As a young child in Rimouski, Que., Xavier Villeneuve quickly decided he had no interest in trying to become the next Brian Orser, Kurt Browning or Elvis Stojko.

Villeneuve’s dad, Alexandre, put his son in figure-skating lessons at age four to help him learn to skate, but Xavier had other ideas.

“I was on the ice and I was crying and screaming. I really didn’t love it,” Villeneuve said with a laugh over the phone this week.

“He was playing (hockey) in the beer league next to us (at the same time). After his game, we always had the ice for an hour. It was free hockey, you could just shoot pucks. As soon as he put a stick in my hand, I started to love it. He couldn’t get me off the ice.”

Young Xavier clearly was on to something.

Fourteen years later, Villeneuve, 18, has developed into o

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