Credit: Wayne Beaton

By Marlon Martens

Pasternak, Holt, & Laventure Reflect

A Trio Of Royals Set To Play Final Career Regular Season Game

Mar 21, 2024 | 7:09 PM

‘It’s happy and sad, and exciting and scary all at the same time.’ – Braden Holt

Friday night the Victoria Royals play their last regular season game, before the playoffs begin in a weeks time.

It will also be the final WHL career regular season game for a trio of overage players in forwards Tyson Laventure, Dawson Pasternak and netminder Braden Holt.

“Honestly with the (upcoming) playoffs, it just feels like another game. It doesn’t feel as heavy as maybe it should.” downplayed Holt after Thursday’s practice, who then paused and reflected more on his emotions,

“It’s happy and sad, and exciting and scary all at the same time. However, I’m really grateful for the last five years and I’m going to come out and play hard, because it’s a really important game for our group going into the playoffs.”

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For Laventure there was a moment of realization when approached for his thoughts, before assessing the gravity of closing this chapter in his Major Junior hockey career.

“It’s kind of a little bit of a different (game) for us, last one of the career. So I’ll try to make it a special one as I won’t get to do this again in a regular season game, I’ll try to end it off with a win.”

Knowing that more games are around the corner in the second season, takes a bit of the emotional weight off game 68.

“Yeah, absolutely.” agreed Laventure,

“We still have those playoff games. So I try not focus too much on that one, as obviously the playoffs are a lot more important.”

The three graduating overagers were recently put through the emotional paces, with a pregame ceremony last weekend, honouring each player one by one, skating out to embrace their parents, flowers in hand, standing next to a framed jersey with their name on it as a career highlight reel ran on the big screen.

“It was pretty surreal. A huge thanks to the organization for that.” said an appreciative Laventure,

“It was pretty cool for the three of us to get all that recognition and to have our families down there. I know our parents really enjoyed it. And the video was pretty cool to watch too, so sweet.”

The whole situation is bitter sweet for Pasternak,

“It’s tough knowing that it’s coming to an end, it’s definitely pretty sad when you really think about it, but it’s also exciting, as I’m gonna be entering a new chapter in my life pretty soon and I’ve had a lot of fun doing this while I’ve been able to so far.”

There was a lot of swallowing and quick blinking, with all the onion slicing during the video tributes.

“Yeah, it was pretty awesome that they did that for us, and I just had to kind of forget about it quickly as we had to get to the game.”

Holt was also very grateful for his spot in the limelight, and soaked it all in knowing it was once in a lifetime moment.

“That was really special, and pretty cool to see my jersey and have my parents out on the ice, and those made for some pretty good pictures too. So that was really cool.”

Credit: Wayne Beaton

The video reel of his first wins and multiple highlight reel saves caught him by surprise.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting a tribute video. So it’s definitely something to remember.

“I love seeing like the recap of my first win as a Royal. It was the day after I got traded here and it was a big shutout win in Vancouver. That was just really, really fun, really special. So to have a few of those saves up on there, that was probably one of my favorite memories as a Royal.”

For Pasternak, his recollection centers more around personal connections than wins or highlight reel goals.

“Just all the people that I’ve met over the time, the friendships I’ve made and just the opportunity to live in a few different places and see the world pretty much, with the team. It’s all really cool, good experience and you’re always having a great time doing this kind of stuff.”

The 20 year old players all played a big role in the clubs recent 7-3 win over Wenatchee on Wednesday. Pasternak was the number one star with 3 points, while Laventure also scored twice, and Holt made timely saves, and has played the lions share of games down the stretch.

Laventure acknowledges that teams have success when their senior players are their best players.

“Obviously we’re the oldest guys here, so we’re just trying to lead by example and carry a lot of that weight on our shoulders and show the younger guys how to do it.”

Holt also praised his fellow overage forwards.

“Those guys are special people, special players. Every game they’re making a difference. It seems like they both score every single game for us. They’re incredibly important players for our team and they’re so nice off the ice. I’m really glad to have two amazing 20 year old buddies this year, just amazing.”

With the playoffs around the corners, the best memories are yet to be made.