seasons at McGill from 2008 to 2012, including the Forbes Trophy as the university's male athlete of the year in 2010-11, his junior campaign. That season, he also won the Senator Joseph Sullivan Trophy as the most outstanding player in CIS men's hockey, the Bill L'Heureux Trophy as OUA league MVP and the OUA East conference player of the year award, in addition to meriting league all-star status and All-Canadian honours.

Picard-Hooper helped guide McGill to four consecutive appearances in the league's Queen's Cup title game, winning OUA gold three times and silver once. In each of his final two years, the team reached the CIS University Cup championship game, collecting silver in 2010-11, followed by gold the next year. At the 2012 Nationals, he scored a tournament-leading six points in three games.

Over his collegiate career, he managed to win three of the team's four major awards, including the Friends of McGill Hockey Trophy (2008-09) as rookie of the year, the Molson Cup Award (2008-09) for most three-star selections and the Dr. Bobby Bell Trophy (2010-11) as the team's most valuable player. 

In his stellar junior year, Picard-Hooper tallied 91 points in 46 games overall, including a school record 68 assists, surpassing the previous mark of 60 set by George Burnett in 1982-83. He finished three points short of the team's single-season overall record of 94 set by Pierre Gendron in 1996-97. In regular season play that year, Picard-Hooper led the country in scoring with 58 points, including a nation-leading 47 assists in 28 conference games, becoming the first McGill player to win the CIS national scoring title since Mathieu Darche accomplished the feat in 1999-00.

Other laureates accompanying Picard-Hooper in the McGill induction class of 2024 include hockey's Cathy Chartrand (B.Ed '12) of Lac Nominingue, Que., rugby's Brianna Miller (B.Ed '14) of Pointe Claire, Que., football's Randy Chevrier (B.Ed '01) of St. Leonard, Que., and in the builder category, is Geraldine Dubrule [BSc (PE) '57], who was raised in Ottawa and currently a resident of Kingston, Ont.
 
Founded in 1996 and located inside Tomlinson Hall at the Sir Arthur Currie Gymnasium on Pine Avenue West, the pantheon now has 180 honoured members, 31 of them Olympians. This year's induction luncheon is slated for Friday, Oct. 25, as part of McGill Homecoming 2024, and will be held at Le Windsor ballroom on Peel Street. Ticket information will be announced in early September.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell)
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca