During his time in Prince Albert, NHLer Aliaksei Protas was billet with the Pagé family. (Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia)

By Rob Mahon

Protas Makes Capitals

‘Tears of joy’: Pagé family thrilled as former billet son Protas realizes NHL dream

Oct 14, 2022 | 2:53 PM

When a young man makes the NHL, it’s a culmination of years of hard work and dedication that isn’t just their own. As that moment arrives, they’ve got lots of people they want to share it with, and one pro was quick to share it with his billet family in Prince Albert.

For two seasons, Aliaksei Protas was not just a member of the Prince Albert Raiders, he was a member of the Pagé household as their billet son. Once he found out he’d made the Washington Capitals roster straight out of camp, he called up his old billet family.

“I cried,” said billet mom Kim Pagé. “He Facetimed us that night to let us know. He was incredibly happy, smiling, laughing. Just tears of joy. We celebrated through Facetime.”

Protas has played in both Capitals’ games so far this season, but he made his NHL debut last season. When the Capitals were hit with injuries and illness, they brought him up to the big club and he did so well, he stayed there for 33 games.

“I’m so proud of him,” Pagé said. “He has worked so hard for this. I had no doubt he was going to do it, it was just a matter of time. So now that it’s official, it’s incredible.”

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Among the highlights for Protas was playing with a childhood hero of his: Alexander Ovechkin. At one point during last season, he skated on a line with Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

“He was blown away,” said Pagé. “He’s talked so much about looking up to Ovi when he was younger, and so many positive things about he and Kuznetsov. When he Facetimed us, he said he was already playing on the second line. Every time he calls or Facetimes, he’s so thankful. He doesn’t take any of it for granted.”

Protas first arrived at the Page’s house in 2018. He fit in well with the family as Kim and her husband Roger, along with their daughters Brooklyn and Cailin, helped him work on his English. Pagé says it’s now at the point where he can have fluent, full-speed conversations in the language.

“At first, I was a little nervous,” said Pagé. “He could speak English, but it was broken. But he knew he wanted to be fluent in English, he had a goal. He read books, he watched movies, he had conversations, he never sat by himself. He had a goal and a dream of what he wanted to achieve. Just watching the progress has been amazing.”

Last season, when Protas and the Capitals were in Winnipeg, the Pagé family hit the road to meet him. Cailin had been told a different story about why they were headed to Manitoba. That was Protas’s idea.

“Part of it was to surprise my youngest daughter,” Pagé said. “He’s very close with both of my kids, but he wanted to make sure we surprised the younger one, so she had no idea we were going. So we got to see him, spend quite a bit of time with him.”

Pagé added they’re already making plans to see him again when the Capitals travel to Canada.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP