Former hockey prospect will run for Conservatives north of Montreal

MONTREAL – A former Canadian junior hockey standout will run for the federal Conservatives in a suburban Montreal riding.

Angelo Esposito’s candidacy in the election scheduled for October was confirmed by Josee Morissette, a Quebec spokeswoman for the party.

Esposito, 30, is a former National Hockey League first-round pick who starred in junior for the Quebec Remparts and the Montreal Junior Hockey Club.

He won a Memorial Cup with the Remparts in 2006 and also played for the Team Canada squad that won gold at the World Junior Hockey Championships in 2009.

Drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007, Esposito never played in the NHL but carved out a professional career in the minors and Europe, which ended in 2016.

Esposito, who now works in real estate investment, will face off against incumbent Liberal MP Angelo Iacono in the riding of Alfred-Pellan in Laval, Que.

The riding was held by the Bloc Quebecois between 2004 and 2011 and the New Democrats between 2011 and 2015.