Professional pedigree, family ties big boost for Samuel Poulin

Getting the opportunity to play with his big brother was huge for Samuel Poulin.

Even if it wasn’t the best start.

Nor the way he and Nicolas Poulin, his older brother, would’ve drawn it up, either.

His first period of his first game in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the then 16-year-old Samuel took a hit to the head from Médérick Racicot of the Val d’Or Foreurs and sustained a concussion.

Nicolas, an overager at the time, promptly dropped the gloves with Racicot in defense of his sibling. He sliced his hand in the fight.

“It wasn’t the start I was expecting, but it’s part of hockey,” Samuel said. “Injuries are part of hockey. You’ve always got to be ready for those kinds of things. It could’ve happened in any game of the season.

“I just got unlikely there. I was lucky my brother w