SYDNEY, Nova Scotia – Marc-Andre Daneau skated behind the Maineiacs’ cage, near the exit to the ice. He tipped his visor up, took off his glove and started shaking his teammates’ hands.

By the players’ benches, Stefano Giliati shook each hand of the Cape Breton support staff still on the bench, this long after the traditional center-ice handshake.

“Getting traded to Lewiston was the best thing that ever happened for me,” Giliati said afterward.

“It’s been absolutely great,” Daneau said.

Daneau, the team’s fourth captain, has been a Lewiston player for his entire career. He is one of three 20-year-olds – and at least four total players – who will not skate in a Lewiston uniform again.

“It’s tough to move on, for sure,” Giliati said. “But Lewiston will always be home for me. I had a great time here.”

Before Game 6, Maineiacs’ head coach Ed Harding said he needed all three of his 20-year-old skaters to have solid games.

“These players have all be great for us, for the organization,” Harding said. “They’re great young men, as well, and they’ll always have a home with the Lewiston Maineiacs.

In the locker room following the game, players chatted, many of them with red raccoon eyes from the tears that no one could hold back any longer.

Players also acknowledged their netminder, Jonathan Bernier, who has also played in his final junior hockey game.

“When I first got drafted here, by this organization, I was a little suspect, honestly,” Bernier said. “I didn’t know what to expect. But it was the best thing to happen to my career.”

The Maineiacs will have a few decisions to make, too. Aside from Bernier, Jakub Bundil will be 20, and likely will not return as a 20-year-old import player. Beyond him, there will be five other players turning 20 this season, and each team is allowed just three.