Stu Cowan: Canadiens call-up Alex Belzile shows anything is possible

Owen Beck made his NHL debut with the Canadiens Saturday in Ottawa at age 18.

Alex Belzile had to wait until he was 28 to make his NHL debut with the Canadiens during the 2020 playoffs, when he played six games.

Belzile played two more games with the Canadiens during the 2020-21 season and 11 games in 2021-22. With the Canadiens going to a youth movement during a rebuild under new GM Kent Hughes, Belzile probably figured that would be it for him as far as playing in the NHL.

But he never stopped working his butt off with the AHL’s Laval Rocket. With nine Canadiens on the injured list, Belzile got another unexpected chance this season — as did Beck as an emergency call-up from junior — and the 31-year-old is making the most of it with four assists in four games since getting called up.

“Don’t stop believing,” Belzile said in the Canadiens’ locker room last Thursday after picking up two assists in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Belzile’s journey to the NHL was an unlikely one. He grew up in Saint-Éloi, a tiny parish municipality in Quebec’s Bas-Saint-Laurent region. Because his hometown is so small, with only enough players for one team, Belzile had to play at the low midget Double-C level. The closest city with a Double-A team was a 90-minute drive away and he got cut from a Triple-A tryout.

Belzile played for the Champlain Cougars in Quebec’s junior Triple-A league for the 2009-10 season before getting called up to the QMJHL’s Rimouski Océanic, where he played for three seasons. He wasn’t selected at the NHL draft and played four seasons in the ECHL before making the jump to the AHL in 2015-16 with the San Antonio Rampage. He joined Laval for the 2018-19 season and was named Rocket captain this season.

“I’ve been working hard,” Belzile said. “In my early 20s, my skating was an issue. I’m not stupid … I know myself by now. I just improved. It’s June, it’s being in the gym. Every rep matters. That was my mindset to try to get better. The results won’t show after a week or two, but after five or six years now we’re getting up to something. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life. I still think I’m improving, so that’s good.”

Since being called up by the Canadiens, Belzile has been part of a very effective fourth line with Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Michael Pezzetta. They were linemates last season in Laval.

“Honestly, it’s been fun,” Belzile said. “When you’re comfortable with somebody, you don’t think as much on the ice. We read off each other, we feed off each other. When you’ve got chemistry in life, that’s golden and we’re having good results right now, we’re playing good. The ultimate challenge about hockey is to start over every day, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

Harvey-Pinard has 3-1-4 totals in six games since getting called up from Laval, while Pezzetta has 1-2-3 totals in the last four games. Harvey-Pinard, selected by the Canadiens in the seventh round (201st overall) at the 2019 NHL draft, has as many goals as Joel Armia (three goals in 32 games) and Jonathan Drouin (zero goals in 28 games) combined.

Hard work can often outperform talent.

“We all have to prove that we deserve a spot in this lineup,” Rafael-Pinard said about his line. “Every night, we’re going at 100 per cent and that helps us to do good things on the ice.”

The Laval Line has impressed teammate Kirby Dach.

“Belz comes to the rink every day with a big smile on his face and he’s always hooting and hollering,” Dach said. “He’s been a blast to be around. Same thing with Rafaël. He’s been phenomenal. Every time these guys get called up, they’re here to work and they’re here to prove (themselves) and earn a spot and they’re doing that.”

The Canadiens will have a lot of young prospects coming up during the next few years and I asked head coach Martin St. Louis after last Thursday’s game what they can learn by watching the Laval Line, which combined for seven points that night.

“I think there’s a lot,” St. Louis said. “It’s a loaded question because it’s three different guys. But you think about Belzile, who’s an older veteran guy who’s been a pro for a while. He gets an opportunity to play in the NHL now and as good a game as those guys had tonight, they’ve been in the minors most of the year now. I think it shows you how hard it is to get to the NHL.

“It’s not always the most talented guys who get here or stick,” he added. “So it’s something to learn that don’t take anything for granted. You’ve got to show up every day.”

scowan@postmedia.com

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