 As a youth, Chouinard played in the 1994 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from the Mille-Îles area of Laval, Quebec.Chouinard compiled a 104-60-13 record with the Shawinigan Cataractes and was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the first round (15th overall) of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.By 2000, unable to agree to terms on a contract with the Senators, he instead opted back into the NHL draft.