Maine Nordiques general manager and head coach Nick Skerlick isn’t looking forward to the required roster cutdown for the start of the 2023-24 North American Hockey League season.

That task wasn’t made any easier at the junior hockey’s main camp this past weekend in Exeter, New Hampshire.

“We are sitting here with five or six lines, and this is going to be a challenging training camp to get down to the 25-man initial protected list,” Skerlick said.

The Nordiques currently have 27 players on their protected list. NAHL teams are allowed to carry up to 30 players until Aug. 31, when the number needs to be cut to 25, about a week before Maine opens its season Sept. 8 at home. The rosters then need to be at 23 players by Oct. 1.

Skerlick said many forwards made an impact during the three-day camp. That includes Cody Pisarczyk, the Nordiques’ third-round draft pick in June, who scored four goals and had an assist in two games on the first day of camp and scored both of Team Blue’s goals in Sunday’s all-star game.

“He might not be our best forward this year, but he was the best forward at camp,” Skerlick said. “Even in the all-star game, it was a 3-2 all-star game — he scored two goals in the last shift to make it 3-2. He was on the losing team, down 3-0, and he scored two goals in 26 seconds.”

Another standout forward in the all-star game was 2007-born Hugo Daniel from YarmouthThe North Yarmouth Academy standout was a free agent invitee at the camp.

Daniel could be an affiliate player for the Nordiques for the next few seasons because of his performance at camp. Affiliate players are 18 or younger and can dress for up to 10 junior hockey games during the season. They don’t count towards a team’s 23-man protected roster.

“He’s likely to be a Nordique the next two years while playing for NYA,” Skerlick said. “… I put my name on that kid will be the next big thing out of our state. It’s not because of skill; younger kids, you see the skill, but this kid was so physical as a ’07 that he willed his way to the net three or four times.

“He had two points in the all-star game. In that all-star game, we had 27 players (from) our protected list, and he was one of the 15 free agents, and he put up two points as the youngest player in the game.”

Skerlick was also pleased with forwards Jack Kurrle, Nick Romeo, Kai Dunits, Grant Dietz and Shane Kozlina.

The goaltending situation worked itself out at the main camp: the Nordiques will head into training camp in late August with 20-year-old returnee Thomas Heaney and 18-year-old Carter Richardson.

“Tommy, I think, gave up two goals during the whole camp,” Skerlick said. “He played a ton — he ended up getting stuck on a team where a couple of goalies did not come, so he played the whole tournament. Carter Richardson is going to be a big problem for everyone else in the East Division — he’s the real deal.

“I think that’s the biggest takeaway from the defensive side of things. I think our goaltending, from what we saw this weekend, is focused, prepared and confident.”

With Heaney and Richardson set to start the season between the pipes, the Nordiques traded goalie Kael DePape on Monday to the Odessa Jackalopes of the South Division for a 2024 third-round draft pick and a tender contract.

DePape, like Heaney, is entering his final season of junior hockey. Skerlick wanted to send DePape to a team with more available playing time.

“If you take all three of those kids, including Kael, you could not pinpoint which one is the starting goalie,” Skerlick said. “We aren’t getting rid of a goalie because of ability, we are getting rid of a goalie because of age. Now, I have a situation where I have an ’03 (birth year) and an age-out, and a ’05 who’s incredible right behind him.”

In front of the goalies, Skerlick said returning defenseman JP Steele looked excellent and has the potential to make a step forward in his development this season. Skerlick said that Seth Murch and Falmouth’s Cam Charron also were solid.

Skerlick also likes the potential of Aidan Dixon to be a defensive defenseman. He played for the Shreveport Mudbugs of the South Division in the 2022-23 season.

“He’s a big boy, and he moves really well for a big boy,” Skerlick said of Dixon. “… The pleasant surprise was, for sure, Dixon. He’s exactly what we want him to be: a hard defenseman who won’t put up 25 to 30 points this year — if he does, great, but that’s not why we brought him in. I think this is a year where we will set roles for kids and tell them to dominate their role.”

Training camp will be in the middle of August. The Nordiques will play two exhibition games, one against the Northeast Generals at The Colisee on Aug. 23 (start time to TBA), and they will visit the New Hampshire Mountain Kings, coached by Auburn’s Cam Robichaud, in Hooksett, New Hampshire, Sept. 1 at 11 a.m.

TUFFY SHINES

While the Nordiques have their goaltending tandem established for the start of the season, a free-agent invitee did have a standout performance over the weekend.

Ainsley Tuffy, a 17-year-old who has committed to play for the Harvard women’s hockey team, was nearly perfect during her two days at the Nordiques’ main camp.

“She was outstanding,” Skerlick said. “In her three periods (of game action), she gave up one goal, and it literally went through her legs and trickled over the line. I don’t know if it went in. I was sitting right there at the goal line. She saw 26, 27 shots in her three appearances. She was a leader in the goaltending sessions led by (associate) coach (Ryan) Shelley.”

Skerlick said Tuffy reached out to the organization about attending the camp. Skerlick was impressed by the Duxbury, Massachusetts native’s stat line at Shattuck St. Mary’s, a prep school in Faribault, Minnesota. She went 24-6-1, with 1.84 goals-against-average and a .918 save percentage in 2022-23 with the Sabres 16U girls team.

She would have made the all-star game but had to leave the camp Saturday to attend USA Hockey’s girls under-18 select camp in Oxford, Ohio, which began Sunday.

However, Skerlick is interested in bringing Tuffy in during the season.

“If the family and (Shattuck St. Mary’s) agree, she would be someone we would love to get into a couple of games this year as an affiliate player,” Skerlick said.

Last year, goalie Annelies Bergmann became the first female to play in the NAHL when she played one game for the Janesville Jets. Bergmann played for Team USA at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Women’s World Under 18 championships in 2022 and 2023. Team USA’s head coach for those two tournaments was Lewiston native Katie Lachapelle.

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