LEWISTON – It’s not that Jonathan Cameron is afraid. Hockey players, by rule, are fearless. But getting thrown into a game as the No. 5 defenseman with your team in the middle of a tight playoff race?

Yikes.

“The speed, the intensity, the size of the players is all different,” said Cameron. “It’s fun though.”

Cameron, the Maineiacs’ sixth-round draft pick in the 2004 entry draft, was the final defenseman cut at this year’s training camp. He was called up last week after the team sent Michael Lafleur home.

“My first game back, I didn’t play a lot of shifts,” said Cameron. “But when (Bobby) Gates got hurt late in the game against Quebec, I had to play more.”

Cameron was already the fifth defenseman in the rotation after Chad Denny was a late scratch due to an ankle problem.

“I think I adjusted well out there,” said Cameron.

His teammate and team assistant captain Brandon Roach agreed.

“He still has a lot to learn as a 17-year-old,” said Roach, “but he battles hard all the time. He’s a smart guy out there. It takes time, and he has that.”

Cameron is one of two new defensemen that will likely play a key role during the stretch run to the playoffs. Sebastien Piche, a 16-year-old rookie acquired from Rouyn-Noranda in a trade for Travis Mealy, is expected to integrate slowly into the system as well.

A show for the scouts

Three Lewiston Maineiacs will participate in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Mathieu Aubin, Alex Bourret and Chad Denny all received invitations this week to join 37 other players at the annual event used by many NHL scouts to evaluate top talent for the upcoming NHL draft. The participants were selected by scouts from all 30 NHL teams.

“This is a special time in the lives of these young athletes,” CHL president David Branch said in a recent press release.

More than 340 players have suited up in the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and gone on to be selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including all 40 players who played last year.

The game has featured five players who were the first overall picks in the draft – Chris Phillips (1996), Joe Thornton (1997), Vincent Lecavalier (1998), Rick Nash (2002) and Marc-Andre Fleury (2003).

The CHL also announced that Don Cherry and John Davidson will be the head coaches in the game.

Cherry coached the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies from 1974 to 1980. In 1975-76, Cherry won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s Coach of the Year.

After an outstanding WHL career with the Calgary Centennials, Davidson became the first goaltender to make the jump directly from junior hockey to the NHL. After an 11-year career with the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers, Davidson embarked on a successful broadcast career with Hockey Night in Canada and the MSG network.

Aubin will sit out the game with an injury. Bourret will play on a team with Guillaume Latendresse of Drummondville, Jean-Philippe Levasseur of Rouyn-Noranda, Oscars Bartulis of Moncton and Marek Zagrapan of Chicoutimi. Cherry will coach that team. Davidson’s team includes Denny, Sidney Crosby of Rimouski, Viatcheslav Trukhno of PEI, Alexandre Vincent of Chicoutimi, Luc Bourdon of Val d’Or and Jean-Philippe Paquet of Shawinigan.