Victor Mete's road to the NHL formed the foundation for his current success By Hugo Fontaine | @canadiensmtl | DECEMBER 4, 2017 | When the Canadiens took a chance on the small-in-stature Ontarian in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft, few people could have predicted that 18 months later he'd already have 20 NHL games under his belt. That's especially true considering that around four years ago, Mete didn't even know the Ontario Hockey League existed. It was there that he eventually went on to star for the London Knights, beginning his journey to the big leagues. "The year before I was eligible for the Junior draft, I didn't even know what the OHL was. I discovered it when I went to a game in Plymouth, when Tyler Seguin was still playing there. That was my first time ever watching next-level hockey, other than Maple Leafs games," admitted Mete, who was initially selected by the Owen Sound Attack in the 2014 OHL Draft.

Before arriving in London, his ascent up the hockey ranks began in his hometown of Woodbridge, located 40 minutes north of Toronto. He tried soccer as a youngster, but he never developed a passion for the pitch. His heart belonged to the local rink, located a few minutes from his house. "My sister Julia and I learned to skate together. She was a figure skater and I often went to see her at the arena. If my sister tried something, I tried it, too… but not figure skating," cracked Mete, who strapped on skates for the first time at the age of five and started playing hockey one year later. "My dad also played hockey as a kid. He started me out in the sport," continued Mete, who began playing organized hockey with the Vaughan Rangers. "There were hockey nights there, so I used to bring a stick and find pucks behind the net and shoot. That just brought me into it."

Transformed into a defenseman halfway through his very first game, Mete began his minor hockey career with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens quietly but efficiently - similar to the path he's taken in Montreal. It was only after he scored 12 goals and added 18 assists in 33 games in his final year of Midget AAA that his name was finally called by Owen Sound in the OHL Draft. But Mete quickly let his new team know that he wanted to play in a city with a major university. His parents had invested quite a bit of money in his education, registering him in private school throughout his childhood, and Mete didn't want their efforts to go to waste. That's when the Knights - who are based just minutes from Western University - gave up six draft picks to acquire his services. One of Mete's best friends was already playing for Dale Hunter's squad at the time the deal was made. "I'd constantly been hearing rumors that he wanted to leave his team and I was hoping that we'd go out and get him. Luckily, it worked. We were seven or eight years old when we first met, maybe even younger, and we kept in touch," said former Knights forward and current Leafs star, Mitch Marner. "When he was younger, he was very talented with the puck. His skating ability was just as good then as it is now. He brings a lot of skill to a team. "When you're 16 years old, you can be pretty nervous. But he got in with the group right away. Everyone enjoyed being with him and had fun with him. He's an incredible person who comes from an excellent family," recalled Max Domi, another longtime friend and Mete's first captain in London. "He showed up every day, always positive and always in a good mood. He was one of the hardest-working guys I played with in Junior and also one of the most respected."

While the attention of opposing teams was squarely on players like Marner, Domi, Olli Juolevi, Christian Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk, Mete could maneuver at will on the ice. That paid serious dividends in 2015-16 when he registered 38 points in the regular season, before collecting 11 more points in the playoffs as the Knights went on to claim both an OHL crown and the Memorial Cup. "Going under the radar was a good thing because I could just focus on my game. I didn't have any pressure. I showed up and did everything I could to help my team win. We had a really good team. I can't complain," explained Mete, who finished second on the roster with a plus-53 differential that year. While scouts were talking about Juolevi and Tkachuk following the Memorial Cup triumph, a few weeks before the 2016 NHL Draft, Mete's performances were receiving rave reviews from his teammates. They recognized the important role Mete played within a Knights' defense corps that conceded just five goals during the tournament that featured the top Canadian teams in the country. "The fans in London really liked him, but a lot of people really started to notice him in his second year. He was a key part of our Memorial Cup run. It was from that moment on that he really took off," attested Marner, who was selected fourth overall by the Maple Leafs in 2015. As the story goes, the Canadiens went on to select Mete 100th overall in Buffalo. He didn't have an idea where he'd be picked, so the simple fact that he left the KeyBank Center with an NHL jersey on his back was good enough… even if it was the jersey of a team his family had long rooted against. "Everyone in my family loved the Leafs. It was my favorite team as a kid. We went to see their games and we always cheered them on. But my parents have become Canadiens fans," confided Mete with a smile.

In the months that followed, the young defenseman continued to impress the Knights' faithful and was among Team Canada's final cuts for the World Junior Hockey Championship that year. He signed his first contract with the Habs and impressed the team's brass as one of the top prospects at both the development camp and the rookie tournament before earning a spot with the big club to start the 2017-18 season. Mete, who recently celebrated his 19th birthday, has enjoyed a smooth transition to the pros. In addition to ranking 10th in his draft class for the most NHL games played and 15th in points, he is one of only four non-first rounders from 2016 to rank among the Top 15 in either category.

While he had to get used to defending against far more imposing and quicker players, that wasn't the only change he's had to handle at the NHL level. "Everybody has been very good to me. They've welcomed me with open arms. The biggest difference between Junior and the NHL is how much time you spend with the other guys. Here, the guys have families and they go home after practice. That's the biggest change," said Mete, the youngest player on the Canadiens' roster this season. Mete won't be lonely for long, though. After general manager Marc Bergevin told him to look for a place of his own in the city, the rookie indicated that he was planning on having his mom, Mary, move in to help ease the transition. While it isn't at all odd for a youngster Mete's age to be living with his mom, Mete admits that it will be a new experience because the last time the two lived together on a regular basis was before he moved to London to join the Knights. "It will definitely be a little weird. I live with my parents in the summer, but it isn't the same during the season. I haven't done that since Midget. It will be different when I come home after games and she'll be there, but it's a good thing. She can prepare home-cooked meals for me, which is always good," said Mete, who lived with a billet family in his final years in London. "My mom is very important to me. She's always supported me. She was the one who drove me to games all the time. She's always been a big influence in my life," he added.