Former junior hockey star Angelo Esposito to run for Conservatives in Laval riding

Team Canada's Angelo Esposito holds up the cup after winning the gold medal final against Team Sweden at the world junior hockey championship in Ottawa Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson

Former top hockey prospect Angelo Esposito is pursuing a new career in politics.

The one-time first round National Hockey Draft pick will be the Conservative Party’s candidate in the Laval riding of Alfred-Pellan in the upcoming federal election, the party confirmed on Thursday morning.

The riding has been represented by Liberal Angelo Iacono since 2015.

Esposito was a standout star with the Quebec Remparts and the now-defunct Montreal Junior Hockey Club. In three seasons with the Remparts, he scored 96 goals and added another 24 in 35 games for Montreal.

He was a part of the Team Canada that won gold at the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Esposito was taken twentieth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2007 draft, but never played a game in the NHL. He pursued a career in European leagues and retired in 2016.

Since leaving hockey, the 30-year-old has worked as a real estate investor.

The Alfred-Pellan riding covers most of the eastern section of Laval. Before Iacono’s win, the riding was represented by the Bloc Quebecois from 2004 to 2011 and the New Democratic Party from 2011 to 2015.