Mario Larocque

Mario Larocque (born April 24, 1978 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Elmira Jackals in the ECHL.

Hockey career
Larocque was drafted in the first round, 16th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1996. He managed to play five NHL games for the Lightning during the 1998–99 NHL season, scoring no points with 16 penalty minutes. He spent the rest of that season in the International Hockey League with the Cleveland Lumberjacks before playing two seasons with the Detroit Vipers of the same league. After the IHL folded, he was signed by the Buffalo Sabres but was assigned to the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans and never saw any ice time with the Sabres.

He spent the next five seasons in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers and the United Hockey League with the Danbury Trashers and the Fort Wayne Komets, along with brief spells in the AHL for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In 2007, he joined Austrian team HC TWK Innsbruck and in September 2008 he signed with Sport Ghiaccio Pontebba. He then joined the EC Red Bull Salzburg on December 1, 2008, and later signed with the Nottingham Panthers on November 5, 2009.

Larocque signed with the Muskegon Lumberjacks on February 12, 2010. Larocque joined the Evansville IceMen in October 2010, after the team relocated from Muskegon, for his 13th pro season and first full campaign under Head Coach Rich Kromm after finishing last season with Kromm in Muskegon.

Entering the 2010-2011 season, his pro totals are 283 points (102 goals and 181 assists) and 2301 penalty minutes in 724 regular season games. In "Double-A," he has amassed 217 points (74 goals and 143 assists) in 353 games, good for a points-per-game average of 0.615 - very good for a defenseman.

Like many of those chosen in the first round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, Larocque has only seen minimal time in the National Hockey League, having played in only five career NHL games.