Hans Hammersmith walks up to a podium, joined by General Manager Tomas Kubovcik

Hello, it is nice to see the reporters faces this time heading into the season on a significant upswing. Thank you for joining Tomas and myself for our annual captaincy announcement.

Wow.. What a season and playoffs that we just witnessed! It was exhilarating to follow, times were frustrating, times were nail biting, and times were very emotional. The S55 group of players will be remembered as a special group who paved the way for this S56 group to hopefully finish what they started.

As always, Maine will carry 3 letters - a captain, and 2 assistants. We have our captain of the last 2 seasons moving up to Baltimore for his rookie season in Kalashnikov, and one of our tenured assistants moving up to Texas for his rookie season in MAS. We’d like to sincerely thank them for the seasons of effort they both put in to helping Maine grow out of the shadow of Halifax and into a team full of hope and optimism and one of the teams in the league that opponents pay attention to because they don’t want to play against us.

We are feeling mixed emotions.. Well I definitely am, Tomas has his stoic emotionless face on, but I know he’s feeling the same. On one hand it’s sad to be at the end of an era. Two amazing pillars to the team and the community are moving on. At the same time it’s exciting to see them grow and graduate to playing full time in the show. We will be cheering them on from afar. Good luck with the rest of your careers Sondergard and Kalashnikov!

Such is the way of the SHL - it moves quickly. It is rapid growth and changing every season. Teams ebb and flow with the passing of seasons, and this includes players on teams in the SMJHL and extends to captains. Across the league this changes frequently and that’s important. It keeps the new players engaged and it allows bad teams to build through the draft in relatively short time as we’ve been successful in doing.

The 3rd captain in Maine Timber history has some pretty damn big shoes to fill. They will be looking to add their own style to the leadership group. We’re excited to see how this player takes on the responsibility. He has been a super presence in the locker room, and the playoff stretch was awesome to see him carve out his own little niche as one of the loudest cheer leaders. Always making sure to let the team know who was scoring goals when we weren’t able to. He’s been lightly groomed for the role serving as one of our Assistants last season, I’d like to officially welcome @Zema up to the podium as the Captain for your S56 Maine Timber.

There were a few players who have made a large impact to the team over the last few seasons, and seeing the team come together during the playoff run was an exciting experience. The players really took charge and are the reason why Maine is an amazing place to play. Hell, they are the reason I get up every morning and come to the rink and try my best.

Joining Oscarsson in official leadership roles this season we have 2 players who we feel are deserving of the role and we look forward to seeing them continue their leadership ways. First off we have someone who was one of the most vocal members during our run. Always ready to put in a little extra work on the ice, and there to help teammates off the ice we have one of our most senior players - Patrick Shepherd @Cobbenstein. Our other assistant has been turning heads in the league ever since he was being scouted a few seasons ago. Truly a force in the league, he has waited his turn for the prime ice time, and has been a leader on the team regardless of a letter for the last 2 seasons. We’re excited to add Rikard Bjerg @AgentSmith630 to the Timber captains for this upcoming season.

Congratulations everyone, now let’s get to work in the gym because we have a big season ahead of us.