Column: Hard work and talent help dreams happen

Back in 2009, a young hockey player named Brayden grabbed my attention.

He was a defenceman on the Estevan atom AA hockey team. There were a few really talented young hockey players on that team. Cole Fonstad, a forward a year younger than Brayden who would one day be drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, was a standout for the atom AAs.

Brayden was a smooth-skating defenceman, typically the fastest player on the ice. He'd use the skating ability to his advantage in the defensive zone.

I even once had a photo of him in Lifestyles, playing shinny with a friend on the outdoor rink at the Rusty Duce Play Park just before Christmas in 2009. 

I watched as Brayden progressed through the minor hockey ranks. In 2014, he went to play U18 AAA hockey in Moose Jaw, and in 2015, he had a few games for the Estevan Bruins, even though he was five years younger than many of his teammates and opponents.

In 2019, he captained the Prince Albert Raiders to a Western Hockey League championship, a team that also included Fonstad.

Brayden would go on to play in the American Hockey League and eventually make his NHL debut with the Vegas Golden Knights. Last Tuesday, he won a Stanley Cup with Vegas, becoming the first player born, raised and developed in Estevan to win the Stanley Cup.

Brayden, as you might have guessed, is Brayden Pachal, whose years of hard work paid off when he fulfilled the dream of every Canadian kid who has played hockey by winning the Stanley Cup. His role wasn't significant – he played just one postseason game in the first round – but it was tough to crack that defence.

Regardless, he was still on the ice after the Knights won, and people across Canada watched him hoist the Stanley Cup while wearing his No. 94 jersey.

One of the joys of watching sports in a smaller community is the opportunity to watch these players from an early age and the progress they make. You get to say "Yeah, I remember him when he was a star at the U11 or even the U9 level."

When I watched Brayden play minor hockey in Estevan, did I think "Yeah, this guy is going to be in the NHL one day, and be seen on international TV lifting the Stanley Cup?" I'll be honest, no. I thought he'd play the game at a high level. Maybe he'd play minor pro hockey in North America, or spend years playing in Europe. With his skating, he'd certainly be a fit on the bigger North American ice.

Sometimes, you see a player at a young age, and you think "he has a real shot at making it." I'd like to think if I was here in 1994-95, watching Carlyle's Brenden Morrow put up 117 goals in 60 games while playing bantam hockey in Estevan, I'd think he had the potential to be an NHLer. (Even Morrow needed to work hard tirelessly to get better after leaving the southeast for the Western Hockey League).

When I was covering sports for Weyburn This Week for a couple years, you could tell Derrick Pouliot had a bright future. He hasn't had the career some thought he'd have, but he still won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016.

Sometimes the player who looks like a can't-miss kid at 13 or 14 plateaus early and doesn't make it to the NHL. And sometimes it's the player who isn't on anyone's radar as a future NHLer at 13 or 14 who makes it. Players progress and peak at different times.

Brayden Pachal wasn't ranked on lists when he was eligible for the NHL draft for the first time in 2017. He wound up signing as a free agent with Vegas in 2019. He never stopped working hard.

Tanner Jeannot of Oxbow played AA hockey in Estevan for his first season at the U18 level and scored one goal in the Western Hockey League when he was eligible for the NHL draft for the first time in 2015. Not exactly a resumé that screams future 20-goal scorer in the NHL.

But he never stopped working hard, never stopped trying to improve.

Stories like these are a testament to what can happen when people have the right combination of ability, work ethic and commitment. They didn't give up on their dream when the opportunity wasn't there initially.

In the case of Brayden Pachal, now he's done what so many have dreamed of.