Sun Journal: This run with the Maineiacs is the longest you’ve been with any one team in your junior career. How does that feel?

Lucas Labelle: Going place to place, it gets to you after a while. You get sick of moving, and always having to prove yourself to a new team. Having been here a while is great, I love the crowd, I love the city, and it’s good to be in just one spot.

SJ: You always seem to have an edge playing against teams you used to play for. Do you feel like you have something to prove when you play them?

LL: They gave up too early on me, I guess. It always gets to me, why they let me go, why this, why that. Every time I play them, I get the chance to try to rub it in their face, prove to them that letting me go was a stupid move on their part.

SJ: This season, you started like a house afire in the points department. Why do you think that pace fell off a bit?

LL: Early in the season, I was still trying to prove myself as a 20-year-old player, I was still trying to show I belonged, and something kept me going. I got put on the back burner, wasn’t getting as much ice time as I was in the beginning of the year, but I try to contribute any way I can.

SJ: Those two wins around Thanksgiving couldn’t have been scripted any better. What was that like?

LL: We had talked all week about how packed it was going to be, and we were sick of embarrassing ourselves. We pulled together, played as hard as we could. We love seeing the crowd into a game like that. We thrive off it.

SJ: What do you feel is the next step along the hockey road for you?

LL: Everybody wants the big contract, of course, but for some guys, you know, maybe it’s not for them. I’m just trying to prove myself here as a 20 still, and maybe pull out an East Coast contract for next year, or maybe go back to Europe again.

SJ: On the NHL front, is there any player that you pattern your game after or admire for what they do?

LL: I was a big fan of Doug Gilmour my whole life. I love the way he plays, and Darcy Tucker, too. I love the grit, and I love the look in his eyes when he’s into the game. You know he’s going to do something any minute.