PORTLAND — Luke Cavallin is 100% focused on being the top goalie for the Maine Mariners, even if his mask says otherwise. Coming off the Troubh Arena ice after Wednesday morning’s practice, Cavallin’s helmet was a tribute to his former ECHL team, the Trois-Rivières Lions. The lion’s face emerging from the fleur-de-lis and the blue and red of the Montreal Canadiens, the Lions’ parent club, was on display.

Cavallin and the Mariners were keeping an eye out for packages coming from Sweden, where artist David Gunnarsson designed Cavallin’s new mask. The hope was it would arrive before the Mariners hosted Trois-Rivières on Friday night.

“When it comes, it’s going to look great,” Cavallin said. “Bear on top, Bruins logo on either side. It will have a glossy finish, so hopefully it will look sharp.”

When you’re trying to get through the grind of life as a minor league hockey player and you’re on your fifth team in three seasons, sometimes you wear a reminder of the past while you push toward the future.

Cavallin, 24, signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins in July, and after spending preseason camp with the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins (Boston’s top minor league team) he was assigned to the Mariners. Cavallin has been outstanding, posting a .926 save percentage and 2.13 goals-against average entering Friday night’s game. His play is a big reason why Maine is in in second place in the North Division.

“The biggest thing for me is, game, practice, anything, he’s not too high. He got off to a great start,” Maine coach Rick Kowalsky said. “He has some of the best numbers in the league, and you’d never know it.”

You have to stay even-keeled, Cavallin said, in everything. That’s how you make it from shot-to-shot, from game-to-game, and from season-to-season in a career in which you’re promised nothing.

“I think it’s a skill to be able to be present. Goalie is a very mental (position). There’s a lot of highs and lows with this sport,” Cavallin said. “Have a growth mindset and keep trying to get better. That focus is going to help a lot.”

So you go from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Toronto to Trois-Rivières to Laval to Maine, collecting experience at every stop. Cavallin was promoted from Newfoundland to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies before the Growlers were shut down by the ECHL late in the 2024 season (for not paying their bills, essentially), but he saw former teammates affected. It was another lesson in what a grind pro sports can be.

Last season, Cavallin was outstanding in net for the Lions when they won the ECHL championship, earning most valuable player honors in the Kelly Cup playoffs. That helped him gain the eye of the Bruins, who chased the free-agent netminder in the summer.

It’s fair to say Cavallin was born into this. He was born in England when his father, Mark Cavallin, was a goalie. Much of his father’s career was spent in Europe, and Cavallin watched and learned what it means to be a pro at any level. How much did his father help Cavallin in his hockey journey? He can’t begin to quantify it.

“It’s an impossible question to answer,” Cavallin said. “There’s been so many things. The only thing is his constant support and understanding me so well, being able to help me.”

You work on making sure you’re strong at the basics of the job, and do something that makes you stand out. In Cavallin’s case, that’s puck handling. Kowalsky likens his goalie to an extra defenseman and has told his forwards to be ready when Cavallin has the puck, because he might rifle a pass their way in an attempt to clear the zone quickly. Even between the circles, that space where most of the time common sense dictates you do not pass the puck if you’re behind your own net and it’s invitingly empty.

“He gets his head up. He has that poise when he’s really under pressure,” Kowalsky said. “You’ve got to have a little ice in your veins there, but it comes from the experience of doing it before and getting out there and having the vision and the poise to see it.”

When he signed with the Bruins, Cavallin wasn’t thinking of coming back to the ECHL. That said, it’s a chance to play regularly, to help another team make possibly make a deep playoff run.

“Be where you are. Try and get better every day. If you have that goal, you can continue to move up and you don’t get stressed with everything,” he said. “Just focus on yourself and improving.”

Cavallin has a championship on his resumé, and he builds that resumé with every start in Maine. Maybe sooner rather than later, Providence will be team No. 6.