LEWISTON – They are still here for a reason.
Twenty-one players took to the ice at the Colisee on Tuesday morning. They weren’t fighting for position anymore. This is the 2005-06 edition of the Lewiston Maineiacs hockey club.
“We’re going to have some speed,” said Jodoin. “We can skate. We are a good skating team. What we have to do now, is to polish our team, how we’re going to play in every aspect of the game, with and without the puck.”
Every skater who entered training camp and played last season for the Maineiacs remained on the team, That hasn’t happened in the last two training camps. Daniel Basque and Manuel Brunet were the final cut casualties this week, leaving the roster at 24 players. Still in doubt is the status of defenseman Jonathan Paiement, who is currently trying out at the New York Rangers’ training camp.
“He’s with the team,” said Jodoin. “They haven’t made a decision, yet, but he still doesn’t have any contracts, so we’re still waiting.”
Even without Paiement, Jodoin is not concerned about the team’s depth on defense.
“Think we have a core of five defensemen back from last year,” said Jodoin. “I think it would be different if we were starting with two defensemen from last year, and that’s it and had no one else with any experience, so I am not concerned about that.”
Still, Jodoin would, at least outwardly, welcome Paiement back.
“He is a veteran player,” said Jodoin. “Any time you can have a 20-year-old with that much experience on your team, you want to have that.”
Michal Korenko will get a chance to skate with the Boston Bruins’ training camp until the end of this week before returning to Lewiston. He is definitely coming back, according to Jodoin.
The Maineiacs have less than two weeks before they start their regular season schedule with three games in five days on the road in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Last year, the team’s two European players, Korenko and goaltender Jaroslav Halak, had to sit out the team’s first trip to Canada due to visa problems. This year, though, according to team officials, Korenko and forward Jakub Bundil should be approved in time to make the trip on Sept. 22.
News and notes: Ryan Murphy, a 20-year-old forward swiped from the Lewiston Maineiacs by the Saint John Sea Dogs in the league’s expansion draft this summer, has been cut from that team, too. Murphy had a solid camp but, according to team officials in Saint John, he was a victim of the numbers game – too many 20-year-olds…Speaking of former Maineiacs, Alex Bourret is sticking around a bit longer these days in Atlanta, having been invited to the Thrashers’ main training camp. At 19-years-old, though, it is unlikely that he sticks with the Thrashers into the regular season. Should Bourret stick around, the Maineiacs would be forced to compensate Shawinigan with their first-round draft pick at the 2006 QMJHL Entry Draft…The league opens up its regular-season schedule Thursday night when Quebec visits defending league champion Rimouski.
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