By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Hair poking out from Stephane Chaput’s helmet matched the bright yellow practice jersey fitting tightly across his pads. It’s hard not to notice this 16-year-old skater at Lewiston Maineiacs practices because he is often the last person off the ice.

On Monday, Chaput skated alone. He carved back and forth across the ice, weaving through pucks he had strewn across one end of the rink before firing a shot at the net.

Finished, he started picking up the pucks – with his stick, of course- and depositing them in the plastic bin in front of the cage.

“That drill, I just throw (pucks) randomly across the ice and try to go through them all. I get frustrated when I lose the puck sometimes, but it’s OK,” said Chaput. “It’s just practice for now. I stay out there just to practice, to try to get better and get used to the league.”

The coaching staff is already impressed with Chaput.

“His best asset is his skating,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “He is a very good skater, he knows the game, and he is a competitor all the time.”

Chaput made the roster out of training camp, but asked to return to Midget AAA in his home town so he could finish two important classes – chemistry and physics.

“It was a tough decision, but I really wanted to go back and finish the schooling, and I wanted to have a strong season in Midget AAA and do that,” said Chaput.

Jodoin was more than willing to make that concession.

“School was the most important thing for him, and that is OK,” said Jodoin.

In his first game, Chaput impressed fans who had waited a long time to see him skate on Colisee ice again.

“I had to tell him when he first came up that he was not the team’s savior,” said Jodoin. “He is a valuable asset, but not the savior.”

Still, with the injury-plagued season the Maineiacs have endured, Chaput is a welcome fresh face.

“It helps a lot, get the pressure off me,” said Chaput. “I thought I would have a lot of pressure coming in here this time of year, but they really took that away by saying that.”

In the locker room, Chaput was immediately surrounded by friendly faces, too. He played on Quebec’s U-17 team in the World Championships this season with Jonathan Bernier and Pierre-Luc Champagne, and in the tryouts with Sebastien Piche. He also remembered Maineiacs forward Mathieu Aubin at training camp.

“Sebastien and I knew each other from the U-17 team tryouts last year,” said Chaput. “Unfortunately he got cut from that team, but it helps knowing him here. When I first got introduced to the team, you know, it was good to look around the room and see people I knew. I also knew Aubin a bit from training camp.”

Piche and Chaput both ended up with the Maineiacs because of deals with Rouyn-Noranda. Chaput was drafted last June after the Maineiacs traded draft picks with the Huskies, who drafted Piche. This winter, Lewiston sent Travis Mealy and a draft pick to Rouyn-Noranda for Piche.

“When you make some trades and you get players and pick, you have to wait until everyone finishes their careers before evaluating the value of the trade,” said Jodoin. “At the end of the three or fours years, the package will have to be re-studied.”

For now, though, Chaput is just trying to make the best of this opportunity.

“Hopefully (the rest of the season) is very good,” said Chaput. “I just have to work hard and listen to the coaches and go from there. Just play hockey.”