All his life, Steve Oleksy had resisted the pressure and temptation, faithfully living the dry life.

“I had been offered crazy things to have a sip of alcohol and had zero interest,” the newest member of the Walleye said. “It’s just a personal choice. I never needed it to be social. I never needed it to have fun.”

Then, one night eight years ago, a buddy got him to reconsider.

What would it take for him to have a drink?

Oleksy — at the time a 25-year-old minor league journeyman a world away from the bright lights of the NHL — humored the question.

“I told him, ‘If I ever win the Stanley Cup, I’d have a sip of alcohol,’” he said.

You can guess where this is going.

Sure enough, Oleksy — the same resolved defenseman who began his pro career battling for a roster spot in Toledo — not only willed his way to the top league on the planet, where he spent four seasons with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

He celebrated a championship there, too.

In 2016, Oleksy played for the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and traveled with Pittsburgh during its second straight Stanley Cup run, which ended, of course, in a rainstorm of booze in the locker room.

“To be in that atmosphere,” he said, “and to look around and you’ve got Sidney Crosby dishing up drinks from the Stanley Cup, I can’t think of a better time to have my first and only sip of alcohol.”

The only sip so far, at least.

With Oleksy now 33 and back in Toledo for the twilight of his storybook career, I asked if he would consider one more exception.

The Walleye, after all, are in close pursuit of a championship — and bottoms-up celebration — of their own.

Oleksy smiled.

“Our focus is to win that Kelly Cup,” he said. “Then I’ll make a decision.”

In any case, let the chase begin.

Oleksy’s signing this month punctuated an all-in offseason that left our heads spinning.

Just when fans were coming to grips with the player once voted My Favorite Walleye (forward A.J. Jenks) joining Fort Wayne, here came the Fort Wayne enforcer unofficially voted My (Least) Favorite Opponent (Cody Sol), and, suddenly, nothing made sense.

In a league built on its tribalistic rivalries — complete with WWE-style heroes and antiheroes — the fantasy became disorientingly real. I mean, imagine if Claude Lemieux and Darren McCarty had swapped sweaters during the height of the Red Wings-Avalanche feud.

Blasphemy!

But, of course, we’re having fun here.

Business is business, as the Walleye moving on from Jenks reminded in the first place. Same goes for their trade of Sol five days after signing him, which cleared room for Oleksy, who was released by Wilkes-Barre.

The feeling is Oleksy could be the final piece on a championship-caliber roster.

Like center T.J. Hensick, who also played four years in the NHL, the suburban Detroit native is a world-class talent whose speed and skill will jump off the ice at this level. And what’s more, he embraces being here.

If the ECHL is not for everyone, few love the game like Oleksy, who enjoyed a grinding path to the top. After he was released by the Walleye in 2009, all he did was continue to get better, until, finally, his boyhood dream came to life and he made his NHL debut in 2013. Oleksy played 62 games in three seasons with the Capitals, then 11 more the next year in Pittsburgh. In 73 NHL games, he had 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) and a plus-17 plus-minus rating.

“He’s an unbelievable story of being released by an ECHL team and not giving up and having the courage to battle,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “What he did was he found something to be great at. He’s a tough and rugged customer. He plays great defensively. He’s carved out a really good career for himself at the higher levels just by being great at something. … That’s an unbelievable story to share with the young guys trying to get to the next level.”

Oleksy looks forward to sharing it, too.

Truth is, he’s the one who called Watson early in the summer, and, for a guy who has spent much of his career on bigger stages, the reason might surprise. He wanted to be part of the scene in Toledo.

For years, he heard from his buddies in the ECHL about the madhouse the Huntington Center had become. Then he experienced it firsthand during the Kelly Cup Finals last year, taking in the Walleye’s 3-2 win over Newfoundland in Game 5 as a fan.

“To play in as many different situations as I have, as many buildings as I have, and to walk in at this level and to see this city and how electric that was, it was eye opening,” Oleksy said. “That was very attractive. I want to make sure these guys don’t take it for granted, because it’s not like that everywhere at any level.”

Oleksy is ready to continue raising the roof.

And, if all goes well, perhaps a banner and a glass, too.