The L/A Nordiques have announced the 21 players who will take part in training camp, which begins Saturday.
There will be plenty of familiar faces this season, as 16 of the 21 players played for the Nordiques in 2017-18. The biggest strength head coach Cam Robichaud sees heading into the new season is depth.
“I am excited by our roster and we have a real strong team, top to bottom, and I think we are deeper than we were last year,” Robichaud said. “We really had a good team last year, so I am really excited to see what comes this season. If we are working hard and living up to our potential, we could make a deep playoff run again this year.”
A few weeks ago, Robichaud got a pleasant surprise from Sergei Anisimov, a second-round pick in April’s draft, who gave his commitment to the team after Robichaud hadn’t heard from him in weeks. Technology got in the way as Anisimov returned home to Russia for the summer and was looking to look to play at home. He changed the SIM card in his phone and didn’t receive any of Robichaud’s messages. One day, every message Robichaud had sent flooded Anisimov’s phone one day and he quickly got in contact with Robichaud.
“He called me and he was apologetic and said, ‘I am so sorry, I am still very interested in coming to Lewiston, I am in Russia now,’” Robichaud said. “Education is very important to him, so he decided he would be coming and playing for us. He will be here on the 31st.”
Before returning to Russia, Anisimov tried to make the North American Hockey League, attending the Amarillo Bulls’ tryout camp.
Last year, with the Hill Academy, located outside of Toronto, Anisimov had four goals and two assists in 15 East Coast Elite League Under-18 games last season.
Robichaud hopes Anisimov, at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, becomes a power forward.
“That’s the most intriguing thing about him is his size and his age,” Robichaud said. “He has three years of junior eligibility left and he does have a pretty good skill set, and he’s a player I want to come in and fine tune his game to more of a power forward-type because of that size.”
Other players who attended Tier II junior camps over the summer but are returning to the Nordiques are forward Joshua Sanchez and defensemen J.P. Chauvin and Andrew McCormick.
Robichaud also is bringing two new goaltenders this year to compete with Jason St. Pierre, of Jay, who was the team’s third goaltender last season.
Daniel Miller is an 18-year-old goalie who last year bounced around last year between the Dayton Falcons of the NA3HL, Cheyenne Stampede of the Western States Hockey League and the Philadelphia Little Flyers of the Eastern Hockey League’s Premier League.
The other new goalie is Hunter Raye, who played in MPA Class A last year for the Lawrence/Skowhegan/MCI Bandits. The 17-year-old from Norridgewock was a draft pick of the Nordiques this past spring.
Lewiston native Sam Frechette, who played for the Nordiques before the Lewiston High School season began last season, will be playing for the Nordiques all year long in 2018-19. In 21 games with the Nordiques, the 17-year-old forward had six goals and six assists in 21 games. With the Blue Devils, he had 11 goals and 13 assists in 16 regular-season games.
Nick Bisson, another Lewiston native who attends Hebron Academy, will be joining the team as an affiliate player. Robichaud said he will be able to use Bisson as a seventh defenseman when there are injuries or suspensions.
Robichaud hopes to increase the roster to 23 players within the next 10 days. He said last month that 18-year-old Michael Keller would be joining the team if he doesn’t make the Syracuse Stars of the USPHL’s Tier II league, the National Collegiate Development Conference.
Training camp begins Saturday with off-ice activities. The team will begin on-ice activities on Sept. 2 at the Norway Savings Bank Arena, and not at the Colisee.
Training camp roster
Goalies (3)
Jason St. Pierre, Hunter Raye*, Daniel Miller*
Defensemen (7)
Nick Bisson, Nicolas Lusignan*, Donovan Tehan, Cole Ouellette, Hans Watson*, Andrew McCormick, JP Chauvin.
Forwards (11)
Zack Mullen, Colby Audette, Josh Malone, Joshua Sanchez, Kyle Secor, Armand O’Keefe, Crewz Berry, Sergei Anisimov*, Joe Bisson, Connor Kennedy, Sam Frechette
*Denotes new player
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