The holiday season was a little hectic for Estevan local and former Prince Albert Raiders captain Brayden Pachal. After starting his professional hockey career last year with the AHL's Chicago Wolves, the 21-year-old defenceman was getting ready to relax with some family time since the season had been pushed back. Three days before Christmas, his plans changed as he got the invite to the Vegas Golden Knights camp.

"It was kind of hectic. It was on the 22nd I got a call and then they basically said that you get here for at the latest the day of Christmas Day. So I left the next morning and drove all the way. I had to quarantine for seven days and camp started up."

During the offseason, the Golden Knights purchased the San Antonio Rampage franchise, moved, and rebranded it to become the Henderson Silver Knights. Before buying the Rampage franchise, Pachal was playing with the Chicago Wolves as part of a shared affiliation. Since Pachal's contract is property of the Vegas Golden Knights while the Wolves have been bought by the Carolina Hurricanes, Pachal was moved to Henderson, a suburb less than 20 minutes away from the Vegas strip.

Now with the AHL season set to start on February 5 and the NHL season to start on January 13, Pachal has a chance to be one of 4-6 players who join Vegas' 'taxi squad' of injury reserve players that would travel with the team, and he's feeling confident that with the effort he's been putting in, his chances of cracking that NHL roster are high.

"Obviously coming into any camp you want to try to make the team, so that's the number one priority for myself. The Knights, they're going to be really good this year, so it's going to be a tough team to crack. But that's just my kind of mindset going in."

Getting a chance to be a part of an NHL team is the dream of every Canadian hockey player at some point in their life, and Pachal is in good company. Not only has he been able to share some time on the ice with a ton of star power, but he's been in close proximity with guys who have come from similar paths, and guys who know what it takes to become a Stanley Cup Champion.

"They kind of split us into rooms with NHL rules trying to get that distancing in, so I've been in a room with Chandler Stephenson. He's from Saskatoon. We talked about Saskatchewan and playing in the Western League a little bit, and Alex Pietrangelo actually, the new guy here who they just signed in the offseason and obviously a high-class defenceman, and top-five defenceman in the whole National Hockey League so to watch the way he prepares and approaches every day is something that I'll learn from for sure."

Pachal has had the opportunity to see three facilities this year, the Golden Knights' T-Mobile Arena right off the Vegas Strip, the Silver Knights' Orleans Arena which is just two blocks away, and their training facility that camp is taking place at now in Summerlin, another suburb on the northwest side of the city. Getting a chance to see the places that he'll be training in this year has him excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.

"Going to the Golden Knights Facility is high class and top of the league, and being able to tour the Henderson facility that just got built this offseason it's dry up there. It'll probably be the best facility in the American league. They got everything for us here to succeed." He continued about the new facility being built in Henderson itself for the 2022 season. "It's amazing. It's basically the Golden Knights' facility, just a bit smaller, so it'll be pretty cool to break that one in."

Camp ends for Pachal and the Golden Knights on Sunday, and by then Pachal should know whether or not he'll be wearing the Golden Knights' sweater or the Silver Knights' this season, but he'll be happy to play another season no matter what. He will definetly be enjoying the new environment he'll be playing in this winter.

"It's amazing. Obviously, coming from scraping your windshields and the cold weather to golfing weather. It's just it's a nice lifestyle out here."