Lavoie treasures season in Brandon

There were multiple times Max Lavoie could have simply walked away from his dreams on the ice.

Instead, despite repeated setbacks, Lavoie persevered and debuted on the Brandon Wheat Kings blue-line as a 19-year-old rookie. He said quitting was never an option as he moved from Junior B to Junior A to the Western Hockey League in the last three years.

“I guess I just love hockey,” Lavoie said. “To me, it’s not comparing myself to people I knew. I was a late bloomer in a way and I knew what my potential was and what it could be. I believed in myself.”

Incredibly, an even bigger step awaits for the six-foot-three, 206-pound defenceman, because he is forgoing his overage season in the WHL to head to an Ivy League school, Princeton University.

“It was unreal,” Lavoie said. “I actually just got the acceptance letter the other day. It was a bit of a long process because obviously it’s Princeton and there are a lot of steps to go through. Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real. It’s pretty cool.”

WINDING PATH

The left-shooting Lavoie played two seasons at the Pacific Coast Academy, a prep school located in Victoria, although one of them was the 2020-21 campaign that was mostly lost to COVID.

The draft year for 2006-born players was 2021, which is memorable because it was pushed back from May to December to give scouts a longer look at prospects after the lost 2020-21 season.

“That kind of worked in my favour,” Lavoie said. “I wasn’t very big in my U15 year and I had a big growth spurt in my U16, so I ended up having a pretty good year. I like to think I was close to being drafted but unfortunately I wasn’t.”

He received an invitation to Vancouver Giants camp in his 16-year-old season, but admits he was too young so he went back and played with the Island Wild under-18 team in the Junior Prospect Hockey League during the 2022-23 campaign.

He attended a BCHL camp with the Victoria Grizzlies the next fall, and when he was cut — “I was very young but I felt like I was close to making it” — he launched his junior career with the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s Saanich Predators, where he had 12 goals, 17 assists and 59 penalty minutes in 41 games.

The Predators also won the Junior B championship, with Lavoie posting nine more points in 17 playoff games.

In Saanich, teams are allowed eight 20-year-olds, so at 17 he was a youngster by comparison.

“I was the youngest there and I looked up to a lot of guys on that team and the hard work they put in,” Lavoie said. “It was the same last year in Winkler. We had a phenomenal group of 20-year-olds and veterans. There were tons of guys to look up to in both leagues.”

That led to an invitation to Victoria Royals in the fall of 2024, and once again he fell short. He immediately hit the road and joined the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, where he encountered a logjam of veteran defenders but was able to earn a spot.

In 58 games, he had seven goals, 25 assists and 37 penalty minutes, and added another goal in 10 playoff contests. Lavoie quickly found success at the new level, participating in the MJHL-SJHL Showdown in January and later being named to the league’s all-rookie team.

He found out he had been listed by the Wheat Kings when he received a call on March 15 from Brandon’s director of hockey operations, Chris Moulton. “I had a great year there, and it was the same phone call, I was coming to Brandon camp,” Lavoie said. “This time it worked out.”

Once again, nothing was promised, but Lavoie quickly turned heads at Wheat Kings camp. He is unabashedly a defensive defenceman with some snarl in his game, which is something the Wheat Kings were missing on their blue-line.

When he earned a roster spot, he credited all the coaches and people who helped with his training and development in getting him to Brandon.

“My family helped me and put me in a position to succeed with all the sacrifices they made for me to succeed,” Lavoie said. “And all my friends back home and all my teammates pushed me to get better every day. My billet families, everybody.”

DUB-BLE VISION

With Lavoie making his fourth step up in competition in four years, he quickly noted how different things were in the WHL than they had been everywhere else.

One was defending against National Hockey League draftees, who had a level of ability he had never encountered before. As he learned he could defend against them, he became a better player.

“There is a little bit of fear but it builds a lot of confidence too, especially when you end up stopping a guy like that,” Lavoie said. “Honestly it’s more of a confidence builder than anything that I can compete at that high level and can shut plays down and do my job against these guys and make a difference.”

He said he was comfortable with the speed after playing a couple of games, but it was moving outside his comfort zone and making plays and quick decisions that took longer.

Lavoie had four goals, 10 assists and a team-leading 91 penalty minutes, punishing opposing forwards who had the audacity to camp out in front of the net or touch his goalies after whistles.

He said his game got better and better as the season went on.

“For me it was building confidence, making plays ands reading plays,” Lavoie said. “Obviously it’s the fastest hockey I’ve played. It was my all-around skills, my skating, my stick handling, my shooting. I like to chip away at everything so I’m super thankful.”

He nearly played in all 68 regular season and four playoff games, but he was a healthy scratch one night in Swift Current.

“This is probably the most fun I’ve had in a year of hockey,” Lavoie said. “The amount of games you play — playing games is fun — so playing 67 of those this year was pretty phenomenal. That’s all I could have dreamed of.”

Lavoie skated a lot early on with fellow Victoria product Gio Pantelas, but was sort of the Swiss army knife on the back end who lined up beside everyone at different times. He spent a lot of time with Daniil Skvortsov near the end of the season.

He was thankful for the other blue-liners, calling it one of the tightest D corps he’s ever played on.

“Everybody is unique, and it’s just being able to learn off a lot of guys,” Lavoie said. “Maybe more offensive players like (Grayson) Burzynski, (Cameron) Allard and Pantelas, it’s just watching and talking to them and understanding how I can add that into my game maybe in the future.

“And it’s watching somebody bigger like Skvortsov and how he can shut plays down, and Dylan (Ronald)’s playmaking. There were tons to learn off people.”

He admitted to being a little wide-eyed at times this season when the team headed out on the road. Lavoie is a dyed-in-the-wool rink nerd, so after the bus was unloaded, he would get his phone out and turn on the video to document every new arena.

“It’s unbelievable,” Lavoie said. “Playing in recreation centres two years ago to playing in front of 10,000 people down in the States and Rogers Place, it was really cool.”

TIGERS ROAR

The Wheat Kings have had plenty of gifted students over the years, and since Princeton and the Tigers hockey team came calling, it’s easy to guess Lavoie is among them.

He said that was part of his deal with his folks, Marc and Krista.

“The rule of my parents was that if I wanted to keep playing academy hockey and high-level hockey, I had to keep my grades up or they simply wouldn’t pay for it,” said Lavoie, who also has a younger brother, Gabe. “There was that, but at the same time, I knew it would all pay off. It’s also believing in myself and putting in the work. I took it very seriously.”

His goal all along to was to play college hockey, which meant the WHL was probably not his number one option until the NCAA allowed major junior players in November 2024.

He spoke to a few other schools early on in the recruiting process, but when Princeton got serious, so did he.

“As much as the hockey is good — they lost in the ACAC final this year as underdogs — obviously the academics are pretty close to number one in the world,” Lavoie said of his decision.

The school is located in Princeton, N.J., which is about 90 kilometres southwest of New York City. It’s the fourth oldest university in the United States after being founded in 1746, and is home to about 9,100 students.

He is hoping to have a campus visit soon.

Lavoie is leaning towards studying economics, although he is planning to take general studies in his first year to get a feel for it and see what he likes.

“I don’t want to pigeonhole myself in year one into something I don’t want to do,” Lavoie said. “I definitely want to explore my interests a little bit next year.”

He will go into the new dressing room with two familiar faces. Lavoie works out in the summers with Luc Pelletier of Courtney, B.C., who is entering his third year at Princeton, and another recruit is also from Victoria, overage Vancouver Giants defenceman Ethan Mittelsteadt.

Tri-City Americans forward Jake Gudelj of Vancouver has also been recruited by the school: The two met for the first time when the Wheat Kings visited Kennewick in January.

He likes to think he would have found his way to Princeton without the stop in Brandon, but admits the schools want to find the best players, and they usually skate in the best leagues. That made him far more visible.

“This is definitely a major part in my commitment,” Lavoie said.

SAYING GOODBYE

While Lavoie spent just one season in Brandon, it left its mark.

With his unusual journey, he had his fair share of those special moments when he looked around and took stock of how much he had achieved.

“Every step of the way it’s been that,” Lavoie said. “Every year, it was ‘Holy crap, here I am.’ You don’t really picture it going any further, I guess you could say. Every step of the way there’s been a pinch-me (moment). I was just trying to make the most of every opportunity I was given.”

He is especially thankful for the coaching staff, which included head coach and general manager Marty Murray and assistants Mark (Billy) Derlago and Del Pedrick.

“The experience that Marty had in the NHL and pro hockey, he really knows the game,” Lavoie said. “I’m super thankful he was able to teach me all those things. And Billy on the defensive gate, same thing, he had a long career in hockey and was able to share his knowledge and help me to get better.

“Del has been coaching longer than I’ve been alive. He has tons of expertise, tons of knowledge. I’m very thankful for them. They did a lot for us this year.”

He was also grateful to Wheat Kings director of player development Riley Dudar, who worked with him a lot.

“At the start of the year to the end of the year, I felt like a completely different player,” Lavoie said. “He was definitely a big help with that. He was always coming to the rink early and coming on the ice with me early before practices. Even if it was just one-on-one, he was there and willing to help me get better.”

Off the ice, equipment manager Jake McKercher and athletic therapist Zach Hartwick made a strong impression, as did the other Wheat Kings employees.

“Jake the equipment manager was the ultimate locker room guy,” Lavoie said. “He was great. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard. He was always at the rink sharpening skates, fixing gear, organizing things. He was awesome.

“Zach, the same thing, he just worked so hard. Even for him and the coaches, being away from family was hard. I’m thankful for that, especially when we went on the road.

“All the people in the office who organized the jerseys and the school visits, all the fundraisers, I’m very thankful for that as well. Everybody behind the scenes did a phenomenal job.”

He stayed with the father-son duo of Pat and Brooks Hague, the latter of whom plays at the Western Canada Hockey Academy.

“It was pretty fun this year,” Lavoie said.

He said the season flew by, something driven home as he talked to his teammates and had his exit meeting with the staff.

His dad flew out and drove his vehicle home, while Lavoie flew back to Victoria after saying a final goodbye to Brandon.

“I loved the community,” Lavoie said. “Growing up in Victoria, it’s obviously a lot bigger. It reminds me of Winkler a little bit, just with how everybody knows each other and it’s just a community. It has a good vibe to it, I guess you could say. It’s that small-town feeling of community.”

While it’s forever onward and upward in his hockey journey — after all, next season will be his fifth step up in competition in five years — Lavoie knows the city will always be home to some special memories. He has no doubt what he’ll remember long term.

“It will be the team and the friends I was able to make here, the connections that I’ll have for life,” Lavoie said. “Not just at the rink, my billet family, coaches, staff. It will be the people.”

》 pbergson@brandonsun.com