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Eight years ago, when Antoine Roussel was bouncing around the hockey world like a tennis ball, he was invited to work out with a group of NHLers in Montreal.

New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus, Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis and goalie J.S. Giguere were all part of that collection and Roussel was slightly in awe to be in their presence. But there was one player in those sessions the minor leaguer was drawn to, one player whose own story reminded him so much of his own.

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Roussel looked at that player, who battled like his mortal soul was on the line every time he stepped on the ice, and thought, “If Alex Burrows can make it in The Show, then I can make it.”

And damned if that isn’t what happened.

“I couldn’t ask for a better role model or friend,” Roussel says. “He helped so much. Alex took me under his wing. Being around him every day was like a present.”

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