BROSSARD, Que — An invite to training camp is merely a stepping stone to the NHL for some players, but for others whose NHL aspirations were nothing more than fantasies to begin with, it’s a godsend.

Picture this: you’re born and raised in Montreal, you work your way through minor hockey to get to the triple-A level and you stand out just enough to be selected in the third round of the QMJHL Draft.

Five years later, you’ve accumulated 279 points in 255 games with the Victoriaville Tigres and added another 14 in 22 playoff contests, but no NHL team thought you worthy of being drafted.

And then, out of the blue, a couple of months after your 21st birthday, the Montreal Canadiens call and invite you to development camp. Two months later, they invite you to rookie camp. And following your final practice, after a week playing against some of the league’s most impressive prospects, a media member notifies you that you’ve made the list of players going to the main camp.

How would you react?

Angelo Miceli, a 5-foot-10, 177-pound prospect was both flabbergasted and elated to hear the news.

“I just wanted to secure an AHL contract,” Miceli explained. “Coming from Montreal, a kid growing up here, it’s a big accomplishment for me. Going to main camp, playing with the players I watch on TV… I’m proud of what I accomplished here.”

Miceli turned heads with assists in all three games the young Habs played last weekend in London, Ont., as part of a tournament featuring prospects from the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Miceli’s simple mandate from the team was to simply go out and play the best he could.

Miceli displayed a great set of hands and a knack for making plays while assisting on all three of Montreal’s goals in a 4-3 overtime loss to Pittsburgh, while comparing himself to Tampa Bay’s Valtteri Filppula.

“[Filppula]” is a 5-foot-10 forward, and I think I resemble him on the ice,” Miceli explained. “He’s hardworking, good with the puck and plays a 200-foot game.”

We’ll see if Miceli can exhibit those qualities against NHL calibre players beginning this weekend. For now, he’s inching closer to accomplishing his original goal of earning an AHL contract, and he’s aware that he may have to prove himself in the ECHL first.

He’s not discouraged by the idea, citing current Canadiens forward David Desharnais as an example of an undrafted player pushing from the ECHL to the AHL to the NHL.

“I’ve got my own path, and I’ll try to make it to the NHL my own way,” said Miceli.

The way it’s going so far, that dream no longer seems quite so impossible.