How smart is Canadiens forward Joe Juneau?

He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in three years.

He built his own airplane.

And he's so smart that even Brett Hull had to admit that Juneau, rather than himself, is the smartest man in hockey.

"Joe Juneau is a rocket scientist," Hull once said. "How can I be smarter than him?"

Because he's not. Few people are.

Juneau, a 15-year veteran, is known more for his hockey career than his other ambition, being an aeronautical engineer, making him the smartest man in a landscape where formal education is formally ignored.

"When I first came in the league, it was a big thing," Juneau said.

"Reporters all wanted to know about that. I remember people making some comments on the ice and stuff. Sometimes it would be bad, or some were funny. After a while, it died down."

Why?

When Juneau was growing up in eastern Canada, his interests didn't tend toward teasing girls, drowning frogs or seeing how long he could hold his breath in a refrigerator. He liked planes.

And when he was being recruited by American and Canadian universities to play hockey, Juneau's No. 1 priority in his university wasn't chasing girls, keg stands or passing Sleeping In Class 101.

"It's funny, my decision wasn't based on the best hockey program," Juneau said. "Although RPI had a good program at the time, I based my decision on school.

"I went to visit and I saw their curriculum, and I saw that I had the chance to learn and excel in a school that had aeronautical engineering. That is a curriculum you don't find anywhere, and I jumped on it pretty much."

Yeeeeahh. Most of us went to college based on the aeronautical engineering.

Rather than graduate in four years, something most athletes struggle to do anyway given the time required for their sport, Juneau finished his degree in three years.

"I really looked at it as a learning experience rather than worrying about getting out of there with a 3.0 or 4.0 grade-point average, or whatever," Juneau said.

He earned his pilot's license, then in 1994 decided to take his knowledge in a different direction.

He built his own plane. Not one of those remote-control gadgets that buzz around public parks before crash-landing in a bush.

Juneau built his own two-seat plane that he flies today.

"Yeah, that was during the lockout," he said. "I was so bored."

People watch TV, fish, read books or work around the house when they're bored. Maybe they build a shelf. Who builds a plane?

"I just started this project," Juneau said. "My dad and I bought some aluminum sheets and we just built a plane. It took us about a year and a half to do it.

"It flies pretty well. That's the plane my dad learned to fly in. I brought this passion to my dad, and now he's building another one. I have two planes now. I had another one that I sold."

Having just turned 36 and with the game steaming toward another lockout, more boredom looms. Probably even retirement.

"I'll probably just keep flying as a hobby," Juneau said.

Maybe even build another plane. He can, you know.

That's how smart Joe Juneau is.