In the moments following his selection with the 36th overall pick, 2016 Draft prospect Pascal Laberge posted a photo on Twitter. He captioned it, "it was meant to be."
It was meant to be @NHLFlyers pic.twitter.com/KTbOCQsxvO
— Pascal Laberge (@pascallaberge) June 25, 2016
Philadelphia isn't a place for players who break easily. It takes rugged, tough players, on the outside and within, to make it. Laberge may not be ready physically, but mentally, there is probably no prospect that understands adversity more than the Flyers pick at 36th overall.
Two days ago, Laberge was featured on the Player's Tribune, and that's where he told his off-the-ice story that has only made him a strong-willed player on the ice.
Laberge has dealt with personal tragedies over the last couple of years of his life. His step-mother passed away after a brief battle with cancer last September. Shortly after she was diagnosed, Laberge's father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer.
For an 18-year-old, that's almost too much to handle. Laberge admitted that could have an effect on the ice, thinking about the hardships his family was dealing with. But in the same sense, hockey has been a healer.
"Hockey has helped bring me and my family closer together," Laberge writes, "and when things got tough for us, the game was one of the things that helped me to fight through the pain."
Laberge struggled through training camp and early in the season last year, as his family's situation simply became too difficult to ignore. Laberge's father has played an important role in his life, indicative by the way Laberge writes.
"When I was seven or so, my dad was my coach, and I remember one day the team was shooting pucks up against the boards. He came over to me afterward, and he told me that I was the only one on the team who was able to lift the puck. You could tell he was proud. He saw a flash in me — that I could be good at hockey — and I still remember how excited I was out on the ice when he told me that."
So with the struggles starting to show and his family as a central point on his mind, Victoriaville head coach Bruce Richardson passed along words that have stuck with the 18-year-old ever since.
"He said: 'Hockey is the best sport in the world, and when you’re at the rink you should only think about hockey. When you get out of the rink, you can think about everything else. But if you perform well on the ice, that’s going to help your family feel better and make them happy.'"
Laberge scored 23 goals and had 68 points in 52 games this season for Victoriaville and that helped him become the 36th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Flyers, the culmination of a hockey journey that has him in position to realize a dream of playing in the NHL and scoring his first NHL goal.
"Sometimes when I sleep, I dream about hockey," Laberge writes. "I dream about what it will be like to score my first NHL goal. And it’s pretty vivid. My whole family is there cheering for me. Loud. They’re so proud."
Now a member of the Flyers, Laberge can see the dream coming closer to becoming a reality. His father was there to see it too, now in much better health after having his prostate removed.
"You play hockey since you're a young kid. Your dream is to get drafted into the NHL one day. To live that with my family here, it's an amazing feeling," Laberge said after being drafted by the Flyers. "My parents have always been supportive to me. I think they'll keep giving that. That's the dream for them. When I was young they didn't think I'll be drafted in the NHL one day. They're so proud."
So back to that photo of a young Laberge wearing a black hockey jersey with the Flyers crest across the front: it seems as if it was really meant to be.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
