On the Rink of Success : NHL Draft Choice Eric LeMarque Bids to Catch On With Boston Bruins

The closest some Californians ever get to ice is when they reach into the freezer to put cubes of it into a drink. And if they hear about someone from the state making a career out of skating on ice, they probably assume it involves dressing up as a cartoon on blades for a traveling show.

But Eric LeMarque of West Hills has crossed a line that had been considered offsides in the past. Three years ago, LeMarque became the first Valley-area hockey player to be drafted by an NHL team. As a 17-year-old freshman at Northern Michigan University, he was selected in the 10th round of the NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins.

LeMarque was one of three Los Angeles players to be drafted in 1987, the only L. A. players ever taken in an NHL draft, a league spokesman said. LeMarque, a right wing on Northern Michigan’s 1988-89 Western Collegiate Hockey Assn. playoff championship team, will conclude his fourth collegiate season next month before reporting to the Bruins’ training camp this summer. He is averaging more than a point a game with 12 goals and 23 assists this season. He has scored five power play goals and is tied for 13th on the all-time Northern Michigan scoring list.

“Eric is an excellent skater and can handle the puck exceptionally well,” Northern Michigan Coach Rick Comely said. “I don’t know many people who can stickhandle like he can.”

LeMarque scored 20 goals and had 17 assists in 37 games last season, the third-highest point total on the team. He scored a hat trick in Northern Michigan’s 7-3 victory over top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

“I try to play every game like it’s my last,” LeMarque said.

LeMarque, 5-10, 185 pounds, plays a finesse game, realizing early that he would never excel at black-and-blue hockey. “I’m not a really physical player because of my size,” LeMarque said, “but I try to make up for it. I like to handle the puck, skate with it, shoot a lot.”

Bob Tindall, director of scouting for the Bruins, said the team needs forwards with skills such as LeMarque’s.

“Eric has a lot of potential,” Tindall said. “I went to watch him play recently and was impressed with his progress. He’s got good skills and is definitely a prospect.”

LeMarque spent endless hours improving his skills on poor ice surfaces in Los Angeles. He laced up his skates for the first time at the now-defunct Ice Capades Chalet in Topanga Plaza when he was 5.

Wouldn’t a 5-year-old on skates playing a game with rock-hard pucks and sticks flying uncontrollably be enough to make a mother cringe?

“Nah,” LeMarque said. “She padded me up and put me out there.”

LeMarque began to take hockey more seriously after his stepfather, Jack White, developed a hockey clinic later that year with the specific purpose of improving LeMarque’s skills.

“Jack really taught me how to play the game,” LeMarque said. “We used to shoot pucks in the back yard.”

LeMarque played on teams in Los Angeles beginning at the 4 1/2-to-6-year-old Mite level. He quickly progressed through Squirt and Pee Wee teams and was a key member of traveling AAA Bantam and Midget teams that represented Los Angeles in the U. S. Amateur Championships. His 1983 Bantam team placed third in the championships, a feat never before accomplished by a Southern California team.

“People never really associated hockey with California,” LeMarque said, “but there are some really good hockey players who grew up there.”

Among them are Robert Mendel and Chris Nelson, University of Wisconsin defensemen, the other two Californians chosen in the 1987 draft.

“We all grew up together,” he said. “We all played together in Los Angeles, and we’re all playing in college now. I think it’s great, especially because people don’t expect to hear that you learned to play hockey in L. A.”

As a teen-ager, LeMarque attended Real Turcotte’s Stickhandling Hockey School in Los Angeles.

Turcotte, father of two professional hockey players, suggested that LeMarque play for the Detroit-based Compuware Midget team that has produced such NHL players as ex-King Jimmy Carson and Toronto defenseman Al Iafrate. Then 15, LeMarque knew he had to make a decision about his future.

His high school, Crespi, didn’t have a hockey program. In fact, no Los Angeles school did. He also knew that the majority of professionals had played either with their high schools or with a junior team. Los Angeles could not compete.

“I knew I was getting close (to being eligible for the draft) and I needed to make some changes,” LeMarque said.

After playing two seasons with Compuware and winning the 1985 national championship, LeMarque sought a position with the semi-professional Saskatoon Blades in Saskatchewan, Canada, of the Western Hockey League, a top major junior team. He was about to sign a contract with the Blades when he was approached by a Northern Michigan assistant coach.

“He was leaning toward playing in Saskatoon,” LeMarque’s mother, Susan, said, “but I really thought that his education was more important. If hockey didn’t work out, I didn’t want him driving a Zamboni or sharpening skates.”

As LeMarque now stands on the edge of a pro career, he knows there are no guarantees. He also knows that the Bruin lineup will be tough to crack when he gets his chance this summer. “I have confidence in myself,” said LeMarque, who will graduate in June with a public relations degree. “I’ll go to training camp with a positive attitude and I’ll work hard.”

When LeMarque is not on the ice, he can be found on a golf course (he has a handicap of eight) or in the library studying. He already is looking ahead to life after hockey.

“I’ll probably end up in marketing. But as a second sports career, I’d love to join the PGA Tour,” LeMarque said.

Golf. Now that’s a normal dream for a kid from the Valley.