“Monster Gamer, Quiet Guy”

A Look into Men’s Basketball Dunking Phenom Ken Beaulieu

SportsJulian McKenzie — Published February 3, 2015 | Updated February 3, 2015 at 5:38am

“He does what he needs to do [to] pump up the crowd,” said Beaulieu’s teammate Michael Fosu.

Off the court, however, he is more frustrating to get an answer from than National Football League star Marshawn Lynch. Lynch’s recent refusal to speak to the media has been well documented, but at least his antics are humorous and noteworthy.

Post-game questions directed towards Beaulieu are either given quick, mumbled and barely audible responses or an “I don’t know.” The best way to communicate with Beaulieu is either in French when he does speak or by making plays. He lets his basketball do the talking.

“I don’t talk a lot,” he said. “I just listen to my coaches and keep doing what they say.”

Following this past Thursday’s game against the Laval Rouge et Or, Beaulieu addressed questions about the newfound attention he’s been receiving.

Already regarded by his coach as the most exciting player in the conference, Beaulieu is making his presence known in his rookie season. He is fifth in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec scoring charts, averaging 13.6 points per game.

Concordia cannot resist posting videos and GIFs of their budding star making or dunking a timely basket, and the hashtag #kenbeaulieudunking has surfaced on both Facebook and Twitter. Beaulieu has even made victims out of his teammates and an equipment manager during practices.

He has drawn praise from RDS, as the French-language sports channel mentioned him in their “Le 6ème homme” basketball recap segment this past week.

“It’s about time university sport—basketball in particular—got a pat on the back from the RDS or any other media outlet,” said Stingers head coach John Dore.

During Beaulieu’s interview, he was joined by two teammates, Aamir Gyles and Michael Fosu, who were a little more responsive than Beaulieu.

Once the questions were directed towards Beaulieu, his teammates took the opportunity to leave. Beaulieu did everything in his power to keep them around, but they wanted nothing of it and left him to answer questions solo.

“Practice your English, man. Practice that!” said Gyles.

The rookie lets his actions to speak for him, no matter what game is played.

“Monster gamer, quiet guy,” said teammate Inti Salinas. “He’s really good at Trivia Crack too.

“In French he doesn’t lose; I have to play him in English.”

Beaulieu was a first-team all-star in CEGEP before arriving at Concordia this fall as an independent student. He averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds for Collège Édouard-Montpetit and was coveted for his athleticism.

He has brought that and more for Concordia this season, often coming out of games as the team’s most productive player. This past Saturday, Beaulieu led his team in scoring with 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in a win at Université Laval, avenging
Thursday night’s loss.

As one of the eight new recruits on the team, Beaulieu is more than happy to be among the team’s notable new players.

“It feels good,” Beaulieu said. “All of my teammates are good, so I got to keep pushing myself.”

Beaulieu’s play even draws comparisons to a previous Stinger star, Evens Laroche, a former conference MVP.

“[Evens and Ken are] athletic, they jump out the gym. They play any position, they’re versatile,” said Stingers veteran guard Gyles.

“If you ask them to rebound, they’ll rebound. If you ask them to shoot, they’ll shoot. If you ask them to defend the tallest or the best player, they’ll do it.”

Praise abounds for Beaulieu, from his teammates and the media. However, don’t expect the upstart rookie to puff his chest and brag, or n mutter so much as a peep. He would rather play and leave it on the court, and his teammates think that’s just fine.

Video by Elysia-Marie Campbell

In the original article, posted on Tuesday, Feb. 3, it was written that Ken Beaulieu was a rookie-of-the-year candidate. Beaulieu has, in fact, already used a year of his eligibility, therefore he is not eligible for any RSEQ or CIS rookie of the year honours. The Link regrets the errors.