They played on different teams last season.

They were top players on their respective teams.

Now, they will have a chance to learn what hockey is like at the next level.

Kirk Bolduc of Lewiston, Nate Frechette of Winthrop, Colby Gilbert of Auburn, Tyler Martin of Lisbon and Ben Tondreau of Hallowell will make up a five-person Maine contingent at this year’s Lewiston Maineiacs training camp, and all of them will be putting their best effort toward making a team that, by all accounts, dwarfs any amateur team currently playing in Maine.

“Obviously making the team is the ultimate goal,” said Frechette, who played last season for the Winthrop-Hall Dale team in Western Class B. “You want to put your best foot forward and make a good impression.”

Last year, just two local players tried to make the leap – Jamie Gilbert and Zack Tyburski, both St. Dom’s graduates – and both left after the first two days. This year, though, through a bit of research, the local players, even those with NCAA aspirations, will be able to participate in all four days of camp.

“I talked with an advisor, and he told me that as long as I don’t get anything for free from them, I can stay the whole time and still have my eligibility,” said Gilbert, who helped lead Edward Little to back-to-back state titles in 2003 and 2004. “I am planning on staying all four days and hopefully making it onto the team.”

Gilbert and Bolduc will be the two oldest of the five local athletes, going into camp as 19-year-olds (Gilbert will be 19 by league rules even though he is just 18 now).

“I have to pretty much go into camp thinking that I won’t be there afterwards,” Bolduc said. “I have to be able to earn my way on if I am going to get on the team.”

Some of the players have something on which to fall back. Bolduc, for instance, will also try out this year for the Cornwall Colts of the Ontario Junior League, the same team that Jamie Gilbert played on last year after leaving camp. Since then, Gilbert has signed a letter of intent to play hockey at the University of Massachusetts.

“They invited me up for a tryout and I went,” Bolduc said. “They have invited me back for a training camp, but they have just one spot open, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Martin and Frechette, meanwhile, will play in high school again next season, provided that they don’t make the team.

“The biggest thing this will do is put things in perspective,” Martin said. “My options are open still, especially since I will most likely be back to St. Dom’s.”

From the Maineiacs’ side of things, the players are more than just roster-fillers.

“We would not bring them in without a good reason,” said coach Clem Jodoin. “Everyone that is invited to camp comes in with an equal chance. They will not be treated any different just because they are from the area, though. They will be looked at like all of the others, but they need to realize that, too.”

All of the players have been playing for several weeks already this summer. Gilbert, for instance, played in the Chowder Cup in Boston last week, and in weeks prior went to Montreal and to Sherbrooke to work out with current Maineiacs forwards Alexandre Picard and Olivier Legault. He played in several tournaments and even tried out for a USHL team in Minnesota.

“That’s the biggest thing (Picard) told me,” Gilbert said. “He said you just have to play, and be confident in your abilities. I have been playing hockey all my life, and I know I can do that. I just have to be disciplined about what I do, how I eat and how I take care of myself. The rest will take care of itself.”

For the younger players, the experience will be well worth it, even if they don’t make the team.

“Honestly, I want to make it,” Frechette said. “But my goal is just to make enough of an impression that I can stay on the 55-man protected list after camp is over. To me, that will be a successful try-out.”

No matter what the goal, the local rookies will have much to prove when camp opens on Thursday.

“I was worried about playing against (the veterans) at first,” said Martin, “and the guys during summer hockey were always teasing me about it and stuff, but I am not going to worry about it. It’s hockey and if I am going to make an impression, I’m just going to have to go all out.”