LEWISTON – Danick Paquette winced.

Fresh blood oozed from his knuckles as vapor steamed from the mop of hair atop his head.

He sat – slouched, as most teenagers are – and stared into the ground.

Speaking little English, this 16-year-old rookie from Montreal had just played his 12th game with the Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

And he’d fought.

Valiantly.

After getting shoved into the crossbar from behind while digging for a loose puck in the crease.

Three months earlier, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the Maineiacs invested heavily in the young man, selecting him 10th overall in the league’s entry draft.

They might have been able to select him in Round 2.

But they didn’t want to take that chance.

“We saw … when we had his interview (before being drafted),” former Lewiston Head Coach and General Manager Clem Jodoin said that day. “We knew he was a good kid. This is the kind of player you want to help build a hockey team for the future.”

Majority owner Mark Just called Paquette a “quality kid,” one who exemplified “good character.”

“He has this,” Just said, tapping the logo on the left side of his chest, above his heart. “That’s what we need on this team, a whole lot of this.”

Two years, 63 points, 373 minutes in penalties and one league title later, Paquette no longer avoids conversation by staring at the floor.

Steam still rises from his body after a workout, and he still bleeds from time to time.

But he is a rookie no more.

Paquette, at just 18 years old, is the sixth captain of the Lewiston Maineiacs.

“I think I’m ready,” Paquette said. “I can do the job.”

A self-described prankster, Paquette has emerged from his cocoon as time has passed. He used to decline radio interviews and recorded interviews for television and print, because he “didn’t want to sound stupid.”

He was afraid he would be misunderstood, that something would be lost in the translation between his native French and the English he was trying his best to learn.

Now, he’s the face of the franchise, the reigning two-time recipient of the team’s “Fans’ Choice Award.”

“It’s a big opportunity for me to show some leadership on this team, to show what I can do,” Paquette said.

Over the summer, Maineiacs’ Head Coach and GM Ed Harding, who was also part of the brain trust that drafted Paquette, called his future captain.

“I think very highly of Danick,” Harding said. “I think it was a question of maturity. He showed me a lot this summer and this past spring, getting ready for the (NHL) draft. He’s a first-class individual, he’s a big presence in the locker room, he’s a big presence on the ice and he is the face of this organization.”

He spoke also with 19-year-old defensemen Michael Ward and Patrick Cusack, this year’s alternate captains.

“I had some long conversations with some of the veteran players as well,” Hardng said. “We talked about a lot of different things. The fact of whether or not he was ready, that came up in those conversations as well.”

While difficult, Harding’s decision was based as much on Paquette’s ability to lead the team this year as it was on his ability to lead the team next year, too.

“I was looking at some stability,” Harding said. “I spoke with the rest of the coaching staff and to Mr. Just, and we felt like it was in the best interest of the team to have someone who could be here for two years.”

The most noticeable change for Paquette will likely come in the number of penalties he takes and in which situations.

At least, that’s the plan.

“He will still take some ill-advised penalties,” Harding conceded. “That’s the nature of the way he plays. When you have players like that, you’re going to be in the penalty box a few times, but he understands he has to do a better job of picking his spots, and he did that at the end of last season … His big thing was, he thought every NHL scout wanted to see him blast someone through the boards. The fact that he’s realized differently also shows me some maturity.”

All three captains begin their third season with the team this year. Each of them has championship experience, having come within a whisker of the Memorial Cup final in 2007, and each of them wants desperately to get back there again.

It may take hard work, produce a few more blank stares and, likely, a little more blood for the team to get that far.

But that’s just fine with Captain Danick.