LEWISTON — Matt Boyle knew when Lewiston acquired him, he’d be counted on for leadership.

With the mid-season trade period in the past and an injury or two still hampering the Maineiacs’ blue line corps, Boyle is not only being relied on for leadership, but he’s logging more minutes than anyone else on the team, and playing consistently against opponents’ top lines.

“He’s our oldest guy back there by a lot,” Lewiston coach J.F. Houle said. “He can’t make many mistakes. We’re so young back there, he needs to be the go-to guy.”

Boyle is two years older than the next-oldest healthy defenseman on the Maineiacs’ roster. Nineteen-year-old Lewiston native Eric Bonawitz is continuing to recover from a broken collarbone, leaving 18-year-old Sam Finn as the team’s second defenseman. The rest of them are 17 — Sam Carrier, Ian Saab, Mathieu Brisebois and Zach Shannon.

Zachary Evans-Renaud, also 17, is out of the lineup with what the team is calling an “upper-body injury.”

“Those guys are all pretty much in their first year in the league and it’s still a learning thing for them,” Houle said. “You can’t rely on them in all situations.”

Boyle, meanwhile, is taking his role as a leader and a mentor to the younger defensemen seriously.

“Not so much on the ice, because as young as some of the players are, they play mature,” Boyle said. “But more the off the ice stuff, keeping the young guys contained, keeping the atmosphere positive around here, that’s the big thing.”

Former keeper excels

Peter Delmas was a big piece of the Maineiacs’ championship puzzle back in 2006-07, and a big part of a trade with the Quebec Remparts last summer.

That didn’t go so well for the 19-year-old keeper in Quebec, and he found himself on the move again during this year’s mid-season trade period. After two weeks in his new home (also his true hometown) in Halifax, Delmas appears to be back on track.

The Canadian Hockey League this week named Delmas its goaltender of the week. Delmas earned two victories with a goals-against-average of 1.00 and save percentage of .964.

Delmas began his week between the pipes on Friday night and faced 19 shots and turned aside all but one with 18 saves in a 5-1 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The win marked his first in a Mooseheads jersey. He faced a heavier workload on Sunday night against one of the QMJHL’s top teams, the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He responded well with 35 saves as first star of the 2-1 win.

Helping Haiti

In addition to posting collection jars at the Colisee this weekend to round up cash for the Red Cross’ efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the Maineiacs on Friday raffled off captain Billy Lacasse’s game-worn jersey from a year ago to raise money for the same cause.

“We wanted to help somehow, and this was the best way we figured we could get something done, especially on such short notice,” Maineiacs’ game operations coordinator Nicole Chase said.

The Maineiacs raised more than $500 in Friday’s effort alone.